Ok, thanks for replying, the main point is that this is not a standard laptop, it has a faster hard drive, faster CPU, and more importantly a dedicated gpu (6800go or the 7880gtx I think). However you are still only looking at around 900 - 2000 in 3DMark06 dependent on what model you have. A bit different to the 4,000 you will get on an average desktop card (I get 13,000). This will be in my opinion, only is just playable (compared to a desktop), you would be looking at about 20 - 25 fps and highest settings. Not great. But satisfactory to most.
In terms of your nVidia comment:
Alpha blending is a convex combination of two colours allowing for transparency effects in computer graphics. The value of alpha in the colour code ranges from 0 - 1, where 0 represents a fully transparent colour, and 1 represents a fully opaque colour. This is done (I believe) with shader model 3 cards and as such the minimum requirements for COD4 are as follows: Geforce 6600 or better or ATI Radeon 9800Pro or better.
This error (attached) that you are referring to relates to ATi cards equally.
http://www.cod4gamers.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=306
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f24/installing-ati-radeon-9800-pro-197374.html
To say, it is "my believe (sic)" that because you see more nVidia cards display this, it means it is nVidia specific, is based on anecdotal evidence (sorry im a scientist :grin

. This effect you are seeing is much more likely to be a result of nVidia's much larger market share (ie more nvidia chips in the wild). In fact nvidia has a market share similar to Intel in the graphics department (around 33% each) and ATi's less than 20% at Q1 2007. Based on the success of nVidia since then, which correlates to the release of COD4, i would suggest that nVidia's market share has subsequently gone up.
Essentially all this means that your video card is not supported. Onboard video chips, nVidia cards older than the 6xxx series and ATi older than the 98xx pro series are not supported by COD4. It is not nVidia specific.