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New video cards in newer MBP ???

I

igmolinav

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 15, 2005
1,126
4
Hi,

I may be wrong, are there rumors about the newer MBP coming out to the market with a card different to the NVIDIA ones ??

Supposedly, these cards will be more stable for gaming but also for applications in the field of architecture.

I am interested in buying a MBP in a year from now to use it for
architecture design. Will the newer MBP be more helpful ??

Kind regards,

igmolinav.
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

I may be wrong, are there rumors about the newer MBP coming out to the market with a card different to the NVIDIA ones ??

Supposedly, these cards will be more stable for gaming but also for applications in the field of architecture.

I am interested in buying a MBP in a year from now to use it for
architecture design. Will the newer MBP be more helpful ??

Kind regards,

igmolinav.
Click to expand...

I havnt heard anything about these "New GPU's" if they dont use nVidia for the next one, theyll most likely use ATi which will be comparable to the nVidias, one may be stronger than the other, so idk if theres something about them that will make them better for architecture...Whats wrong with the current MBP's GPU and architecture?
 
igmolinav said:
Hi,

I may be wrong, are there rumors about the newer MBP coming out to the market with a card different to the NVIDIA ones ??

Supposedly, these cards will be more stable for gaming but also for applications in the field of architecture.

I am interested in buying a MBP in a year from now to use it for
architecture design. Will the newer MBP be more helpful ??

Kind regards,

igmolinav.
Click to expand...

The next video card upgrade will probably be to a 9600M GT. It's still a gaming video card and a midrange video card.

Video cards used for architectural applications (I'm assuming something like Architectual AutoCAD, Solidworks, ect) and other workstation video cards are Nvidia's Quadro series and ATi's FireGL series. I doubt you'll find them in the next MBP update since they're not good for gaming and it's not something the "masses" would be interested in. They're usually more expensive and they target a niche market.
 
with the high end imac now getting the 8800 i wouldn't be surprised if we see the 8800 in the next revision of the MBP.
 
Thank you very much for your last message : ) !!!

Do you think the Mac Book may get in the future some sort of video card ??
It would be cool for people who are into architecture to see it with some
sort of video card, just another thought.

Thanks again,

igmolinav.
 
e12a said:
with the high end imac now getting the 8800 i wouldn't be surprised if we see the 8800 in the next revision of the MBP.
Click to expand...

I would. The price would go up quite a bit, and the heat output by the 8600M GT in the 15" laptop is quite a lot. An 8800M puts out more heat than an 8600M GT.

It might happen for the 17" laptop though, but I doubt it would happen for the 15", unless they redesign the laptop.

Also, the 9 series is in. So I would expect a 9 series video card in the MBP.
 
Yeah, it is kind of cool with the imac. One more or less has the choice to upgrade the video card.

Kind regards,

igmolinav.
 
The heat of the 8800M's can be dispersed in a 15" form factor, as evidenced by the 15" m15x from Alienware. Still, it'd be hotter than the current one, and the battery life would go through the floor.
 
not to mention apple always underclocks their GPUs.

never know about battery life...the 8600 absolutely kills the old x1600 in performance, yet battery life still remained the same (minus the increase from LED screens)
 
m1stake said:
The heat of the 8800M's can be dispersed in a 15" form factor, as evidenced by the 15" m15x from Alienware. Still, it'd be hotter than the current one, and the battery life would go through the floor.
Click to expand...

Same size form factor doesn't matter as much as the fact they are two different designs. The MBP has a thinner and lighter design and it aimed at running more quietly. I don't know how loud the m15x is under load but I'd say it has some pretty decent fans in it. If people are serious about gaming they really should just stick to desktops where they can buy high-end graphics cards. I personally never game on a laptop and want it to run quiet and cooler which isn't possible with a high-end graphics card currently. Also, if Apple is putting a new graphics card in the next revision of the MBP it will be an nVidia 9 series most likely at that point. They wouldn't use an older 8 series card and I doubt they'll use ATI.
 
I would agree that you can get a desktop that frankly rapes the m15x for 1/3 of the price, but people want to play everywhere. However you do bring up a good point that the X1600 to the 8600GT there was no decrease in battery life- HOWEVER, they occupy the same slot - the midrange - so they consume about the same amount of power.

...I wouldn't expect an 8800M (Or what ever is next in line) in a MBP, but I sure wouldn't complain!
 
m1stake said:
I would agree that you can get a desktop that frankly rapes the m15x for 1/3 of the price, but people want to play everywhere. However you do bring up a good point that the X1600 to the 8600GT there was no decrease in battery life- HOWEVER, they occupy the same slot - the midrange - so they consume about the same amount of power.

...I wouldn't expect an 8800M (Or what ever is next in line) in a MBP, but I sure wouldn't complain!
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't really make laptops that cater to gamers and most gamers despise Apple.
 
m1stake said:
The heat of the 8800M's can be dispersed in a 15" form factor, as evidenced by the 15" m15x from Alienware. Still, it'd be hotter than the current one, and the battery life would go through the floor.
Click to expand...

