Why are there only “low” and “medium” options for shadows? Is that because the game might run with Intel HD 3000? I’m using notebook with Intel HD 3000/GeForce GT540M and I’m not sure which one is used. I’m starting Steam by right click and start with Nvidia but I don’t know if that’s enough? Game runs perfectly in 1600x900, everything maxed out - it wouldn’t run so good with Intel, would it? ^^ So what about the shadows?
What’s the DirectX level you’ve got reported in the advanced gfx settings dialog box? And, yes, it’s next-to-impossible to get decent FPS with Intel HD 3000 in Source-based games at higher resolutions so most probably your system really uses nVIDIA chip to render things. Then again, lacking “High” for “Shadows Details” might be an optimus-related problem with the game failed to detect the correct dxlevel to use at the first startup.