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General discussion

shared video memory question

Oct 8, 2004 2:54AM PDT

I am a graphic designer and needed a computer to take with me when I'm on the road. I just purchased a Toshiba Satellite A75-S229. I read in the CNET notebook buying guide(which was VERY helpful)that a good multimedia notebook should have 32-64 MB of dedicated video memory. When I purchased the notebook I asked the salesperson several times if this notebook had a shared or dedicated video memory and they assured me it did. I made a big mistake in trusting the sales staff at the store...a lesson learned. This machine has 64 MB that is shared, and I'm wondering if this will work ok for the type of design I do, or if I should take it back? I use Illustrator, Photoshop, and CorelDraw daily and often have all three programs running at the same time. Some of the files I work on have lots of photos and can be as large as 50 MB. I won't be editing video or gaming...just working with photos and graphic layouts. I'm happy with the machine in every other way, so I'd rather not take it back if this video memory thing really won't be an issue. I did install additional RAM, bringing it up to 1 GB. Anyway, thanks for your help...I appreciate your time!

Jennifer

Discussion is locked

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Re: shared video memory question
Oct 8, 2004 3:03AM PDT

For what you write, the main memory should be in the 512M or 1GB (not as much payback!) area. The video memory is not directly linked to the 50 MB photo, so don't fret about that. In fact I have a video surveillance machine and it's AGP card is all of 4MB and it does just dandy.

What the issue is, is 3D games. Or animation will suffer from shared memory. The overall CPU speed takes a not so small hit too since while the video is reading the shared memory, the CPU can't...

Bob

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Re: shared video memory question
Oct 8, 2004 3:27AM PDT

Bob...THANK YOU so much for helping me to understand these memory issues. I have been confused about this for a long time, even before I bought this new machine. You just made my day!

Jennifer