Because "adequate" can have vastly different meanings, depending on what you use your GPU for. I use it mostly for eye-candy at the GUI level. I play a bit with Google Earth and that's about all. My Intel GMA can do that just fine.
If, however, I were into heavy gaming, I would find this setup unusable (down to the fact I don't run Windows).
I am not sure how well an Intel GMA would fare if it were used as a number cruncher. I suspect it wouldn't excel, but, compared to x86 vector hardware, even a lowly GPU should hold it's own well.
Because "adequate" can have vastly different meanings, depending on what you use your GPU for. I use it mostly for eye-candy at the GUI level. I play a bit with Google Earth and that's about all. My Intel GMA can do that just fine.
If, however, I were into heavy gaming, I would find this setup unusable (down to the fact I don't run Windows).
I am not sure how well an Intel GMA would fare if it were used as a number cruncher. I suspect it wouldn't excel, but, compared to x86 vector hardware, even a lowly GPU should hold it's own well.