Confusion on graphic card memory

I have heard that the Sony FE790's graphic card - the 7600 is not *really* up to par with 7600s in other notebooks, since they use the 128mb version. If this is true, is it more similar to the x1400/7400 with 256mb? My boyfriend says that the sony's 7600 won't be massively better than the x1400 in a dell? I'm not talking about benchmarks, because the numbers don't mean too much to me, I'm more interested in how actual in game graphics will be affected - for instance, how many more settings would I be able to increase (ie. in WoW) with the 7600?

Also, the dell would have 1GB more ram (2 vs 1 in the sony), a 7200rpm hard drive vs sony's 5400rpm... if that affects it as well...

I'm just having a hard time because the dell would have better ram and hard drive, and cost nearly $300 less than the sony with a "better" video card.

Thanks for any insight.

 

The 7600 is roughly 2x the card the 7400/x1400 is. The lack of dedicated VRAM will hurt the performance slightly but the 7600 would still be much stronger.

RAM and HD both affect gaming performance, however are *pretty* easy to upgrade aftermarket.

The 7600 should be able to run WoW almost maxed out.

Hope this helps.

 

Like Vespoli said, the 7600 is 2x as powerful as a 7400. The lack of dedicated VRAM won't drag it very far down, but obviously it won't beat a 256mb version. It will be more than enough for games like WoW, and will run newer games at around high-med settings, while the 7400 will be looking at med-low.

 

Thanks, that helps. I found an Acer on Newegg with all of the extras, with the x1600, so it's all around nearly what I wanted, and it's cheaper...yay =P