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256MB vs. 512MB ?

A

annkie

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 13, 2008
3
0
Hi all,

I am trying to decide between a MacBook Pro 15" w/ 256 MB video card or 512 MB. Here's a quick background on me:
I'm a graphic designer. I work in CS3 for print and web. I'm doing more and more Flash work.
I'm not an expert on hardware which is why I'm posting in here. So, the question is: Will the 256 MB video card result in great performance for the type of work that I do? I am on a budget.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
annkie said:
Hi all,

I am trying to decide between a MacBook Pro 15" w/ 256 MB video card or 512 MB. Here's a quick background on me:
I'm a graphic designer. I work in CS3 for print and web. I'm doing more and more Flash work.
I'm not an expert on hardware which is why I'm posting in here. So, the question is: Will the 256 MB video card result in great performance for the type of work that I do? I am on a budget.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

The 256 will be more than enough for you. Unless you know why you need 512mb, you don't :) (That sounds flippant, but it is actually true).

I don't need 512mb either.

Very, very few people do.
 
Another vote for the 256. My girlfriend is a graphic designer and she has no problems running with the (older) mbp with 128. Like others have said, unless you know you need it for specific applications, the low end GPU will be more than enough.
 
chaosbunny said:
CS3 does not use the extra video memory. I'd only recommend 512 mb for games or 3D apps like Cinema 4D, Maya, etc.

Go with the 256 mb mbp and rather use the saved money for the 7200 rpm hd and 4 gb ram.
Click to expand...

wouldn't even recommend 512 for games. Honestly, the only games that would make use of 512 ram would run painfully slow on a mbp anyhow with its 8600GT.
 
What about running games with the 256mb video card on a 20" ACD with 1680x1050 res? I'm thinking about getting a MBP soon and I need Warcraft III to run smoothly on it (currently with my macbook and 20" ACD performance gets very choppy after a while) and I will also be getting StarCraft II the moment it's released.
 
Thanks all! One more question... I was also going to buy a 24" monitor to hook up to my laptop. Will the 256 MB suit that as well?
 
Yes, 256 will be fine when hooking the MBP up to a monitor. Extra ram is only used when you're playing high detailed games with high textures and only when you have a powerful enough video card to use the extra ram. Since the 8600M is underclocked in MBPs, there's really no use for the extra ram.
 
I'm in the same boat, debating between 256 and 512 except I work in video.

I really don't use any 3d stuff (except the occasional project in Motion), so from this thread I've gathered that I should be fine with 256, right?
 
I too was debating this subject this past weekend when I picked up a 2.5ghz, 512mb VRam, 250Gb HD. after reading all your posts, I decided the lower end 2.4 mpb and 256mb VRam would probably be more than enough for me. since i don't work with any kind of 3D animations or play games. (But I will be swapping out the HD when the 500GB HD becomes available.) So i took it back and exchanged it. good thing I didnt open up the first one. the 2.4 i got is perfect. no yellowing, no dead pixels, no buzzing. works perfectly great.
 
Get the 256. And no it doesn't make a difference in Crysis considering the GPU isn't fast enough.
 
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