Help - Is a graphics card needed?

[FM2n]

My friend is looking to purchase a laptop for her daughter for college.

I am trying to convince her that having a dedicated graphics card is not mandatory for school unless she is doing heavy movie editing, heavy gaming.

She is stressing that her daughter needs a graphics card since she is getting into art (drawing), so I need you guys' expert input. Does she need one? How about if Photoshop was the most she'll be using? And if she was doing a ton of multimedia, should I suggest a MacBook?

The laptop that I had recommended (due to price) is the Dell Vostro V131 (13.3")with i3-2330 processor and HD3000 integrated card, 320gb to 500gb HD, 4gig of ram (easy upgrade). After 20% coupon = $350 - $400.

Please help me convince her that she doesn't need to spend a ton of money for a graphics card or convince me I'm wrong and that she needs a graphics card!

 

[rabbitz]

For the price of a macbook pro she could get that vostro v131 and a desktop that is more capable than almost any laptop you can buy.

According to this and this, a fast processor + ssd + lots of ram would be better for photoshop, and any entry level graphics processor should be fine.

 

[Binky]

This site may be useful. The comparison charts at the bottom are helpful, but some charts are hidden and need to be expanded manually.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000.37948.0.html

The HD3000 is pretty good unless you want to play games.

 

[Zap]

Based on your description, a dedicated graphics card is not needed.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If she needs graphics horsepower on the cheap, then get a LLano APU from AMD, either an A6 or an A8.

 

[jrocks84]

If she is getting into graphics though, get a laptop with a decent screen.

 

[Bateluer]

Based on your description, a dedicated graphics card is not needed.

This. For what the OP is describing, a dedicated GPU isn't needed. An HD3000, lousy gaming chip it is, will handle Photoshop just fine.

However, if you wished, you could find an Llano based laptop and get significantly more GPU power, at the expense of CPU power.

 

[BrightCandle]

The laptop specified will do the job just fine. She would benefit from more RAM, a faster CPU, an SSD and a better screen but its all pricey stuff and only makes value sense when you have more money to spare. Macs are pretty but for the same hardware they tend to be a bit more expensive due to the nice build quality and OS X OS cost and she may very well end up needing to buy Windows for some of the courses software. There is no need to buy graphics capabilities based on the expected usage pattern as Photoshop wont utilise it.

The Llano chips are great as balanced machines as despite the CPUs being a little slower the graphics is much better. But unless she's going to game or use openCL/CUDA enabled apps its not going to speed things up.

 

[fralexandr]

like everyone else said, if she's gonna overspend on anything, it should be the display, and not the GPU
basically something with good contrast, color accuracy, decent resolution, and close to 75% adobe color gamut

it's pretty pricey for a good screen on notebooks though, since most notebooks cheap out on them.