I am in the market for a new MBP and am interested in hearing feedback regarding the video capabilities of the Nvidia 9400. I am in Industrial Design and have been using a SR MacBook 2.2 with the 3100 for a couple of years. I have been pretty happy with this machine except for the video capabilities. I do not game, but CAM with 3D rendering, and full use of CS3. When I get more than 100 layers in Ai, my MB is pretty much unusable. I will get a 2.8 15" MBP with the 9600 if necessary, but would love to save money if possible. Has anyone done heavy work with just the 9400? Most people I talk to tell me I need a dedicated card, which makes sense, but just wanted to hear from you guys. Thanks.
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Is a video card necessary?
- Thread starter Ropedartman
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I don't use the professional apps you've stated, but I "tested" my 9400m with a few games. All on high. They were Halo Wars, Laura Croft Tomb Raider (anniversary edition) and this new game called Toribash. Steve Jobs said that it was a graphics card without the battery draining, and he was absolutely right! I've yet to find something the 9400m can't handle. 
I run CS4 at about 10% the intensity you do (OMG 100+ layers? I can't even manage a dozen) and the 9400M handles it like nothing although it's mostly CPU as I understand it. The 9600GT is an amazing mobile chip in my opinion, does more than I can.
Yeah, I'd have to check, but my last big Ai piece had over 125 layers. I had to shut everything else down and every little movement I made took several minutes to process! Since then I have doubled my RAM and it has helped a little. Applying textures to 3 dimensional objects is very time consuming, but the 9400 is supposed to be much better than the Intel I've been using.
A lot of people underestimate the 9400M. It is actually quite powerful. From my understanding the 9600 Is just a 9400 with a higher clocked core and more shaders. Of course it is quite A lot more powerful than the 9400M but not as much as everyone seems to think. There both great GPU's in my oppinion.
-If you need the most from your GPU get the 9600GT as it will add substantial power to your graphics needs.
-If you just need basic to moderate Power from your GPU the 9400M will serve you well.
Edit: The 9600GT is actually a lot more powerful than How it seems from reading my post. I think it gives you somewhere around 17FPS more on average than the 9400M. Im not sure what that would translate into for your needs.
-If you need the most from your GPU get the 9600GT as it will add substantial power to your graphics needs.
-If you just need basic to moderate Power from your GPU the 9400M will serve you well.
Edit: The 9600GT is actually a lot more powerful than How it seems from reading my post. I think it gives you somewhere around 17FPS more on average than the 9400M. Im not sure what that would translate into for your needs.
It will be about 5x more powerful. (according to apple when running COD4. The fps actually verify that this is true)
For what your doing it will be a much bigger improvement over the x3100.
You'll want to go with the 9600M GT.
9400M is fine, but it looks like you'll need more for your level of usage. Photoshop wouldn't let me open more than a certain number of images at the same time on my 9400M. I had to switch to the 9600M GT (I'm on a late 2008 uMBP).
And from the looks of it, you're a lot more active user of these graphics apps than I am.
9400M is fine, but it looks like you'll need more for your level of usage. Photoshop wouldn't let me open more than a certain number of images at the same time on my 9400M. I had to switch to the 9600M GT (I'm on a late 2008 uMBP).
And from the looks of it, you're a lot more active user of these graphics apps than I am.
IMO it sounds like you should stretch for the 9600GT, even if it may be a tad overpowered. It will last longer and in a couple of years you may still be able to run your applications at good speed. At that time the 9400M may be to slow to handle any increase in work / newer applications.
Neck and neck I see, that's the sort of info I was hoping for. I've been doing some research and it seems that a lot of 3D CAM and rendering is largely CPU. So I guess the faster 15" would be better there anyway.
Anyone been using Adobe Illustrator?