The m15x is 30% thicker than the MBP, and even though its a 15.4" screen, the casing around the screen (cant remember the name lol) is wider all the way around it, so the actual casing is larger than the 15" MBP in all aspects, so just that it can work in the m15x doesnt mean it will work in the MBP.
 
Things are better than you think ...

The Flashing Fi said:
Apple doesn't really make laptops that cater to gamers and most gamers despise Apple.
Click to expand...

A couple of years ago that may have been the case but things are (thankfully) different nowadays. The 8600M GT that appeared in the MBP last year was a decent card for a laptop and many people, including myself, had no problems playing games on it.

If you looked at similar price and spec PC laptops at the time the MBP's card compared very well and most of the time was the same one used by PC manufacturers. But Apple's laptop looked better and was thinner! Only really high end gaming laptops had better or SLI cards. But they were much more expensive, far louder and vastly thicker.

Even the last, white iMac had a decent graphics card option with the 7600 GT high end option and gave impressive benchmarks for an all in one, virtually silent desktop. It was only when the Aluminium iMacs were first released that people were disappointed with Apple's new graphics choice. But now thankfully they've picked up the ball again and added the 8800 GS as an option.

It's pretty tempting I tell ya, but I'm waiting for a (hopefully) redesigned MBP in June and want to see which graphics card they decide to put in there before making my next purchase. Speaking of which I'm still waiting for Barefeats to benchmark the new iMac's graphics performance and am looking forward to an impressive increase.

Of course you can't forget the Mac Pro which competes very well with PC's for gaming. You can add any Windows graphics card in there (as well as SLI) and play games in Bootcamp, where thanks to more up to date drivers, you'd get a better experience than on Mac OS anyway.

So, my friend, things are better than you think. Apple are far better with their specs nowadays if you're a gamer and own a MBP and hopefully they won't stray too far behind the competition in the future ... ;)
 
Neutral Gamer said:
Of course you can't forget the Mac Pro which competes very well with PC's for gaming. You can add any Windows graphics card in there (as well as SLI) and play games in Bootcamp, where thanks to more up to date drivers, you'd get a better experience than on Mac OS anyway.

So, my friend, things are better than you think. Apple are far better with their specs nowadays if you're a gamer and own a MBP and hopefully they won't stray too far behind the competition in the future ... ;)
Click to expand...

Sorry dude, but nobody is going to consider paying the price of a Mac Pro when going for a gaming machine.
 
Eric. said:
Sorry dude, but nobody is going to consider paying the price of a Mac Pro when going for a gaming machine.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that one mate. You wouldn't buy it just for playing games but it is a nice *bonus* if you need the multi core power of those Xeon processors for real work.

But my main point was that a MBP is perfectly fine and good value for portable gaming and will be even more so when the next, updated version come out. And to a lesser extent, although you can't compare it directly to similar priced PC's, the latest high end iMac is satisfactory for most gamers.

Of course, for real value for money and choice, real gamers would have a console (or two) in the first place! But it is nice and easy sometimes to have a quick LAN session when everyone's got laptops rather than lugging around heavy desktops. :D
 
Eric. said:
Sorry dude, but nobody is going to consider paying the price of a Mac Pro when going for a gaming machine.
Click to expand...

Really? I did. Oh, and so did two other members in the gaming clan.;)

Try not to speak for everyone when you are fresh and new at life.
 
Nobody with a reasonable budget considers a mac pro for a gaming machine.

I wish some info on the 9600m release were available.
 
I'm skeptical about Apple upgrading their GPUs this update, though it would be a very nice surprise if they did, and would put their laptops a little more inline with others in the same price region. The 8600m GT is still a pretty powerful card, and can run Crysis respectably from all reports I've read, but other manufacturers have laptops that cost the same with a better Graphics option. The MacBook Pros generally are better in the CPU department, which from what I can tell having followed the development of their products and others over the years is exactly what they do; Apple focus on CPU and RAM, and less so on Graphics. Other Manufacturers product development ethos places the emphasis on a better Graphics Chip (or Card) for a reduced CPU option.

If they did update it, it would probably be with the 9600m (when it is released). A higher 8xxx series card would use too much power and generate a bit too much more heat.
 
It's tough for them to put a new card in when there isn't a new card to replace it with :p

I'm aware that the m15x is in no way the same breed of laptop as the MBP (Although they attempt to cater to people who need to do heavy lifting computer wise on the go).

The 9600GT is a very good card, especially compared to the mediocre jump between the 7600GT and the 8600GT. So I'd bet whenever the mobile version comes out, Apple will throw it into their next update.
 
Maybe by then, ATI's HD4600m will be ready... The 4xxx's are scheduled for release later this month iirc... maybe get the mobile card out and ready in time for the Montevina refresh...

Maybe this is why ATI pushed up their HD4xxx series launch? :rolleyes:

Based on the (unverified) specs and benchmarks I've been seeing for the HD4870, it looks like the HD4xxx series is going to be a beast. Probably a little better than nVidia's current offerings.
 
Maybe this is all speculation? They won't put a workstation card because all the AutoCAD, Maya stuff runs Windows only.
 
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