How bad is the 9400M?

[darkcurse]

Worse than you think. Better than you expect. All within bounds of course.

 

[donga]

In all seriousness, the 9400m really isn't that bad of a card for LAPTOPS. I play CoD4 with good results.

If you are going to get an iMac, I would seriously recommend spending the extra cash (if you have it, don't spend what you don't have) and get the gt120 or the 4750 (if you have 50 more dollars).

OR like somebody suggested, go referb and see if you can't get a good deal that way. If you aren't in too much of a hurry to purchase check the referb store every other day or so to check on new merchandise and see if there is something up your ally. I got a referb uMB and I think it is phenominal.

Good luck!
Post back and let us know what you ended up doing.

after doing some searching, review reading, and these posts i think i'm headed toward the base 24" imac or macbook. i'd go refurb, but need an ipod too, plus i'll be a student, so i'm waiting around for the BTS deal in june.

if for some reason i needed to do something graphics intensive, i'll have access to mac pros at school and other media stations, so the 9400m should be just fine for my needs (limited gaming, video playback).

if i go imac i'm a little worried about not having a laptop, but i think i can do fine with the touch and access to school workstations with a flash drive.

this vid helped convince me too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvwJ8IAiGLc

thank for your help everyone

 

[alphaod]

So how bad is the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M? I want to buy an iMac, MacBook, or MacBook Pro, and this is one of the big questions I have. I'm not going to be doing much graphics intensive stuff, but want to be able to play CoD4 and watch movies well.

Is the 9400M okay enough for gaming (CoD4, SC2 when it comes out, medium settings) or will I regret getting it and should have a gotten discrete gpu? Yes, I know discrete is always better than integrated, but will it be okay to go cheaper?

For the iMac, the $1500 24" is a great deal (in my opinion), and I'm debating whether or not to go $300 more for the processor and gt120. With the laptops, I like the smaller MB (and price), but would consider the entry level uMBP if needed

If you're buying a MacBook Pro, you won't have to worry about the 9400, but otherwise its just glorified integrated graphics; runs better than the older Intel integrated. I will run most games from 2 years or older, but newer ones, expect some suffering, especially at a full resolutions.