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General discussion

Newb Question...

by csully23 Jun 5, 2005 12:19PM PDT

I was just wondering what the difference was between dell inspiron 6000 and the inspiron 6000 dedicated graphics? Is there any difference or... I don't know. Thanks for any help you can give me.

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Hugs.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jun 5, 2005 12:26PM PDT

My best advice is to talk it over with your Dell rep until you get the answers. This is a real test of how well Dell and you will get along. If they won't answer this question, imagine when you have a real problem.

-> The short version about dedicated memory video vs. shared video memory.

a. Shared eats some of your base ram. From 32 to 128 or so megabytes. Takes it down a notch in overall speed since the OS has less ram.

b. While the video is using said RAM, the CPU can't read or write to said memory area or maybe to any memory. Can be a real speed loss. I'm going to peg it at 10 to 25% speed loss over a system with dedicated video chip and RAM.

-> HOWEVER, for non-gamers and most applications you can be just fine with shared video RAM. Even video editing and photo editing can be done and many of these systems are great laptops with good battery life.

Bob

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