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New 15-Inch and 17-Inch MacBook Pro Restricted to Discrete Graphics in Windows

It's not a reason to complain or get upset about... it's apple it could be other way around. Dont you think so?
 
BigJimmyC said:
The reason graphic switching doesn't work in windows is because apple didn't bother to write a driver to do that. They're lazy and don't care about supporting windows fully, just enough so that people who are on the fence can buy a mac and have their windows too. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, nvidia makes windows drivers that switch between graphics cards. Whether or not those could be used on these models is another issue though. I've personally never tried running nvidia drivers on my mbp when in windows...
Click to expand...

Apple could easily add an option in the Boot Camp preferences for the user to chose what videocard he wants to use. A reboot would be required, but one could use the standard Intel or Nvidia drivers. No need for a special driver written by Apple...

Apple just refuses their customers this option. There is nothing technical preventing it. Just Apple being an ass, punishing Windows users.
 
BigJimmyC said:
The reason graphic switching doesn't work in windows is because apple didn't bother to write a driver to do that. They're lazy and don't care about supporting windows fully, just enough so that people who are on the fence can buy a mac and have their windows too. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, nvidia makes windows drivers that switch between graphics cards. Whether or not those could be used on these models is another issue though. I've personally never tried running nvidia drivers on my mbp when in windows...
Click to expand...

oh lazy to write a driver... I smell Adobe..:D
 
theelysium said:
Windows Sucks Behind!

Of course that inferior OS can't switch between graphic cards! It has trouble with just one, let alone two!

Apple has tons of games on their systems. You don't need windows for a lot of recent releases.

apple.com/games
Click to expand...

Dear crazy fanboy,

The "inferior OS" you're referring to can switch between graphics cards just fine and has in fact been doing just that using nvidia's optimus technology long before it happened in OSX.
Perhaps this rage towards something as unimportant as an operating system that you don't even use can be traced to other unrelated problems going on in your life. Best of luck with that.
 
My concern is for the late 09 Macbook Pro owners. I am one myself. I always thought the auto switching between graphics card in OSX was coming to us, at least that was the impression I got when Steve Jobs was pitching it with OpenCL in SL. With the release of the new generation of Macbook which does it automatically, I have a feeling that the late 09 owners will not get this feature. Does anyone know if it is a hardware limitation? If Optimus can do it in Windows with Nvidia hardware, why can't similar feature be implemented in OSX. I would think it would be a lot harder to implement the switch between Intel to Nvidia in the new generation of Macbook than Nvidia to Nvidia in the previous generation.
 
theelysium said:
Windows Sucks Behind!

Of course that inferior OS can't switch between graphic cards! It has trouble with just one, let alone two!

Apple has tons of games on their systems. You don't need windows for a lot of recent releases.

apple.com/games
Click to expand...

Cool story bro

Oh, and on my 15 inchers there was a pretty substantial difference in frame rate between the 9600M GT and the GT 330M, both at 256MB. I could run MW2 with over 30 frames per second on the latter at the highest settings and resolution, with AA off.
 
what?

archurban said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

That's why it is still ripped off, over price, piece of ****. It doesn't need review. Excepting processor, nothing isn't changed at all. 256MB dedicated graphic memory with $2000 price? Are you kidding me? I expected something about more than 512MB at least. By the way, lower performance in windows side doesn't seem to fix by software at all in this time. Too bad. That's why no matter what MacBook is, don't plat game on it.
Click to expand...


The users will only see lower battery life expectancy due to the discrete graphics card being used. Graphics power should still be on par with Windoze laptops.
 
macswitcha2 said:
I think Apple is presently preparing something just for gamers. I would say in two to three years they will come out with a gaming machine. Just watch.
Click to expand...

Now why would they do that when the future of gaming is things like Steam? Furthermore, platform-less gaming hosts.
 
MacRumors said:
Windows cannot take advantage of both graphics processors that come with some MacBook Pro computers.
Click to expand...

No, Apple cannot be bothered to write a driver to allow the user to switch. I know that I will almost never use the discrete gfx in Windows, so I'd even be ok with a BIOS switch to enable / disable it, but no, Apple doesn't want to give ppl the choice. I was set to buy a new MBP (matte of course), but now... :-s

In fact, I'm sure Apple does this on purpose - so that battery benchmarks on 'identical' HW result in OS X having a much better battery life compared to Windows 7 - Apple can point to its 'magic', when in fact it's because they have the full GPU and Bluetooth ++ running under Windows.

