iBook updates soon? If so, new video card for Core Image?

[slooksterPSV]

1. Its been almost 6 months since the iBooks were updated last and its usually 6 months before another update - we all know this yeah - but my question is, do you think they will do an update on the video card to support Core Image for Tiger? I'm saving up for an iBook (since day one of starting to use this forum I've said this, but next week I'm getting a savings account). It would follow the upgrade pattern to upgrade the video card, but if they don't would I be better off to go for a Powerbook? I plan to use it for Adobe programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) and maybe some gaming.

2. How would Core Image speed up games that are already made? (I'm thinking it wouldn't, but Apple Comps. are awesome.)

3. How will Core Image speed up new games?

4. How will Core Image function with Adobe products, if Adobe already has the plug-ins for different filters?

Some of these questions are confusing me cause its like how will this work, and yeah etc.

 

[KD7IWP]

I would say there for sure would be a new video card since we are already seeing rumors that an updated eMac will have a new Radeo 9600 that will suffice for CoreImage. Only makes sense that an iBook would as well

 

[mcgarry]

Sorry if you have already, but just in case you haven't, you might want to check out this thread.

As a side note, your reasoning on the timing of the next update is of course sound, but I always like to remind that in the longer term, and even with some lines in the short term, we should not set our watches by Apple update calendars. 6 months could mean everything, or it could mean nothing.

 

[jayscheuerle]

I don't see how Core Image would speed up games at all. Games already have heavy direct access to your video card. From what I understand, Core Image just makes use of that video card in situations where it normally wouldn't be using all its horsepower, thereby freeing up the CPU to handle other tasks..

There are quite a few functions that Core Image handles that could be utilized by Photoshop, providing the CPU doesn't do a faster job on its own. It's not like Photoshop is an ever-changing app, like a game is, or even video rendering. You apply a gaussian blur and it's done.

I'd bet that video editing apps will take the most advantage of this. - j

 

[CubaTBird]

mac mini has a radeon 9200... hrm... doubt they will upgrade that ibook.. but hey i got mine like around last june and its still pretty current! with 512 k cache and stuff.. cept that its the 1.07 ghz... but its all good TIGER WOOT WOOT

 

[jim.]

1) Don't know. I would expect things to get better as time goes on, but I don't know your timeframe. Gaming on a portable is not going to be great, particularly if you like to play top-of-the-line games. If you do heavy Photoshop and Illustrator you might benefit from the increased RAM capacity of the PB, again it's hard for me to say. I have a PB, and Warcraft III runs nicely, but it isn't really new (it may be old enough to call ancient now). I couldn't imagine running Doom 3 or something similar here.

2) It won't

3) It won't (most likely)

4) It won't

CoreImage will help speed up the pace at which some apps are developed. Instead of having to write assembly-like code to access graphics hardware, CI provides functions to do this easily. The backend libraries of CI also seem to provide a little bit of optimization as to where these transforms are sent (GPU or CPU) to help give the best performance of the code. You probably won't see Adobe take advantage of CI because: 1) They have already implemented these features as filters in their own programs and 2) CI doesn't exist on windows. It wouldn't be worth it from a business standpoint.

So contrary to what you may be reading somewhere, or thinking, CoreImage is not a graphics engine like Quartz. It is an API that allows programmers to easily create graphics apps (or maybe add cool effects to regular apps), and may or may not give us any noticeable speed improvement over existing frameworks. We'll have to wait for some CI stuff to start coming out so we can see.

Jim

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

This question has already been answered about 1,000,000,225 times. Check out the Thread below this one. Another thing, if you dont know what Core Image is then you probably wont use it. So why do you care? Thanks again. ::walks back into cave::

 

[aswitcher]

This question has already been answered about 1,000,000,225 times. Check out the Thread below this one. Another thing, if you dont know what Core Image is then you probably wont use it. So why do you care? Thanks again. ::walks back into cave::