Full Aero Glass on a Cheap PC?
Given the advisory warnings about the video, sound, and networking hardware on my cheap PC, I was a bit worried that my PC would be less than fully functional after upgrading it from Windows XP Media Center Edition to Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. Since the PC provided video using Shared Video RAM instead of a dedicated graphics card, I did not expect to see the full Aero Glass Features (transparency, Flip-3D, etc.). In fact, this had been my experience using a Dell Optiplex GX280 desktop and Dell Lattitude D600 notebook during Vista beta-testing. The Optiplex did not have a dedicated video card and did not display Glass features. The Lattitude had dedicated video card with 32MB video RAM. But, that was below the 128MB RAM required for Glass. So, it didn't provide me with Glass features either. So, imagine my surprise when I saw this on my cheap PC...
YouTube Video: TO-Tech Demo of Aero Glass on a Cheap PC
The transparency effect was immediately noticeable after the login. And, pressing Windows-Tab brought up the Flip-3D effect. This eMachines T6420 with just Shared Video RAM had full Aero Glass Features working on it.
I guess I did not understand the Vista Aero Glass requirements at all. It appears that you do not need 128MB of dedicated video RAM. You just need 128MB of video RAM (Shared is ok) and the right graphics chip on the system board (an nVidea 6600 in this case).