I intend to get a new laptop and one specification is the video card is 128MB shared memory. I was recommend by my friend not to buy it because the video memory is shared. May I know if anyone here knows why? My friend also dont know why as he just heard of it. Regards Chris Foo

Many laptops use "shared memory" there is nothing wrong with it whatsoever. The main thing is there is that much "less" memory available for the OS and programs to use. If you have 512mb memory or more installed on the laptop you may not even notice a difference.

Many systems (mobile or desktop) use "shared memory" for the graphics. It's cheaper to build that way becuase there's no added expense for a "real" video card. There's *probably* a setting in the BIOS to adjust how much memory is allocated to the onboard video (8, 16, 32, 64, or 128MB), but the problem is, it "steals" that amount from the system RAM. So if the laptop you're looking at has 512MB RAM, subtract 128MB for the video, & the system is really only running with 384MB. This may or may not be a problem, it depends on what you plan on using the laptop for. If you expect to play games on it, think again. You should get one that has dedicated RAM for the video. And if you expect to play games well, you should plan on spending over $2000 for a gaming laptop/notebook: http://www.dell.com/content/product...

Look HERE for Michael J's excellent explanations. i_XpUser

thanks for the quick response. I intend to use it for presentation needs and beconnected to projector. The system had 1GB of ram and model is Compaq Presario V3190TU. Do you think it is good? Regards Chris Foo

if u got a gig of ram you should be fine. Your still running the system with like 896 megs of ram. A dedicated ram video card will run a little better, but it will cost you prob $500-1000 more. The only time you would really use your whole gig of ram is gaming or video editing. If you only plan n using it for presentation dont worry at all. I game all the time and my laptops 256 integrated (shared) video. Always back up...I JUST LOST 287 gigs entertainment!

Thanks.... Thats a good news to me. Regards Chris Foo