End-of-Lifecycle upgrade

[drone]

I've the ATI 1600 PCIe 512 (Hypershare memory, 256 MB real RAM).
I'm very satisfied with this card. It has shader 3 support and even runs M2 on almost highest settings. Medieval 1 runs without problems at all at 1600*1200. Generally I think that ATI cards give you fewer problems with regard to Total War games. BTW, get those 2 Gigs, you won't regret it.

I've had pretty good success with both the ATI 9*** and X-series running MTW. When I bought the laptop for my girl I made sure to get one with the ATI card. The X1650 should do well, and it should function as a decent second box for LAN games

I've bought an Acer notebook for my Girlfriend recently and it came with XP Prof. Asus and some others also offer XP. You won't be too happy with a notebook if you want to play a lot. Get a decent desktop and check out if the new Asus EeePC (or one of the new cheap subnotebooks) is something for you.

I don't get to play a lot, theoretically I'm an old man with responsibilities. The portability of a decent gaming laptop would help some, the missus won't complain (too much) if a laptop is set up on the den table. She complains loudly when I'm holed up in my office playing games, not so much when I'm doing it in front of her and listening (supposedly) to her talk. So the laptop decision is more of a domestic tranquility choice. I'll check out Acer again.

What's that about the XP activation?

I've heard you can't really change the mobo without getting another license, the XP activation thinks that too many devices have changed and balks. If this is not the case, feel free to chime in.