CPU, GPU & Perfomance

[Kallocain]

A GeForce 8600GT 512Mb is really weak, I would say that is the bottleneck in your system. A new graphics card would probably make a nice difference. More ram would be nice too, but I usually buy new ram at the same time as a new motherboard and cpu, so I'm not stuck with one new part when I'd really like to upgrade another.

 

[Darkrenown]

I am going to have to buy a new laptop soon, but am a little unsure on how much graphics capacity I might need to get through the next few years.

I am not normally doing anything too intensive. Work, watching the occasional TV programme, paradox games, etc.

Do any of you have any suggestions on what sort of graphics card it might be worth getting?

When I got a new laptop last year I got one with the Radeon 6770M, which was the best one I could find for a reasonable price. I play all our games on it as well as Skyrim, both the new Fallouts and Space marine at good settings.
You could check this list and pick a card about the same level or maybe one of the high class 2s:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html