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MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt, ATI/AMD Graphics?

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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While we've heard a lot about Apple's new low end 13-Inch MacBook Pro, there's been hardly any information about the upcoming 15" and 17" models. CNet provides a rundown of what they've heard about today's announcements.

First, as we've heard, Light Peak is officially being branded as "Thunderbolt". We've seen the photos already showing it on the 13" MacBook Pro.
Thunderbolt is a new interface that will let consumers connect peripheral devices that need to move a lot of data quickly, such as an array of disk drives, or an external device that requires very high-speed connections.
Click to expand...
Thunderbolt will be found on the new MacBook Pros. Next, as we knew, Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors will be used in the new MacBook Pros. And, the 13" MacBook Pro will only use Intel's integrated graphics chip.

CNet, however, also reveals that the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros will use AMD (formerly ATI) discrete graphics cards alongside Intel's integrated solution.
As in previous MacBook Pros, the discrete graphics chip is only fired up when heavy lifting is needed. When power savings is paramount or high-end graphics processing is not necessary, the system defaults to Intel's graphics.
Click to expand...
CNet offers no specifics about which graphics cards Apple will be offering. Current 15" and 17" MacBook Pros have NVIDIA graphics cards built in.

Article Link: MacBook Pros with Thunderbolt, ATI/AMD Graphics?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/24/macbook-pros-with-thunderbolt-ati-amd-graphics/
jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Good bye Woodscrews, 1.2kW PSUs, 10 min battery life, 1.7% yields, bomb threats, pork sholders, heater/egg cookers!!!

Finally, I fully support Apple's decision to include Radeon GPUs in their MacBook Pro line. It's about time they gave nVidia the boot for being a 2-bit company.

Now, I wonder which GPUs are they using, the 6800 or 6900 series mobility GPUs...
 
L

levitynyc

macrumors 65816
Aug 19, 2006
1,123
3,704
I want to see these suckers benchmarked before I even consider opening my wallet. I'm very skeptical of Intel's cards.
 
A

aiqw9182

macrumors 65816
Apr 22, 2010
1,089
0
AJ Predictions said:
Is this good news?
Click to expand...

Absolutely!

Apple currently uses 23W GPU's in their MBP's. That means they would've used a 525M if they stuck with NVIDIA. Now they are going to be using a 6830M(24W) which kicks the complete snot out of the 525M.
 
M

mozumder

macrumors 65816
Mar 9, 2009
1,283
4,416
Ati?

Isn't the ATI brand fully retired at this point, replaced by the AMD name for the graphics line?
 
T

Toxsin

macrumors newbie
Feb 21, 2011
26
0
Is this rumor flow going to continue throughout the night?
I'm wanting to sleep at some point, but afraid I'll miss something.
 
P

pderkay

macrumors newbie
Feb 20, 2011
9
0
Hammond, LA
I have a Mobility Radeon 5870 in my Asus G73JH and have problems with it (GSOD) so I hope this time, they took the time to properly test it.

How is it with Apple and drivers? Do they use generic or have their own modified versions?
 
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