Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook grafic card Intel GMA X3100

Status
Not open for further replies.
Zer00

Zer00

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 9, 2008
30
0
Austria Vienna
i just bought a new macbook and realized that it has the Intel GMA X3100 grafic card.
i have to say that it is totally useless for most of the games i wanted to play as i thought that the macbook would have a Nvidia as the macbook pro.
my question now:
is it possible to insert a new grafic card into the macbook???
 
Zer00 said:
i just bought a new macbook and realized that it has the Intel GMA X3100 grafic card.
i have to say that it is totally useless for most of the games i wanted to play as i thought that the macbook would have a Nvidia as the macbook pro.
my question now:
is it possible to insert a new grafic card into the macbook???
Click to expand...

No.
 
no you can't insert a new "graphic" card into your MacBook.

The most you could do is max out the ram to 4gb which will give the integrated card a slight performance boost.
 
bing bang boom.. yep its been said..
should have done the research, would have taken you less than a minute to find the information.. upgrading the ram is your only bet.. personally i dont play games with my mac.. i never play games.. might aswell just have a peecee for that really...
 
Even if you could upgrade it, the cost would be better justified to spend a extra few bucks and get a PC like Eidorian said
 
Zer00 said:
i just bought a new macbook and realized that it has the Intel GMA X3100 grafic card.
i have to say that it is totally useless for most of the games i wanted to play as i thought that the macbook would have a Nvidia as the macbook pro.
my question now:
is it possible to insert a new grafic card into the macbook???
Click to expand...

If YOu use bootcamp, and install windows vista, - it allocates the GMA X3100 with 358 MB of video RAM - a big boost over OSX for games (OSX only gives 144 MB of VRAM)

so you can still play games like crysis.... but only in low detail. :(
 
Zer00 said:
i thought that the macbook would have a Nvidia as the macbook pro.
Click to expand...

being perfectly honest, since when has the macbook had anything more than just integrated graphics?

and like Warbrain said, the X3100 isnt that bad, it just wont play any intensive games and especially not at really high FPS
 
Dude you bought a Macbook, then found out.


BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA OWNED DUDE.


Seriously what a plank you are, you mean you did not even check the specifications of a expensive machine, come to my store I'll happily sell you a Pentium 2 with onboard gfx, I'll put it in a modern case and hell you'd buy it.
 
Zer00 said:
i just bought a new macbook and realized that it has the Intel GMA X3100 grafic card.
i have to say that it is totally useless for most of the games i wanted to play as i thought that the macbook would have a Nvidia as the macbook pro.
my question now:
is it possible to insert a new grafic card into the macbook???
Click to expand...

No.

The system specifications for the MacBook are listed on the website, the box, anyone who sells them would be able to tell you the specs.

Nothing you can do I'm sorry.
 
Elven said:
Dude you bought a Macbook, then found out.


BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA OWNED DUDE.


Seriously what a plank you are, you mean you did not even check the specifications of a expensive machine, come to my store I'll happily sell you a Pentium 2 with onboard gfx, I'll put it in a modern case and hell you'd buy it.
Click to expand...

Well I thought due to the fact that it IS AN EXPENSIVE MACHINE they could at least have some good hardware...
well whatever i bought it now and wont make the same mistake again.
my next computer is gonna be a macbook pro or mac pro ^^
 
Zer00 said:
Well I thought due to the fact that it IS AN EXPENSIVE MACHINE they could at least have some good hardware...
well whatever i bought it now and wont make the same mistake again.
my next computer is gonna be a macbook pro or mac pro ^^
Click to expand...

Take it back and get a different computer.

If I could I would have returned my MacBook for a computer with real hardware. But I made the mistake of buying into the Apple Hype until the return window was closed.
 
Zer00 said:
Well I thought due to the fact that it IS AN EXPENSIVE MACHINE they could at least have some good hardware...
well whatever i bought it now and wont make the same mistake again.
my next computer is gonna be a macbook pro or mac pro ^^
Click to expand...

find us a 13" notebook with a 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz dual core chip, bluetooth, N wireless, SATA HDD and up to 4GB of RAM with anything more than the X3100 for the same cost as a MacBook and we'll believe that statement.

