[Any viewers work without a graphics card? & Netbook performance with SL?]

Thank you very much to both of you!

 

Veritable Quandry, I had some further requests for advice. Prior to this graphics card business, when I was simply looking for a affordable netbook for portability, note-taking, web-surfing, and video messaging, I was leaning towards a Lenovo IdeaPad from the general reviews on Amazon and such.

 

I am now committed to purchasing an Ion-based netbook.In keeping with my prior inclination to purchase a Lenovo, I am considering the EEE PC 1201 N, EEE PC 1201 PN, and a Lenovo IdeaPad S12. Which would you recommend for my uses? I've decided to go as high as $400-450, by the way, in terms of budget.

[Any viewers work without a graphics card? & Netbook performance with SL?]

I'm working with XP and a basic Intel 852G (I think) card. Is there any 3rd party viewer that would support SL? Even if the quality was drastically reduced? I'm not sure how SL and media cards work, btw, so excuse me if I don't understand what exactly the purpose the card serves and what about SL requires a higher/better card...

I planned on purchasing a netbook this week to replace my current desktop. Does SL have a notorious track record with netbooks I should know about? Does anyone know if those usually come with compatible graphics cards? I read about them in the wiki, which really sucks...I have a budget of about $200 for the netbook (I'm a freshman in college) to give myself mobility and for note-taking and general web-surfing, so I hoped to knock out 2 birds with one stone and be able to support SL on there as well.

But I'm also determined to get on SL. I was on it briefly today, actually. Was able to move, fly, chat, without much problem except noticable lag whenever I was doing anything else simultaneously. I'll try to find the stats of my desktop system and hopefully someone will be able to recommend an amazing graphics card I can install myself without risking any damage to this ancient desktop o' mine, that is also AFFORDABLE (like, $50 is comfortable and $70 had better be for the 'holy grail'--may sound unrealistic, but I'll scour eBay or any other bargain site to make it work; my low budget is non-negotiable)...

CPU

Minimum: Pentium III/Athlon or better

You Have: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz

        PASS

CPU Speed

Minimum: 800 MHz

You Have: 2.74 GHz

        PASS

RAM

Minimum: 512 MB

You Have: 1022.0 MB

        PASS

OS

Minimum: Windows XP or Vista

You Have: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 (build 2600)

        PASS

Video Card

Minimum: With  Windows XP   With Vista

You Have: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller

        Upgrade Suggested: Unfortunately, your Video Card does not meet this requirement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Click here to see some recommendations.

Features: Minimum                                                                 attributes of your                                                                 Video Card

    Required     You Have

    Video RAM    32 MB    64.0 MB

    3D    Yes    Yes

    Hardware T&L    Yes    No

    Pixel Shader version    2.0    0.0