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MacBook Pro Does Not Support Both GPUs Simultaneously

benpatient said:
so wait, if you're sitting at your desk with your macbook pro and your new 24 inch cinema display playing Crysis 2 (hahahhahahahahahhahaha, yeah right) and you decide it's time to get up and go to the coffee shop and do some work, you have to log out before you close the lid to disable the faster graphics card?

That's absurd. It would be LESS annoying to have a "fast" graphics mode that came on a USB stick that you had to unplug physically...I log out of my macbook maybe once or twice a month....

That's just insane.

Fark.com has a sentence that I think applies to these machines:

FAIL.
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What a bizarre point of view. You write off the entire notebook range because you can't be arsed to spend a few seconds logging out and in again to swap GPUs? How do you react when Software Update demands you reboot your machine - a process that likely takes LONGER than swapping the GPU?

User FAIL.
 
slackpacker said:
Honesty logging out is not such a big deal
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I know, but that's not the issue over here.

The issue we are talking about is wether the two gpu's can combine forces in a so called geforce boost mode to outperform the single use of the 9600 GT as it is now when you switch the energy settings mode.

It would be cool if the 9400M and 9600T use combined forces for even more power. Right now this is NOT the case. Let's hope this will be done in Snow Leopard. And let's also use that logging out would not be necessary anymore.
 
timswim78 said:
That stinks.

I wish that the implementation of the NVIDIA system was similar to what AMD's 780G chipset has, allowing hybrid SLI with the integrated video and a discrete video chip.

Hopefully, Grand Central in 10.6 will be able to use both GPU's. If not, it seems kind of silly to have two chips.
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Of course it does under Vista just not under OSX. nVidia's GeForce 9400 works fine on many Windows Notebooks.
 
CEnTR4L said:
My MBP15" the right one before the new generation MBP
what I wanna know is how big is the difference between my 512 GPU and the new one?
is it that big of a deal to worry about? or its pretty minor?
to be specific, mine is GeForce 8600M GT btw

Regards,
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well,
the 9600M GT is in between the 8600M GT and the 8700M GT due to overall performance.:apple:
and it is not much of a big deal, unless it's 9650M GT or 9700M GT
But i'm quite disappointed with the MBP can't run both GPUs simultaneously
this would delay or even take off my intends on buying new MBP
if Snow Leopard allows me to run both at a time then I'll reconsider
or else, i would be looking for the upgrade in Alienware M15x.:rolleyes:
 
benpatient said:
so wait, if you're sitting at your desk with your macbook pro and your new 24 inch cinema display playing Crysis 2 (hahahhahahahahahhahaha, yeah right) and you decide it's time to get up and go to the coffee shop and do some work, you have to log out before you close the lid to disable the faster graphics card?
Click to expand...
Whilst sitting at your desk you mostly have the power adapter plugged in, I suppose. To save your internal battery. So when running on the power adapter why would you need to switch the other GPU off? You don't need to save on battery at that point... so I'd say leave the high performance on when you are connected to a power adapter.

NovapaX said:
I think the log-out log-in issue will be solved with a software update, and it looks like nvidia knows a little bit more about 10.5.6 than we do.....

I really don't know if it is possible that 'Grand Central' in snow leopard can use the graphics chip not in use, but i suspect it would be possible and it is developed with this update in mind.
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Any idea on when to expect 10.5.6? It would be nice if that logging out feature would be resolved... not that it's that bad, but still it would be nicer without having to log out... especially if you've got lots of other apps open all the time in various different spaces... when you log off, do you lose all open windows? (i don't have a mac yet, so i don't know, my girlfriend's got an imac but I haven't tested it over there yet...)

I guess you lose all open windows because logging off is not the same as sleep/hibernate mode?!
 
I'm suprised anyone actually though that both graphics cards would work together in OSX. There was no indication of this in the keynote, it was clearly explained why they were there. Perhaps it was the Hybrid SLI rumour?

As far as I know for SLI to be utilized in OSX core image would need to be adapted and applications would need to add support by themselves. It isn't a case of Nvidia just turning it on and every graphics process being able to access it.
 
Wow, that sucks!

This article just made me feel even better about buying a MacBook over a MacBook Pro! :D
 
Good god some people dont give Apple enough credit for being smart enough to have known this in the beginning when they were making these new mb/mbp.

