Hello there,

I would like you to do one thing so that we can actually know what kind of graphics card you have.

Click on your start button (lower-left)  and then select: Run...

Then write by Open: the following: dxdiag

It might give you an alert with a choice of 'yes' or 'no', simply click on 'yes'. Then the DirectX Diagnositc Tool will open up.

Now you will have information about your computer hardware under the System tab.

Please let me know how much RAM you have and what processor you have (including the GHz power).

Then, you want to go on the 'Display' tab and  from there, tell me what info you have.

Also, what programs are on when you start your computer?

If you are using Windows Vista, you should have at least 2 GB of RAM (Vista is a RAM monster).

Alright, I am running Windows Vista, and here's what I got:

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001)

BIOS: Ver 1.00

Processor: Intel (R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5670 @ 1.80 GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.8GHz

Memory: 2038MB RAM

DirectX Version: DriectX 10

As for Display, there is:

 Device:

Name: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family

Chip Type: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family

DAC Type: Internal

Approx. Total Memory: 358 MB

Drivers:

Main Driver: igdumd32.dll

Version: 7.14.0010.1409

WHQL Logo'd: Yes

DDI Version: 9Ex

DirectX Features:

DirectDraw Acceleration: Enabled

Direct3D Accerlerartion: Enabled

AGP Texture Accerleration: Enabled

Notes:

- No problems found.

I do have two gigs of RAM.

And the programs that are on when I start my computer.. hmm, I don't know. What do you mean?

I'm sorry, but because of the display device that you have, you will not be able to play games like Halo 2 on your laptop.

There's also a website you might want to look at : www.canyourunit.com

Just select a game and it will tell you if your computer can play this game at recommended settings or not.

You will be able to play older games on your laptop, but games that came out after 2004, that are graphically intense will not function properly or will only play on the low graphic resolution.

For gaming, a laptop is never the best (since you can't replace the graphics card unit to upgrade it later on).

If you really want to get into PC gaming, get yourself a desktop. 

If you don't want to pay that much for gaming, I suggest you go the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 way.

Or Wii if that fits your gaming style.

On the other hand, about your laptop processors being so busy: look at the lower-right corner. The applications that appear there are applications that are started when you turn on your laptop.

They might take a lot of processor power depending on what they are doing.

Are they really essential to you?

You can list them here if you do not know and I'll let you know (to the best of my knowledge) whether they are useful or not.