Important to you maybe.. and thats totally understandable, but I know 6 people who own Macs and none of them know, or could care less what video card they have. All they know and care about is that they dont have to worry about viruses and whatnot, and that they also can "just use it". They dont have to do the techy admin stuff like they did on a windows machine.
Well, maybe it depends on whom you know? These people you know don't sound very knowledgeable about computers in general. You're also talking about EXISTING Mac users and we're talking about POTENTIAL Mac users. Apple already sold these 6 people a computer based on total ignorance of what they were buying (beyond it's not likely to get a virus and apparently doesn't need "techy admin stuff" (whatever that means) so why would they care about what a new Mac might have? Why would they ever care about buying a new Mac again for that matter? (Cuz it got like slow and stuff with newer software?)
I'll concede that I wish for a more powerful gpu, but when I game, I use my consoles. I think that most mac users just want a computer that works and like the several that I know, dont care about gpu, ram (well maybe), and all the other tech specs.
I have very specific needs. I create virtual pinball games under Windows (cannot move that to OSX due to the software I'm using so I need XP one way or the other plus to run my old software occasionally). I also want to play SOME (even if not very often) newer games on occasion. That means Intel GMA 950 doesn't cut it. It doesn't mean I need a $2000+ MBP (that price range is almost unheard of on the PC these days except bleeding edge gaming systems, which the MBP and MacPro are NOT) and I regularly talk to people at work who say they like the looks of the Mac and what they hear about it, but they're "so darn expensive". I point out there are some cheaper models available and they ask about what they get for that price and when I say Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics on the MacBook and MacMini, they laugh at me. "Who'd want THAT? So you're telling me Apple is basically FORCING a real user to buy their $2k+ lines if they want to do something a $700 PC can do with no problems?" What am I going to respond with? You don't NEED to play games? You don't need to do any 3D stuff? You don't need anything MODERN?
What it comes down to is if OSX is going to be taken seriously as a cutting edge OS, they need MODERN hardware. Apple seems to go to great extremes to keep their CPUs current, but what doesn't make any sense is how they don't seem to care one bit about their GPUs and yet they STILL use it as the only REAL difference (other than screen size) between a Macbook and a Macbook Pro. If MOST Mac users really do not care about GPUs in the first place, why use it like that to force people to go to the model that costs twice as much?
Gaming is not a 'Pro' feature, so why force users to buy 'Pro' equipment just to play a modern CURRENT YEAR game? The Santa Rosa graphics are not cutting edge. They do NOT compete with the MBP, but they DO make the difference between being able to play a 3D game PERIOD in many cases or not. IMO, this creates RESENTMENT. Apple may WANT me to buy a new laptop every single year, but I don't want to do it and OSX fan or not, I will go PC only if Apple will not meet me at least halfway. Why should I start investing in OSX only commercial software if I have to worry whether my next computer will even be a Mac because of them playing games like this with hardware to force me to overspend? I can get TWO capable PCs for the price of one Mac simply because they are trying to force me to buy the MBP instead of the MB over ONE feature (graphics). That feature doesn't even mean much to a non-gamer (who doesn't need fast 3D performance).
It just seems like Apple needs to decide whom they're marketing to and for what reasons. Screen size should not determine "Pro" status, IMO. Screen size = portability factor in my book. Graphics card = gaming performance. CPU/Memory/Ports = pro features (fast/big/firewire 800, etc.). This is because CPU speed is not the limiting factor with gaming these days. GPU is almost everything.