They have a plan! They will make fast if not auto switching between processors. I bet they will also make simultaneous use when Snow Leopard comes out as well. Calm down. Put some faith in them. If you are writing in this blog to begin with, then you obviously give two ***** about Apple so quit whining and wait for them to release some small software updates.
 
Umbongo said:
I'm suprised anyone actually though that both graphics cards would work together in OSX. There was no indication of this in the keynote, it was clearly explained why they were there. Perhaps it was the Hybrid SLI rumour?

As far as I know for SLI to be utilized in OSX core image would need to be adapted and applications would need to add support by themselves. It isn't a case of Nvidia just turning it on and every graphics process being able to access it.
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Well, wouldn't surprise me if this version of MBP cannot make use of both GPU's of the same time, even if Snow Leopard brings software support for it. Knowing Apple, to make use of dual GPU with MBP you would have to buy the new updated MBP which should arrive around Snow Leopard...
 
Hi
Keleko said:
This sounds like it is only true for OSX. Some testing I read about with Crysis showed that it may indeed actually use SLI from a Windows install on the same system.
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THis is what I was wondering. I will likely be getting a MBP ( stupid lack of FW ) when Apple finally has refurbs and I can try than ( I use Vista x64 under Boot Camp for work ) but I'm sure we'll find out way before than. :) I'd be willing to put hopes up for the ability of full Hybrid SLI support for this new chipset in Vista with the latest NVIDIA drivers. Very likely just not Apple implemented. I don't know if Apple will ever implement SLI or Hybrid SLI into OS X. I had a new Toshiba come in with dual 8600s a couple months ago and switching from SLI to invididual required a log out / log in of Windows .
 
A theory:

Maybe Apple is waiting to release the 17" MBP to see what people complain about the most in the newly released 15" MBP.

In that case, the 17" MBP will have a matte screen with simultaneous GPU support and a silver keyboard.
 
NovapaX said:
Well, i might be misinformed about the actual reason then. But NVIDIA states clearly with the higher end mobile discrete gpu's that 'Geforce Boost' is not possible. (not in windows, not in leopard, not in any notebook as it seems)
http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybridsli_notebook.html
Click to expand...

You are well informed but you cannot read. I commented the following statement: "real SLI (using graphics power from both cards simultaneously) requires about the same performance for each graphics chip."
 
Bubba Satori said:
Apple needs to retire Steve Jobs and hire a CEO who doesn't attempt to cripple their computers at every possible turn with anorexic thinness, style, missing features and horrible video cards. Enough is enough. Steve needs a rest anyway. Bring back somebody who likes computers. Bring back Woz. :apple: :D

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...umbs_up.jpg/750px-Steve_Wozniak_thumbs_up.jpg
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Wow so many ports on the back of that, just what the current macbook range is missing..
 
two GPUs...
what a waste.

If they say it's an option to conserve energy, why not "slow" it down, like the tiBook could (I don't know if the new(er) macBooks(pro) can slow down the processor so that it saves energy, but I sure know my powerbook G4 500 can).

OT: I've never seen a week with such negative feedback (votes) at macrumors... Apple, carefull!
 
It's probably software issue. As in brand new hardware, and we will add features later.

I would imagine it won't be as different as "connecting" an external monitor, which OSX can be done on the fly (without pressing stupid buttons that windows force its users to do).
 
madrag said:
two GPUs...
what a waste.

If they say it's an option to conserve energy, why not "slow" it down, like the tiBook could (I don't know if the new(er) macBooks(pro) can slow down the processor so that it saves energy, but I sure know my powerbook G4 500 can).

OT: I've never seen a week with such negative feedback (votes) at macrumors... Apple, carefull!
Click to expand...

No, even if you slow down a transistor monster it will consume more power than a 'smaller' chip.
 
 
wordmunger said:
Yeah, I'm really missing the serial printer ports, the scsi interface, 10-base T ethernet, and VGA connector.

Actually a VGA connector would be nice.
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Yea ok but i actually meant the amount of ports not the specific ones in that pic. seems like apple likes to remove/limit them too readily. Im sure most pro owners would like an extra USB or 2 and macbook owners the firewire.
 
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