AMD Radeon HD 6490M

[Darshana Umakanth]

Hello,

My current laptop (Intel HD Graphics) doesn't run G3D programs; I am
thinking of buying a new laptop, but not sure which graphics card
would work:

AMD Radeon HD 6490M or Nvidia?

[Corey Taylor]

Are you looking for a notebook/laptop graphics card?  Those options are limited to what the manufacturers decide to build.

I'm not sure what nvidia card you were looking at but any new DirectX11 class card should be ok.  Almost any new AMD or NVIDIA card will support the current OpenGL version.

corey

[Darshana Umakanth]

Yes, it's for a laptop graphics card. I was looking at the new Samsug with  AMD Radeon HD 6490M or the Dell XPS with Nvidia. 

[Corey Taylor]

The performance will suffer from the mobile versions, but any new card should have the driver support and capability to run the OpenGL features we use (and will use).

I'm not sure about comparing those versions of ati and nvidia.  Unless you get a laptop with an nvidia GTX model, it will probably be about the same.

I would focus on memory.

corey

[Corey Taylor]

I would also strongly recommend that you follow some of the simple performance tests that laptop review sites posts if you are unsure what specifications to look for in the graphics card.

The CPU and RAM outside of the graphics card will matter a lot in laptops as they can be reduced power.

corey