What exactly does the video card in a pc do and does this one sound like a good one?

I'm trying to figure out what a video card does, because I'm buying a laptop and trying to look at all the features. I would also like to know how to tell what a good video card is.

This is the video card on the laptop that I'm looking at. Let me know if that is good or not.

Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD

And also how to tell whether a video card is good or not, and what they are for. Thanks!|||The video card renders everything you see on your monitor. A video card can either be dedicated, meaning it is a separate piece of hardware that attaches to the motherboard via a slot, or it can be integrated, which means it is a chip that is part of the motherboard.



In this case, the Intel 4500 is an integrated video card. They are not as powerful as a dedicated card, however, you probably will not need anything better than this depending on what you use your computer for.



For simplicity's sake, it is fair to say that any video card you have, dedicated or otherwise, will render the picture, standard definition video, and anything 2-dimensional on your monitor exactly the same. The only reasons to have a higher powered graphic card are as follows:



1) You want high quality HD video in top resolutions (such as 1080p).

2) You do 3-D work (creating models, for instance)

3) You play 3-D video games.



If any of those are true, there are different applications of video card upgrades that you could look into, however for most users, the graphic card that is in that system will probably do everything you need it to do and more.|||A video card is a PC hardware component whose function is to generate and output images to a display.



That card looks fine if you don't do a lot of gaming.