how much video ram

[kc]

Hi,
I'm buying my sister a laptop for her bday. She needs one that is able
to run powerpoint presentations. I've never used PowerPoint and have no
idea what it requires to run smoothly. I'm looking at either a Lenovo
or Dell that has at least 512mb ram. Is 512mb of ram enough? I'm also
confused about the video card. Should I look for one that has a
dedicated video card instead of shared? If I go for dedicated, is 64
enough?

Thanks,
kc

 

[Guest]

This should get you started:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/powerpoint/prodinfo/sysreq.mspx
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Site Updated: April 13, 2006
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[Troy @ TLC Creative]

A lot really depends on how she will be using PowerPoint. If she will be
using animation and video playback, more is better. Here would be my minimum
requirements for a laptop:
- P4 or Centrino CPU (not a celeron), do not use AMD but the equivalents.
- 1 GB of RAM
- 64 MB of Video RAM (with 128 MB being highly preferable)
- On video ram there is a big difference in shared vs. dedicated memory.
For PowerPoint to playback animation, flash files, movies and even audio the
computer really needs to have dedicated memory (this allows the use of the
'Hardware Acceleration' feature). It should be by ATI or Nvidia.
- Everything else is just a matter of what is offered. I prefer a wide
screen for a laptop. Having a physical on/off switch for the wireless is
desirable and you cannot have enough USB ports.

Hope that is helpful.

 

[kc]

Thanks Troy, this is extremely helpful. I appreciate the detailed info.
Just meeting system requirements can leave a lot to be desired for a
real-world user.

kc