I am considering upgrading to a new macbook pro, but i was looking at the base model, without discrete graphics. How much faster or slower is the 9400M compared to my old computer?
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MBP 2.2 8600M GT vs. New MBP 9400M upgrade
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Bill Gates
macrumors 68030
9400 is slower. But, on the upside, it's not a ticking time-bomb that will cause your notebook to need a new logic board/gpu.
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panzer06
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FSMBP
macrumors 68030
Hey bud, I'm in the same boat - I wanna upgrade my MBP 2.2 to the new ones (15 inches) but I don't know if the 9400M will do.
I myself sometimes work with Final Cut Express, Photoshop, and After Effects now. I would like to continue to do so, even if it's only 3-4 times a year; I would assume a dedicated GPU would be ideal.
However, that entry level 15" price is amazing. Ultimately, I think I might wait and pony up some cash and go for the $2000 one. If I'm going to get a MacBook "Pro" I might as well get something that will last.
yeah, i know - i ordered 4 identical MBP 2.2s in 2007, and i've had 3 failures so far..... 🙁 I don't want to deal with sending these things in, warranty or not, for a week at a time. they are very helpful with the express drop off, though. I think I'm going to pony up for the $2k model, based on the graphics card.
panzer06
Contributor
FCE is not GPU-accelerated except for FXPlugs, and Photoshop and After Effects CS3 and under don't have GPU acceleration. Photoshop CS4 has acceleration but is still mainly CPU-driven and After Effects CS4 can only use GPU acceleration w/ Quadro graphics cards.
I also have a 2.2 and am thinking about 13" myself. In our case, I honestly don't think the $1699 15" is worth the cost of 'upgrading'. If you're going to do that, may as well spend the extra money and get a true upgrade to the $1999 model.
The 13" is its own tradeoff of course, but they are not far off in cost, and I think I prefer the portability and better battery life of the 13" MBP.
8600gt is much faster, but on that model it has only 128 mb of vram (ddr3)
the 9400gt has 256 shared ddr3 vram
so..unless you're running something that is only vram dependent and not gpu speed dependent (exceedingly rare), the 8600gt will be much faster
the 9400gt has 256 shared ddr3 vram
so..unless you're running something that is only vram dependent and not gpu speed dependent (exceedingly rare), the 8600gt will be much faster
The 8600m Gt should be about 2x faster. Also if the 8600m gt dies within three years, apple will replace it.