Great for consumers Apple.
 
Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and looking to buy my first Mac. Thanks for all the useful comments that guided me during the last two months. However, decision time is approaching as I need a new computer soon and I just wanted to share my situation with you to to make sure I get the best advice before I splash out so much cash on a new computer.

I'm a PC user but I'm thinking of buying a Mac because my previous PC's, despite being the best spec thing I could get at the moment never quite performed, and because I adore the compact, easy to use Mac compared to my bulky Pc laptops.

I'm a designer and an amateur photographer so I use a lot the Adobe package (especially Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesigner), but I also use modelling software as Rhino, SolidWorks and AutoCad, and rendering as VRay and 3dstudio, though not as often as the Adobe stuff. I guess I will use mainly my Mac with the OSX version but need to switch to Windows from time to time to model and render.

I really would love to use my machine fast and smoothly, with no performance problems, for at least 3 years. I don't care spending a bit more on higher specs but if they are going to be worth for the use I will be giving to it.

I get a bit lost when deciding between i5 or i7, 4 or 8 gb RAM, and processor speed, and how to combine them for the best performance with the software I use, both in Mac and Windows. I could also really use some tips on how to run the graphics card for best performance in both OS.

And (dare I say that ;) ) it is really a MBP the best option for me or could I go as well with a PC? (in terms of performance, I know that I'll be losing the Mac "easiness" :p) Or maybe shall I wait for another MBP update with a better processor?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
wait.... if i read this right the bootcamp is only running integrated graphics and not the gpu... it seems most people here are treating it as the reverse...

if so then this is horrible news, although nVidia's windows drivers may be a solution?
 
no...

JS82189 said:
wait.... if i read this right the bootcamp is only running integrated graphics and not the gpu... it seems most people here are treating it as the reverse...

if so then this is horrible news, although nVidia's windows drivers may be a solution?
Click to expand...

Bootcamp is using the discrete graphics, that's the Nvidia 330m GT. It is not using the integrated graphics in Bootcamp.

Source: Have a new i7 system :cool:
 
BigJimmyC said:
The reason graphic switching doesn't work in windows is because apple didn't bother to write a driver to do that. They're lazy and don't care about supporting windows fully, just enough so that people who are on the fence can buy a mac and have their windows too. As was pointed out earlier in the thread, nvidia makes windows drivers that switch between graphics cards. Whether or not those could be used on these models is another issue though. I've personally never tried running nvidia drivers on my mbp when in windows...
Click to expand...

Why the hell would Apple write want to Windows drivers? Seriously? You really think Apple wants to spend the time to write the driver? Do they want to spend the money hiring developers and testers? Do they want to support it for years to come? Does Apple want people calling up with Windows questions? "Hey, I'm in Windows 7, I'm running application X and the driver doesn't work... help me Applecare!"

Oh yeah, what would Apple get out of doing this?
 
Mackan said:
Apple could easily add an option in the Boot Camp preferences for the user to chose what videocard he wants to use. A reboot would be required, but one could use the standard Intel or Nvidia drivers. No need for a special driver written by Apple...

Apple just refuses their customers this option. There is nothing technical preventing it. Just Apple being an ass, punishing Windows users.
Click to expand...

how are Windows users being punished? they're using the superior graphics card. So, battery life drops to average windows laptop levels. no big deal. How many people use bootcamp in a place where they would not be close to an outlet anyway (ex: gamers, developers, etc)?
 
tucablanca said:
Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and looking to buy my first Mac. Thanks for all the useful comments that guided me during the last two months. However, decision time is approaching as I need a new computer soon and I just wanted to share my situation with you to to make sure I get the best advice before I splash out so much cash on a new computer.

I'm a PC user but I'm thinking of buying a Mac because my previous PC's, despite being the best spec thing I could get at the moment never quite performed, and because I adore the compact, easy to use Mac compared to my bulky Pc laptops.

I'm a designer and an amateur photographer so I use a lot the Adobe package (especially Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesigner), but I also use modelling software as Rhino, SolidWorks and AutoCad, and rendering as VRay and 3dstudio, though not as often as the Adobe stuff. I guess I will use mainly my Mac with the OSX version but need to switch to Windows from time to time to model and render.

