MacBook Pro 15" Late 2008 Video Card

[NichBot]

I just bought a used MacBookPro 15" late 2008 for $850 (he was asking $1,000), it has 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB HD, and a 2.4DualCore, the Video Card (which I'm confused with) says there are two. One is an Nvidia GeForce 9400GT, and the other says its a 9400M GT. Both consisting of 256MB RAM.

Does this mean i have 512MB?

Another question, the screen seems to flash black with a large white streak every ~10m. Its intermitent. I also booted up and the screen didn't turn on, but the computer was on. It sounds like issues the GeForce 8600GT had. Any Suggestions or comments?

Should I hurry up and sell before its completely shot?

 

[jlocalled]

Exact same MBP here, working great for three years and going.

Your MacBook Pro has two separate chips for graphics.

One, is the integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M. This is the lower performance one, designed for power saving and for situations where video performance isn't critical, such as word processing. The 9400M draws 256MB of RAM from your system's main RAM.

The other chip is the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT. This is the higher performance one and therefore draws more power. This chip has it's own dedicated video RAM, 256MB of it on our particular model.

These chips are not connected and do not share memory. You can choose which one you want to use in the Energy Saver Panel in System Preferences. "Better battery life" uses the 9400M and "Higher Performance" uses the 9600M GT.

Regarding the screen flashing, I'd advise you apply the MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.8 that was just released to fix some issues with screen flashing. It definitely fixed the problem (which has been a problem since I got this machine) for me. As for the screen staying dark, I personally would not be concerned unless it occurs frequently.

- NH

 

[NichBot]

Exact same MBP here, working great for three years and going.

Your MacBook Pro has two separate chips for graphics.

One, is the integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M. This is the lower performance one, designed for power saving and for situations where video performance isn't critical, such as word processing. The 9400M draws 256MB of RAM from your system's main RAM.

The other chip is the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT. This is the higher performance one and therefore draws more power. This chip has it's own dedicated video RAM, 256MB of it on our particular model.

These chips are not connected and do not share memory. You can choose which one you want to use in the Energy Saver Panel in System Preferences. "Better battery life" uses the 9400M and "Higher Performance" uses the 9600M GT.

Regarding the screen flashing, I'd advise you apply the MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.8 that was just released to fix some issues with screen flashing. It definitely fixed the problem (which has been a problem since I got this machine) for me. As for the screen staying dark, I personally would not be concerned unless it occurs frequently.

- NH

Thanks for getting back to me so quick and for all the info, I'll post if the firmware has fixed it or not.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Regarding the screen flashing, I'd advise you apply the MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.8 that was just released to fix some issues with screen flashing. It definitely fixed the problem (which has been a problem since I got this machine) for me. As for the screen staying dark, I personally would not be concerned unless it occurs frequently.

- NH

I had almost the same machine (2.53 GHz model), was stolen six months after I bought it though, which had the same problem when using the 9400M, but not with the 9600M GT.
Glad they finally fixed it, as a friend of mine has the same machine and I have seen these flashes still occurring, but now there is a fix. Thanks for pointing out the firmware.

 

[grahamnp]

For future reference, all NVidia notebook GPUs have the "M" suffix, people will sometimes omit it but it should be there. The non-M version will be the desktop GPU, if there is such a model.