Intel HD 3000 Performance?

[Xcallibur]

Hi guys, I'm going to university very soon and will probably opt for the 3D games creation unit within my course; this unit requires the use of Microsoft's games creation program (incuding the use of DirectX) which I'm presuming is the XNA Game Studio/Visual Studio.

Question is, how will the MacBook Pro 13" perform within this task bearing in mind it features no dedicated graphics card?

Thankyou for any replies.

 

[JD92]

I suppose it depends on how much of your course will be based on 3D games. Will you be doing just a little bit of 3D game creation, or will your whole degree be in it?

If it's just a small portion, I presume your university would give you a lab with suitable machines to use, and you could use your laptop occasionally. If it'll be a major part of your course, though, you'd probably be best looking at the 15" MacBook Pro.

 

[Xcallibur]

I suppose it depends on how much of your course will be based on 3D games. Will you be doing just a little bit of 3D game creation, or will your whole degree be in it?

If it's just a small portion, I presume your university would give you a lab with suitable machines to use, and you could use your laptop occasionally. If it'll be a major part of your course, though, you'd probably be best looking at the 15" MacBook Pro.

Well it'll just be one unit I presume and there's around 12 units in a full semester/year (I think); so just a small part of my course; thing is though if I was to go for the 15", it would have to be the higher-end option as the lower end features the 6490M which is marginally better than the Intel HD 3000; and the higher-end would cost me a lot more. So the question is even though it isn't designed for heavy graphics use, how would it perform with heavy 3D graphics use? Do you think it would perform well?

I've no idea how graphically intensive Microsoft Visual Studio/XNA Game Studio installed on a Mac actually is. If someone could inform me, that would be great!

 

[psykick5]

Well it'll just be one unit I presume and there's around 12 units in a full semester/year (I think); so just a small part of my course; thing is though if I was to go for the 15", it would have to be the higher-end option as the lower end features the 6490M which is marginally better than the Intel HD 3000; and the higher-end would cost me a lot more. So the question is even though it isn't designed for heavy graphics use, how would it perform with heavy 3D graphics use? Do you think it would perform well?

I've no idea how graphically intensive Microsoft Visual Studio/XNA Game Studio installed on a Mac actually is. If someone could inform me, that would be great!

You could get the high-end 15 to use for your class. If it's a semester long you could sell it before the refresh comes out and pick up a 13. Win win?

 

[Xcallibur]

You could get the high-end 15 to use for your class. If it's a semester long you could sell it before the refresh comes out and pick up a 13. Win win?

That's not a bad idea actually! It's just working out if its worth waiting for the next MBP, should have USB 3.0, possibly SSD as standard, possibly a higher screen resolution and possibly the Ivy Bridge processor. If that was the case I'd cry if I bought the current gen MBP and that version was released a few months later.

That being said; is it easy to sell MBP's close to their original sale value?

 

[hkim1983]

That being said; is it easy to sell MBP's close to their original sale value?

Um, that depends. The single most important factor is what the going market price is for a similar model, but other factors which could affect you include:

-Where you decide to sell it.
-How you market it.
-What you include with it.

While it's possible to sell it above the market price (I would assume that a consumer would not pay more for it when they could buy a refurbished model directly from Apple for a lower price), in the majority of cases, your prices are at the mercy of what Apple decides to sell it for in their refurb section. You can get around this through superior marketing and/or what you include with it, but that's what you should go by. For reference, last year's (2010) model of the base 15" MBP has been depreciated $530, or 29%.

 

[Xcallibur]

Um, that depends. The single most important factor is what the going market price is for a similar model, but other factors which could affect you include:

-Where you decide to sell it.
-How you market it.
-What you include with it.

While it's possible to sell it above the market price (I would assume that a consumer would not pay more for it when they could buy a refurbished model directly from Apple for a lower price), in the majority of cases, your prices are at the mercy of what Apple decides to sell it for in their refurb section. You can get around this through superior marketing and/or what you include with it, but that's what you should go by. For reference, last year's (2010) model of the base 15" MBP has been depreciated $530, or 29%.

Some useful info there thanks; do you think the Intel HD Graphics 3000 is a good graphics solution?

 

[hkim1983]

Some useful info there thanks; do you think the Intel HD Graphics 3000 is a good graphics solution?

This really depends on your definition of "good". I think it's an adequate card for the majority of scenarios that the "average" consumer would put it through, but I think it's less than stellar for anyone who needs strong gpu performance. Unfortunately, I can't comment on your particular case because I'm not familiar with the needs of your major/classes in your school.

 

[matthemercyless]

Intel HD3000

I have the 2011 13" MBP with the Intel HD3000. Its actually pretty decent. I'm more of a console gamer, but I sometime play StarCraft 2 on it and it can handle most a decent frame rate at med/low settings.

It ships with 4GB RAM as standard and give 384MB to the GPU, but if you put 8GB of RAM in, it will give 512MB to the GPU. I also put a 7200PRM Scorpio Black drive in for an extra boost. I use the same MBP in standard configuration at work and they're worlds apart in terms of performance for the things I do.

Hope this helps

 

[Xcallibur]

This really depends on your definition of "good". I think it's an adequate card for the majority of scenarios that the "average" consumer would put it through, but I think it's less than stellar for anyone who needs strong gpu performance. Unfortunately, I can't comment on your particular case because I'm not familiar with the needs of your major/classes in your school.

Hmm, yeah, specifically perfomance with the XNA Studio would be nice to know.

I have the 2011 13" MBP with the Intel HD3000. Its actually pretty decent. I'm more of a console gamer, but I sometime play StarCraft 2 on it and it can handle most a decent frame rate at med/low settings.

It ships with 4GB RAM as standard and give 384MB to the GPU, but if you put 8GB of RAM in, it will give 512MB to the GPU. I also put a 7200PRM Scorpio Black drive in for an extra boost. I use the same MBP in standard configuration at work and they're worlds apart in terms of performance for the things I do.

Hope this helps

Right well it can't be that bad then! Haha, any big differences from upping the VRAM? Anyhow thanks for the reply.

 

[gullySn0wCat]

I love my MBP13 but HD3000 while great for an Intel IGP is still worthless for any "real" graphics application. Get the 15 with the 6970M.

 

[Xcallibur]

I love my MBP13 but HD3000 while great for an Intel IGP is still worthless for any "real" graphics application. Get the 15 with the 6970M.

Thanks for the heads-up, any particular reason why you say its worthless? I mean like is it noticeable whilst doing certain things?

 

[shardey]

I love my MBP13 but HD3000 while great for an Intel IGP is still worthless for any "real" graphics application. Get the 15 with the 6970M.

The 6970 is not offered in the MBP line. Also define "worthless" as to many this igpu is still quite powerful enough.

The 6750 is whats in the MBP.