1 223-1096 Inspiron 1721, AMD Turion 64 x 2 TL-60 (2.0GHz/1MB)
1 313-5503 Midnight Blue Color with Microsatin Finish
1 311-7189 2GB, DDR2, 667MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-5377 High Resolution, glossy widescreen 17.0 inch display (1920 x 1200)
1 320-5374 ATI RADEON Xpress1270 256MB HyperMemory for Inspiron 1721 (Integrated)
1 341-4692 160G 5400RPM SATA hard drive
1 420-6556 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, English

from dell order site.

thanks.

Yes, the x1270 is Windows Vista Premium Certified.

thats good. i wasnt sure since its integrated. since its integrated what does that mean? its in the mother board or whatever? is the 256 dedicated to graphics?

Yes, the graphics processor is integrated in the motherboard, and is using 256MB of your RAM as graphics memory.

i have 2048mb minus 256= what my system uses right.

close but not quite

2048-256= Amount left for your system to use (hopefully your system wont be using all of the remaining 1792mb all the time)

would i be able to play any computer game in the past 2 years with what i have? or am i missing the whole concept with integrated graphics vs graphics card that are dedicated.

Integrated graphics is never as powerful as a dedicated graphics card. You may be able to play most games released the last 2 years, at least in theory. Whether you can turn down the graphics enough to get acceptable frame-rate is another question.

The new WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) accounts for memory differently than previous versions - so it'll depend on where you look as to what memory numbers you get. There is static allocation (a fixed amount) and a dynamic allocation (that changes as the video needs it) buried down in the model, so the numbers can get a bit confusing.

Here's a nice read on the reporting of graphics memory with WDDM (and some explanation of previous reporting methods): http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/displ...hicsmemory.mspx

Here's a direct link to download the Word document:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c...phicsMemory.doc

also depends how 'powerful' ur integrated graphics is.

Eg. I can play nhl07 no problem on my integrated graphics, altho it isn't as nice as my comp with a graphics card.