Is the intel video driver necessary?

[phonzie]

I'm running my x60 with no video driver installed, and everything seems to be running okay. Resolution is 1024x768; color is 32bit. What are the purposes/advantages of having the video driver installed? Should I install it?

I don't do graphics intensive things like video editing or games. I don't watch movies. I don't need a 2nd monitor. The only thing I've noticed is that hibernate mode is not available when the driver is not installed.

[jdhurst]

You must have some sort of video driver installed, otherwise, Windows will revert to a basic 640x480 VGA driver that will display a screen but otherwise will do nothing. If you can get 1024x768 by 32-bit, you have some driver installed. ... JDH

[patch]

You would want to always have the latest graphics card installed. It is very possible that the latest driver has better power management where it would use less energy when idle, or not have to work so hard when doing something intense. There is no reason not to install the latest drivers. Only good can come out of it*.

(* although back in the day some new ATi drivers did destroy some video cards. ugh that was ugly. anyways, not a big concern nowadays, intel does not have that problem. Upgrade!)

also similar to what jdh said (but not quite), you actually do have a driver installed. Its just a windows generic one. basically meaning its old, and has nothing fancy to it. And just because it doesn't do anything fancy doesn't mean that its a good thing. It means that its less efficient.