Video card for PhotoShop CS2

[KingstonU]

Buying a laptop that will be used for Photo Shop and Scrapbooking along with web/chat/quickbooks etc...

Is PhotoShop ever GPU intensive? Which is better?

128MB NVIDIA® GeForce? 8400M GS
559MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 (UMA)
Mobile Intel 945GM Express
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100


Thanks

 

[shadowofthesun]

No level of GPU is "needed" for Photoshop. If you are not planning to do any gaming, integrated should work just fine. Instead, use the money you save to pick up some extra RAM, the fastest processor you can afford, and ensure that you have sufficient HDD space. In the world of photoshop, any of these components are more important than the video card.

Out of the graphics solutions you have mentioned, the 8400M GS is the only dedicated option. Low end dedicated cards are great because they can help avoid the usage of system memory for Vista Aero and provide significantly better performance. Also the GF 8M series can accelerate video playback. On the other hand, since you have voiced no intention to do any gaming, this card is far from necessary. If your budget is tight, use the money on any of the things mentioned above.

The other three GPUs are all inegrated. The 945GM is the weakest. I'm not entirely sure how the X3100 compares to the 6150- in games I believe the 6150 ends up being faster, and seems to have better support ATM... however, the X3100 has excellent potential and may end up surprising us all with future driver updates. Any of these should serve you fine if you only want to do Photoshop + Aero or even very light gaming; however, the 945GM should be avoided in favor of the other two solutions.

Best of luck on your next purchase.

 

[KingstonU]

So if I got Vista Home Premium and wanted to use the Aero Graphics, then the 8400 GS for sure?

 

[shadowofthesun]

Not for sure; far from it. Any of those graphics cards will handle Aero graphics. The 945GM will struggle a bit, which is why I suggested that you avoid it. The IGP's will also "steal" your RAM, although the 8400M will do so as well if necessary (Turbo Cache borrows system RAM in much the same way as an IGP does, but only if necessary. Basically what it breaks down to is this:

Avoid the 945GM if possible.

If your budget is tight, forgo the 8400 in favor of any of the IGP's and use the saved money to improve some other part of your laptop. If you have cash to spare, the 8400 would be a good upgrade once the other components are taken care of.

I would prefer the X3100 over the 6150. Not because of performance- either will get you where you need to be short of gaming, and the 6150 outperforms the X3100 anyway. However, the X3100 is only available on Intel platforms, while the 6150 is only available on AMD platforms. If choosing the 6150 means going with a Turion X2 over a Core 2 Duo, then I would side with the X3100.

 

[KingstonU]

Thank you very much, these are the last details I needed.