Laptop graphics chips usually come after the desktop counterparts but there have been several desktop LE chips in the past. They're all crippled with slow memory/
A bird in the hand will probably sh!t on your wrist.
Yep, shop baught systems aren't all what they apear to be. Don't be pursueded by figures as these mean little if the components aren't up to scratch... which is generally the case with 'off the shelf' systems.
I have a Dell similar to yours , although mine is 3.2 GHZ P4, with a Radeon X 600 and it handles virtually any situation with framerates in th 20s, and more usually 40+. I should give your setup a thorough checkout as i feel sure you should get better performance than this
and it still chokes up to around 5 FPS if there's loads of clouds or your flying out of EGLL or EHAM etc with the sliders on max!!!!!!!!!!! any ideas? personally i think an AMD would be a good idea.......
Regards
Your processor and memory are perfectly good for FS2004. Its definitely your graphics card. You can upgrade to the 7300GT for about £55, this will just about double the performance, but you'd see a massive difference by going for a 7900GT for £180.