I really would love to use my machine fast and smoothly, with no performance problems, for at least 3 years. I don't care spending a bit more on higher specs but if they are going to be worth for the use I will be giving to it.

I get a bit lost when deciding between i5 or i7, 4 or 8 gb RAM, and processor speed, and how to combine them for the best performance with the software I use, both in Mac and Windows. I could also really use some tips on how to run the graphics card for best performance in both OS.

And (dare I say that ;) ) it is really a MBP the best option for me or could I go as well with a PC? (in terms of performance, I know that I'll be losing the Mac "easiness" :p) Or maybe shall I wait for another MBP update with a better processor?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

Hi there.
I am finding myself in the same situation that you were facing an was wondering whether you had any luck reguarding advice on choice of MBP ?
Cheers
 
tucablanca said:
Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and looking to buy my first Mac. Thanks for all the useful comments that guided me during the last two months. However, decision time is approaching as I need a new computer soon and I just wanted to share my situation with you to to make sure I get the best advice before I splash out so much cash on a new computer.

I'm a PC user but I'm thinking of buying a Mac because my previous PC's, despite being the best spec thing I could get at the moment never quite performed, and because I adore the compact, easy to use Mac compared to my bulky Pc laptops.

I'm a designer and an amateur photographer so I use a lot the Adobe package (especially Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesigner), but I also use modelling software as Rhino, SolidWorks and AutoCad, and rendering as VRay and 3dstudio, though not as often as the Adobe stuff. I guess I will use mainly my Mac with the OSX version but need to switch to Windows from time to time to model and render.

I really would love to use my machine fast and smoothly, with no performance problems, for at least 3 years. I don't care spending a bit more on higher specs but if they are going to be worth for the use I will be giving to it.

I get a bit lost when deciding between i5 or i7, 4 or 8 gb RAM, and processor speed, and how to combine them for the best performance with the software I use, both in Mac and Windows. I could also really use some tips on how to run the graphics card for best performance in both OS.

And (dare I say that ;) ) it is really a MBP the best option for me or could I go as well with a PC? (in terms of performance, I know that I'll be losing the Mac "easiness" :p) Or maybe shall I wait for another MBP update with a better processor?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

mylk said:
Hi there.
I am finding myself in the same situation that you were facing an was wondering whether you had any luck reguarding advice on choice of MBP ?
Cheers
Click to expand...

Hi Guys,

First of all, let me say "Welcome to our little Mac community".

Having said that, these questions should really be asking in another area of this forum.

Now, as to your purchasing choices, I'm no expert, but I hope I can help you along. I think there's a few fundamental questions you need to ask:

Do you need a portable? Or is a desktop OK?

If laptop, what size screen would you need on the move? 15" or 17"? The 17" is just that much larger and therefore heavier. Is that going to be an issue for you?

The RAM comes as standard 4GB, but it's easily replaceable with third-party offerings. Since you seem to need to do a lot of 3D rendering & stuff, I'd say you need more RAM, but no need to pay Apple too much. Some vendors even do it for you.

You might want to consider a faster harddisk, though. Changing to a 7200rpm harddisk might not be a bad thing for someone who needs to work with a lot of video. Of course, an SSD would be fastest, but the capacities available are much smaller.

If I were you, and money was no object, I'd get the 15" MBP with i7 processor & 500GB 7200rpm harddisk. I'd also choose the anti-glare display. That's for jobs out in the field. Then, I'd get (at least a 22"-24") EIZO ColourEdge Monitor for work back in the studio.

If money is tight, then I'd settle for a 15" MBP with i5 and stick to the standard display. I'd still get more RAM, and probably look to changing the harddisk to a 7200rpm somewhere down the road. I'd also get a 27" Samsung HD monitor.

If you prefer a desktop, then I'd say a new Mac Pro (even base model is fine) with that EIZO monitor would be your ideal. At worst case, the 27" quad-core i5 iMac with standard fittings, but it seems the iMacs have a small-than-standard colour gamut, so if this is a concern, then iMacs should not be considered.

Mac OS doesn't really let you tweak the graphics settings much, but with the EIZO monitor, you can be sure you have a fairly wide colour gamut, and a monitor that can be calibrated for proper colour management (for stuff like standardizing ICC profiles; if you've ever done anything serious with colour or RIPs, you know what I'm talking about).

Well, that's all I have. Hope it's been helpful. Have fun with you new Macs and let us know how it goes.
 
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