Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook Pro's NVIDIA Chipsets Can Support Dual GPU and 8GB RAM

arn said:
The MacBooks don't have both GPUs, so it won't help them.

Right now it would only benefit MacBook Pros. And then what happens when we move to Neehlam, will we still be using NVIDIA chipsets?

arn
Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct. I retracted that comment in a later comment.

It is pretty questionable if Apple will implement the features software-wise with it only benefitting the MBP.

Now if they implement the same chips(or double chips in general) in the iMac/Mac Pro then it might be more probable.
 
davidbrummy said:
I have the previous MBP and have 6GB in it.

After a lot of research I got this memory stick and it worked like a charm

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231202

Most of the reports out there say 8GB will not work on this generation of Mac. Did not see any reason why. I wonder if these new ones will support it.
Click to expand...
Which MBP are you using? Are you using 1 2meg sodimm and 1 4gig sodim?

The new Macbooks should see 8 gigs as well correct

B
 
hob said:
Boot Camp now supports x64 Windows Vista!
Click to expand...

Boot Camp has supported Vista x64 on Mac Pros and Santa Rosa MacBook Pros for quite some time.

Also, you won't be able to get hybrid SLI going until either 1) Apple releases a driver, or 2) someone successfully hacks the drivers used by other, dissimilar two-GPU notebooks. Just installing Vista won't do it.

I still want to hear from someone, anyone, who has access to two 4GB DDR3 DIMMs and tries them out in either a unibody MBP or a unibody MacBook, running over 8GB worth of memory-intensive applications. I'll believe 8GB when I can see it. Remember, the SR MBP's chipset supports 8GB, but the machine doesn't work properly with 8GB installed -- you're limited to a maximum of 6GB.
 
Eidorian said:
Once again the game is in Apple's court to support these features.
Click to expand...

Once again, Apple probably won't support these features. They've had these prototype chipsets in house for how many months, working with Nvidia?

I doubt it would take much to support these features. If there was anything more than simple driver re-writes, or software support for these features, it would come on the next update, no sooner.

8GB RAM, Apple doesn't care, they could support it, but by same reasoning Apple doesn't support Blu-Ray (don't want to 'burden' our customers with expense), 4GB DDR3 sticks ain't coming out at anything less than very expensive for a long time...ergo, Apple ain't going to support it.

Wonder when Apple is going to shift to 16:9 wide-gamut LED backlit screens like Sony already does, like Sony already has BR :(.
 
arn said:
I think the on-the-fly switching will come. The current implementation clearly just seems like something they got working to get it out the door. I feel certain that will come in a future Mac OS X update.

The dual-GPU I would hope would come too, but that seems more up in the air. Maybe with Snow Leopard. Part of it depends on how common these NVIDIA chipsets become in Macs.

arn
Click to expand...

Really arn, Apple's had these in development for a while, you don't think it's not all that much trouble to do on the fly switching...where's the R&D budget, if Winblows can do it, then Apple should have been able to do it too.

If they couldn't even get ATI chips to run cool enough in the early MBP, don't expect Apple to be able to cool two GPU's in the same notebook enclosure...even if that enclosure/frame is now more modular, just isn't going to happen in such a thin notebook. At least not until the manufacturing process is reduced such that they consume 1/2 the energy/dissipate 1/2 the heat they do now. Will take a few more years.
 
Butthead said:
Wonder when Apple is going to shift to 16:9 wide-gamut LED backlit screens like Sony already does, like Sony already has BR :(.
Click to expand...

Most people still think Apple has the greatest screens and white LED backlit screens are the latest technology. :rolleyes:
 
Butthead said:
Really arn, Apple's had these in development for a while, you don't think it's not all that much trouble to do on the fly switching...where's the R&D budget, if Winblows can do it, then Apple should have been able to do it too.

If they couldn't even get ATI chips to run cool enough in the early MBP, don't expect Apple to be able to cool two GPU's in the same notebook enclosure...even if that enclosure/frame is now more modular, just isn't going to happen in such a thin notebook. At least not until the manufacturing process is reduced such that they consume 1/2 the energy/dissipate 1/2 the heat they do now. Will take a few more years.
Click to expand...

When those features weren't ready at launch and not even announced as features Apple is never going to do it. I'm sure they will introduce 'new' features only with new models even if it can be done with the old ones. Maybe Apple will update the MBP with a new chipset like a 9450 in 6 months and enables the switching between the GPUs without logging out.
 
kobefan234 said:
So could we put 8GB ram in our MBP's now?
Click to expand...

Don't take this wrong, but did you read any of the posts related to this article? :confused:

image.php
 
Josso said:
Please let it be true - that you can use up to 8GB RAM.

That would definitely be a killer-reason for me, to switch to Mac. :D
Click to expand...

To switch ? There are already PC laptops out there that support 8G RAM, even nice little 13" ones...
 
ageha said:
When those features weren't ready at launch and not even announced as features Apple is never going to do it. I'm sure they will introduce 'new' features only with new models even if it can be done with the old ones. Maybe Apple will update the MBP with a new chipset like a 9450 in 6 months and enables the switching between the GPUs without logging out.
Click to expand...

Not a chance. Apple only releases software when its good and ready. They rolled out the new line and will update the software accordingly. I'm glad they didn't rush the features. They've unlocked features in the past like Wi-Fi that wasn't announced when the machines were sold.
 
kobefan234 said:
So only if apple updated the drivers?
Click to expand...

It's clear that I misunderstood you, and possibly likewise you, me. Please excuse my previous question.



MowingDevil said:
Not a chance. Apple only releases software when its good and ready. They rolled out the new line and will update the software accordingly. I'm glad they didn't rush the features. They've unlocked features in the past like Wi-Fi that wasn't announced when the machines were sold.
Click to expand...

Correct, in the context of 802.11n. But They do charge $2 to activate it, which does chap many people's hide. It is frustrating, but at least they made the "license" for that work with every computer in your household that supports it.

image.php
 
Shadow said:
640K should be enough for anyone...

EDIT: After reading the thread, I think you're all getting worked up about nothing. IIRC, using GeForce Boost on 2 unequal GPUs (like the 9400M and the 9600M) causes the faster GPU to work at the speed of the slower one, meaning basically all you have is 2 * 9400M. From the benchmarks I've seen, the 9600M is roughly twice as fast as a 9400M anyway, so all you'd be doing is increasing the heat and decreasing the battery life. Prove me wrong...
Click to expand...

Here is a review of Hybrid SLI - basically, it works in real world tests.

http://hothardware.com/Articles/NVIDIA-GeForce-9300-and-9400-Motherboard-GPUs/?page=9

The 9600M should perform about 50-75% faster than the 9400M.

Is it not reasonable to expect up to a 50% increase from 9600M + 9400M over 9600M alone?
 
demiphonic said:
Awww Snap! :eek: Two at the same time! :eek: .....this one will shut PC users up for sure! :D
Click to expand...

Two what? Two GPUs? You do realise that it is the chipset that supports this, not some special Apple..er.. sauce, and therefore everything that is available for us new MBP owners will be available to Windows users with comparable hardware?

demiphonic said:
I really hope it turns out to be true! ....& do you'll realize how bad A$$ the new Mac Pros will be if they have "OpenCL and Grand Central, NVIDIA chipsets," plus 8 cores! dam*!!
Click to expand...

I know. It'll be... uh... just like every other computer that supports all that stuff.

The idea that someone using, say, a Lenovo computer has to "lose" a feature in order for me to "win" it on my MBP is a little childish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back