Dedicated/Shared Memory. Laptop can't run games.

[ADRealist]

Hi.
A friend of mine just picked up a

Toshiba Satellite L355-S7902
Dual CPU 2.16Ghz
128 Dedicated Memory,
1024 Shared Memory.


It seems there's something wrong with this things drivers. I don't totally understand the difference between dedicated and shared memory, but have only succeeded at running games from the 90's (Diablo 2) for instance. Fallout 3 failing to load (crash to desktop) was understandable, even at 128 dedicated; however Left 4 Dead will load, start a game then about 30 seconds into the level crash randomly. While Sins Of The Solar Empire (now this definitely should run no problem) also, crashes to desktop. It's a factory bought Laptop, everything preinstalled. I've tried altering the resolution and updating drivers - yet nothing makes a difference.

 

[Trotter]

What is the GPU in the laptop?

 

[Harper]

What is the GPU in the laptop?

According to Amazon, it's Intel GMA X4500M graphics (up to 1342 MB total available memory).

Pretty much for any notebook computer under $1000, do not expect much (if any) for gaming graphical grunt.

Best thing you can do is
* Update to the latest Intel GMA X4500M graphics from intel website.
* Roll back to windows Xp.
* if the guy at the shop told you that it will play the latest games, take it back for a refund or an exchange for a better notebook. Otherwise, cut your losses and sell this notebook ASAP, and then buy a new notebook with a better video chipset like a Gefore 9000 Mobile or ATi HD3000 series mobile.

And NO, there is no Express Card or USB Video Card out there on the market.

At the end of the day, it's all about the graphical engine, not the amount of ram.

 

[ADRealist]

Thank you for the advice. I just picked up a Toshiba Satellite with a dedicated graphics card of 512 megabites of memory - it runs Fallout 2 with max settings, this is definitely what a labtop should be. I've noticed that there's systems for running movies and systems for running games - the difference being the size of their LCD screen. I don't mind trading in that '24 inch for 6 hours of battery life and actually have a real Geforce installed.