PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS CARDS

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600

* Shader Model 3
* 12 Pipelines
* 128-bit Memory Bus
* Clocks: 470MHz Core, 470MHz Memory (940MHz DDR Effective)

The Mobility Radeon X1600 is one of the most desirable notebook parts on the market. It offers performance approaching last generation's top end, running many games at native, and frequently appears with a large amount of dedicated video memory. Most impressive about the X1600 is its appearance in mainstream and even 14" thin-and-light notebooks. If you're at least a semi-serious gamer, this part is easily recommended, and will play most if not all games at native with most details maxed out.

nVidia GeForce Go 7600

* Shader Model 3
* 8 Pipelines
* 128-bit Memory Bus
* Clocks: 450MHz Core, 500MHz Memory (1GHz DDR Effective)

Comparable in performance to a desktop 7600GS, the Go 7600 is a little crippled next to its desktop cousin, which has a full 12 pipelines. Performance wise, it's slightly slower than the X1600 and thus not as desirable, but as I've stated before with nVidia parts, if your favorite games run off of the Doom 3 engine, this is going to be the better choice. This part is still a very strong performer, blowing away competitors in the lower classes, and can be found in the same notebook segments as the X1600. Thus, it remains easy to recommend.


HIGH END PERFORMANCE GRAPHICS CARDS

ATI Mobility Radeon X1800

* Shader Model 3
* 12 Pipelines (16 in XT Version)
* 256-bit Memory Bus
* X1800 Clocks: 450MHz Core, 500MHz Memory (1GHz DDR Effective)
X1800XT Clocks: 550MHz Core, 650MHz Memory (1.3GHz DDR Effective)

Unlike the old Mobility Radeon X800 line, these can actually be found, albeit again in small numbers. These basically trade off with the high end GeForce Go 7 series parts as being the fastest notebook graphics processors available. However, the Go 7 series remains more common and easier to find, with these almost exclusively appearing in boutique notebooks from manufacturers like Alienware.

nVidia GeForce Go 7800

* Shader Model 3
* 16 Pipelines (24 in GTX Version)
* 256-bit Memory Bus
* 7800 Clocks: 350MHz Core, 550MHz Memory (1.1GHz DDR Effective)
7800 GTX Clocks: 400MHz Core, 550MHz Memory (1.1GHz DDR Effective)

These are gradually being phased out for the faster Go 7900 line, but are still incredibly powerful chips, running even modern games at WXGA or better resolution, with detail settings maxed out. They're also fairly easy to come by in desktop replacement notebooks, but they demand a premium.

nVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS

* Shader Model 3
* 20 Pipelines (24 in GTX Version)
* 256-bit Memory Bus
* 7900 GS Clocks: 375MHz Core, 500MHz Memory (1GHz DDR Effective)
7900 GTX Clocks: 500MHz Core, 600MHz Memory (1.2GHz DDR Effective)

Basically just faster versions of the Go 7800 line.