Honestly, if your goal is to play games on your computer, you'd be better off building yourself a desktop PC.
 
Lachman said:
The X3100 isnt that bad i can play Halo on it :D
Click to expand...

Dude, my 5 year old Dell Dimension 4600 could play Halo with its integrated graphics chip, mind you this specific computer is #10 in PC World's 10 worst computers (the 256mb NVidia card died along with half of the computer). Honestly I like bragging about it :p

Anyway back on topic: I don't get gaming with a laptop, unless its flash, widgets, or ROMs - something small and occasional.
 
Scarlet Fever said:
find us a 13" notebook with a 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz dual core chip, bluetooth, N wireless, SATA HDD and up to 4GB of RAM with anything more than the X3100 for the same cost as a MacBook and we'll believe that statement.

Honestly, if your goal is to play games on your computer, you'd be better off building yourself a desktop PC.
Click to expand...

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...=NRS13304&l=en&oc=N08X3307&rbc=N08X3307&s=dhs

That's in the price range between the low and mid range Macbook in the UK, and it has a dedicated graphics card, with Bluetooth, N wifi, can have up to 4GB (and in fact comes with more RAM by default than the Macbook), can have a free upgrade to a much bigger battery..etc

Challenging people to find a similar spec PC to a Mac is not exactly hard...
 
dinjin201 said:
If YOu use bootcamp, and install windows vista, - it allocates the GMA X3100 with 358 MB of video RAM - a big boost over OSX for games (OSX only gives 144 MB of VRAM)

so you can still play games like crysis.... but only in low detail. :(
Click to expand...
You can chuck 900gigs of VRAM on it and thats what it will be. A useless ancient card with 900gigs of VRAM. Its not VRAM that increases speed, its just a contributing factor.

OP, within a month or two they will be releasing new Apple laptops. Take it back and see what rolls around. At the very least it will have the X4500 integrated chip, which is comparable to Nvidia's 8400GS.
 
Admonitor said:
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...=NRS13304&l=en&oc=N08X3307&rbc=N08X3307&s=dhsand it has a dedicated graphics card,
Click to expand...

People keep going on about "dedicated graphics card" like simply having one is the holy grail of being able to play games. The 8400M you're talking about there is a nice card to have for pushing pixels about on a laptop but in terms of being able to play recent games "properly", it's still carved out of pure fail.

Admonitor said:
Challenging people to find a similar spec PC to a Mac is not exactly hard...
Click to expand...

Well no, but looking at laundry lists of circuit boards that got slung inside the case kinda misses the point. Fit and finish is what counts, and is why Dell are cheap and cheerful but spanked by quite a few other PC manufacturers when it comes to making products that are actually nice to use, without even having to bring Apple and OS X into the equation.
 
leekohler said:
Yep- what was the OP thinking? Macs aren't for gaming- they're for work.
Click to expand...

This is great, the Mac guy of the commercials would heartily disagree, though I can see PC smiling at that one!


Scarlet Fever said:
find us a 13" notebook with a 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz dual core chip, bluetooth, N wireless, SATA HDD and up to 4GB of RAM with anything more than the X3100 for the same cost as a MacBook and we'll believe that statement.

Honestly, if your goal is to play games on your computer, you'd be better off building yourself a desktop PC.
Click to expand...

Not the same form factor but definitely more power for a very reasonable price.

A Friend of mine got this version of the 16 inch Vaio VGN-FW139E/H. It has a 1600x900 resolution running the Centrino 2 2.26 CPU, ATI 3470, 3GB RAM, GBe, HDMI, FW and 250GB HD. I must say for $999 (when it was on sale, now $1050 -$ 1150) it was a good deal. Also the 3470 does pretty good on most games, no super high frame rates but certainly enjoyable with Company of Heroes (using the DX9 settings), AOE3, C&C3, etc.

At 6.5 lb. its nice, as general purpose Windows laptop that can play games but its certainly not a Mac (no OSX).

Cheers,
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back