^^
You might see difference while playing HD movies. My Dell didn't have issues with 720p, but not sure about 1080p as I've played it. When you try to 'seek' a place or try to use the seekbar often, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Ok first, I m not into HD movies anyway, so this is irrelevent. If I have to download HD Rips then they will be maximum 720p anyway.
2nd, have a look at the GMA X3100 white papers. It has inbuilt hardware decoding of H.264 & VC-1 codecs just like GeForce 8400GS, so playing 720p HD movies won't be a problem.
You might want to run Maya, Photoshop and stuffs. Do the tasks with X3100 and 8400gt, you'll know what I' talking about. X3100 is no match for 8400gt even with 2 GB RAM.
Nah, I won't be doing any 3Ds Max on it. On Windows Vista, GMA X3100 support hardware acceleration of the UI which Photoshop CS3 will be able to make use of, again...like I said this laptop will be used mostly for
1) Chatting & VoIP with family & friends.
2) Browsing
3) MS Office
4) Downloading contents
5) Music & Movies but not much.
For all these tasks I don't need the power of 8400GS & X3100 would suffice, X3100 is made for Windows Vista, other then gaming it is enough for everything else even with shared RAM.
I had a lappy with onboard and dedicated graphics, from my expeirence, I'm telling. But then your money, your wish.
Which Onboard graphics???Onboard graphics have improved a lot with GMA X3100