Hyper Memory and ATI Dell Marketing

I ordered this video card for my laptop:

128MB ATI MOBILITY RADEON X1300 HyperMemory

Someone here mentioned that some of the "dedicated" video cards use system memory.

I went to ATI's site, and boy do they hype (no pun intended) up "HyperMemory", making it sound like it's technology added to a dedicated card making it even faster than normal.

Really though, the advantage is from a cost standpoint, and possibly a little more battery life.

When I went to the page describing the product, the term "hypermemory" was embedded in the 4th paragraph down in which most readers would already be inattentive due to "technology fatigue" (the first 3 paragraphs basically say the same things with slightly different wording".

At the bottom of the 4th paragraph it says:

"With graphics and system memory optimized by ATIâs HyperMemoryú, your Mobility Radeon X1300-equipped notebook PC plays todayâs texture-rich games with plenty of performance available for tomorrowâs conquests."

The key words above are "and system".

In order to find out what HyperMemory is, you have to click the "Technologies" navigation button at the top of the page and then click HyperMemory in the left column.

When you go to that page if you're still awake and if you aren't looking at the pretty woman at the top of it, then you see the key text:

"ATI has introduced a break-through technology called HyperMemoryú to take mainstream graphics performance to new levels of affordability and ensure that everyone can enjoy the ultimate visual experience."

The advantage really is "new level of affordability".

I wonder if that also means lower cost to produce, and a higher profit margin for ATI. From Dell's perspective maybe they share in some of the profit, or benefit from being able to market a "128M dedicated card" hiding the fact from the user that it makes use of integrated memory, making the laptop more attractive to would-be buyers.

Of course, I may be totally wrong about this and if I am I know the members of this group will kindly correct any misperceptions :-)

Journey