I know that Aero requires certain things in the graphics card, mainly
DirectX 9 and a WDM driver with a minimum of 128MB of Video RAM. The
difference though, is that the requirement allows for shared memory. So in
essence, you could have an older card with only 64MB of integrated memory
and the rest being shared memory from RAM. If that's the case and you shut
off Aero, its going to free that memory to be used for another things,
making a computer seem more responsive. Some people, while having an older
card, still have that 128MB of integrated VRAM, so they don't see the
performance boost.
I have a set of laptops that have this such instance and I have the users
shut Aero off to 1. Safe power and 2. make their computers more responsive.
My users were willing to compromise the translucency for the speed and
power.
I am by no means an expert and stand ready to be corrected.
NS
"Chris Cowles" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Nick Simpson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:7508FE84-91E8-4053-BF15-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I believe it has something to do with your video card. If you have a
>>newer card, you're going to notice less of a difference than if you have a
>>little bit older card. But of course, I always retain my right to be
>>corrected.
>
> Aero isn't even an option on many older cards. Aero requires certain
> functionality and, if the display adapter doesn't include that, you can't
> even choose it. I purchased the minimum card I could get that provides the
> necessary capabilities (NVidia GeForce 6200 A-LE, AGP). I see almost no
> difference between Aero on or off. Other factors: Dell 4600C, 2.66GHz P4,
> 2.5GB RAM.
> --
> Chris Cowles
> Gainesville, FL
>
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