Video Card question for Spore

Hi.

I am buying a laptop for university soon and it would be nice if it could run Spore when it comes out. Would I be able to run Spore with an Integrated Video Card on my laptop? Intel GM965? The processor is 2.1ghz Core Duo and has 3GB of Ram. It is a Sony VAIO by the way. Another alternative is to buy an HP laptop that is 1.83ghz Core Duo, 3gb of ram, and GeForce 8400 GS card. But then again, that HP laptop doesn't meet the 2.0ghz requirement Spore has.

Can anybody tell me what to do? I like the Sony VAIO one better btw.

Well, my current rig (which will be thrown out the window in about a week)

runs an ATI radeon X850 Pro, which is a really old card, and it will run just fine.Dont take my word for it, but i think the video card in your laptop may slightly out-preform the one i have now, and it runs spore, but you wont see all the nice affects, such as lighting,etc,etc

?? An X850 is a far better performer than an 8400, and infinitely better than whatever Intel puts out. It may be a couple of generations old, but it is a top of the line card from said generation.

Basically if one intends to play games on a laptop you need a minimum of an 8600/9500 GPU. Don't be fooled by Spore's low seeming system requirements as those presume you've turned off every effect and are using some Atari 2600-esque resolution like 640x480. That's how games are marketed to wider audiences. And if you buy anything with an Intel GPU it will almost certainly not run anything more demanding than MS Office 2007.

If you do any sort of comparison shopping you will find Sony laptops are rather overpriced for what's in them, and that the HP laptops have all kinds of issues. If you are looking for a good, not too pricey laptop for school look no further than the Asus models @ newegg.com. Find one with an 8600 or 9500 in your price range, then ask us if it's worth it's list price (hint: probably yes).