Intel HD 4000 laptop max memory

[samrat_rao]

Hi,

I am planning to buy a budget laptop. Since I don't play video games and do not use graphics oriented software, i am not inclined on a dedicated graphics card. I need good CPU performance.

I have decided on i5-3210M (3rd gen with hyperthreading) with HD 4000, 1 X 4Gb RAM as of now. But what is the maximum memory that can be dynamically allocated? Intel says that it is 1720Mb --- but what about the laptop manufacturer's settings?

The vendors here seem to have little idea --- some say max 512Mb limited by bios (manufacturer's permanent setting), some say 1Gb plus etc. Some sites say that with 4Gb RAM it is 384Mb, with 8Gb RAM it is 512Mb bla bla bla...

Which information is correct? I saw my friend's HP laptop and could not find any bios setting for video memory.

Out of 4Gb i can (if allowed to) allocate maximum possible. I am asking since i do not want to hear that after a couple of years HD 4000 is inadequate for normal use --- hd movies etc.

Thanks.

 

[thently]

You have to tell us exactly what laptop you want to purchase. BUt any way it does not matter how much the HD 4000 can take for memory it will not make it work any better of a GPU. It has to share the mem bus with the cpu and this is very slow compaired to ddr5 direct access. the 4000 will play hd up to 1080p for the rest of it's life... if you are looking to play 2k or 4k hd possibly it won't but it will not matter your screen on a budget laptop will most likely not even be 1080 sooo all this worrying is for nothing.


Thent

 

[samrat_rao]

You have to tell us exactly what laptop you want to purchase. BUt any way it does not matter how much the HD 4000 can take for memory it will not make it work any better of a GPU. It has to share the mem bus with the cpu and this is very slow compaired to ddr5 direct access. the 4000 will play hd up to 1080p for the rest of it's life... if you are looking to play 2k or 4k hd possibly it won't but it will not matter your screen on a budget laptop will most likely not even be 1080 sooo all this worrying is for nothing.


Thent

Hi Thent,

Ya I know that on board graphics will perform less than a decent dedicated graphics card. But I due to my budget I am not getting ddr5, only ddr3 like GeForce 630/610 or AMD 7670 --- so hd 4000 is ok I guess.

As you said my laptop screen resolution is less than 1080p. I asked because the video might be 2k/4k and my system might not be able to handle it. My old desktop (no dedicated graphics card) cannot handle 1080p --- is it because of CPU or graphics card?

The laptops are Lenovo g580 59-324061 and Samsung np300e5x-a01in. Both are available in India and I do not know what are the model numbers in your place.

 

[hang-the-9]

The video in the i5 chip will run HD movies fine at full HD res. You can't get DDR5 in a laptop anyway no matter how much your budget is, you did not quite understand the answer you got from Thently. The latest RAM available for computer use is DDR3, which is what the onboard video card will use for it's memory. To get GDDR5 you need to get a video card with that RAM on the card itself.

Any modern laptop outside of a cheaper netbook will run 1080p video.

 

[samrat_rao]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So my 2 final questions are:

1. I think that in future (2-3 years), even if screen resolution of a laptop is 1080p or less, the standard videos may come at 2-4k. Will i5 with hd 4000 play them fine?

2. What is max dynamically allocated memory of hd 4000? I could not find out if it is limited permanently in the bios (at least for the two laptops I mentioned in my reply).

 

[hang-the-9]

In the next 2-3 years there will not be anything past BluRay quality. When there is, the HD4000 should be able to play it. It's not good for many games, but the CPU and video chip will play back video just fine.

The video ram depends on the laptop and does not matter with what you are going to be using it for. It will be enough.

 

[samrat_rao]

o.k. thanks a lot. I'll stick with hd 4000 & i5.

 

[samrat_rao]

Best answer selected by samrat_rao.