I think you'll be surprised at how well even a pretty old or lame video card can do compared to a pretty decent CPU.
E.g. I am using a 2.4GHz P4 with an onboard intel shared memory video at work -- and that video can run Filax's latest dancing robot demo at perfectly good framerates.
The Wallstreet powerbooks, which are over five years old and sported 233MHz G3s (I think) originally, already had 16MB ATI Rage Mobility video cards (think Voodoo 1-2 level performance). Apple has been putting decent (not necessarily awesome) 3D accelerators into everything they sell for quite some time.
E.g. I am using a 2.4GHz P4 with an onboard intel shared memory video at work -- and that video can run Filax's latest dancing robot demo at perfectly good framerates.
The Wallstreet powerbooks, which are over five years old and sported 233MHz G3s (I think) originally, already had 16MB ATI Rage Mobility video cards (think Voodoo 1-2 level performance). Apple has been putting decent (not necessarily awesome) 3D accelerators into everything they sell for quite some time.