No 5650 in MacBook Pro - Why not Apple?

[ermir4444]

Why did they not include this amazing card in the last refresh of the MacBook Pro. Better than the 330m in all the below benchmarks with way lower TDP (15-19W vs 23W) according to notebookcheck. The difference in the TPD is of great importance as the battery life would have been longer than the current offering

3DMark 05 - 5650 - 13171
3DMark 05 - 330M - 12559

3DMark 06 - 5650 - 6982
3DMark 06 - 5650 - 6470

3DMark Vantage - 5650 - 3266
3DMark Vantage - 5650 - 2465

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5650.23697.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-330M.22437.0.html

If Apple would have included this card in this generation of MBP our games would have played better, our laps would have stayed cooler and the battery life would have been longer. This card is way better than the 330M currently offered. Why do you think they didn't?





WHY APPLE WHY???

 

[Kendio7]

More than likely because it gives us an incentive to upgrade when they refresh the MacBook Pro's next year. That is one thing that annoys me about Apple...

 

[MikhailT]

Why did they not include this amazing card in the last refresh of the MacBook Pro. Better than the 330m in all the below benchmarks with way lower TDP (15-19W vs 23W) according to notebookcheck. The difference in the TPD is of great importance as the battery life would have been longer than the current offering
....
If Apple would have included this card in this generation of MBP our games would have played better, our laps would have stayed cooler and the battery life would have been longer. This card is way better than the 330M currently offered. Why do you think they didn't?



WHY APPLE WHY???

They prefer to use nVidia cards for the laptops and they have a stronger relationship with nVidia and Intel. Remember that ATI is owned completely by AMD. While ATi does exist in the iMacs, it's probably never going to show up for the laptops unless nVidia screw up big time (ATi did screw up one time with Apple).

The problem right now is that both Intel and nVidia is in a spat with each other and that could affect Apple's ability to use nVidia in near future with Intel's chips.

 

[Identity Fraud]

More than likely because it gives us an incentive to upgrade when they refresh the MacBook Pro's next year. That is one thing that annoys me about Apple...

It's what makes me cringe about finally buying a MacBook Pro. I guess the same can be said for any tech company though, always something bigger and better to come out down the line.

 

[MikhailT]

It's what makes me cringe about finally buying a MacBook Pro. I guess the same can be said for any tech company though, always something bigger and better to come out down the line.

Apple is usually more conservative than other tech companies but yes that's actually just the nature of technology, something is always coming out down the line.

A lot of people I know including companies I worked in tend to keep their MB/MBP far more than two-three years and I do believe that's the majority of the Apple laptop owners. Heh, I know people who still have the old 12" iBooks and refuse to give up on them until they die. For most people, MB/MBP is far more powerful for what they intend to use them for and they should last a long time (unless you got the models with 8600gt like me).

 

[Wehrwolf]

Apple's target market tends to me more mainstream/consumer oriented. Most MBP buyers won't care if there's a 5850 in their notebook, much less know the difference between it and the 330M.

5850 probably would cost more/unit; there also may be supply/yield issues through TMSC, who fabricates silicon for both nVidia and ATI on their 40nm process, which is also used in the current line of desktop cards from both companies.

Would I like a 5850 or even a 5830 in a MBP? Absolutely. But honestly, most folks don't buy Apple for enthusiast gaming, which is the market targeted by the 58xx series of GPUs. Hopefully this will change in the future with Steam getting behind the Mac platform though.

 

[I'mAMac]

Apple's target market tends to me more mainstream/consumer oriented. Most MBP buyers won't care if there's a 5850 in their notebook, much less know the difference between it and the 330M.

5850 probably would cost more/unit; there also may be supply/yield issues through TMSC, who fabricates silicon for both nVidia and ATI on their 40nm process, which is also used in the current line of desktop cards from both companies.

Would I like a 5850 or even a 5830 in a MBP? Absolutely. But honestly, most folks don't buy Apple for enthusiast gaming, which is the market targeted by the 58xx series of GPUs. Hopefully this will change in the future with Steam getting behind the Mac platform though.

I like that last sentence. This is my hope as well. At least give us the OPTION apple. I'm tired of quibbles among the technology companies that somehow make it worse for the consumers. We buy your ****. Just be happy!

 

[MikhailT]

Apple's target market tends to me more mainstream/consumer oriented. Most MBP buyers won't care if there's a 5850 in their notebook, much less know the difference between it and the 330M.

5850 probably would cost more/unit; there also may be supply/yield issues through TMSC, who fabricates silicon for both nVidia and ATI on their 40nm process, which is also used in the current line of desktop cards from both companies.

Would I like a 5850 or even a 5830 in a MBP? Absolutely. But honestly, most folks don't buy Apple for enthusiast gaming, which is the market targeted by the 58xx series of GPUs. Hopefully this will change in the future with Steam getting behind the Mac platform though.

The cost per unit may not be an issue if Apple could just make it a BTO order instead.

 

[Yinmay]

At least give us the OPTION apple.

Indeed. More BTO video cards would be great. I wonder if it has anything to do with Apple's switching technology. I know they said it doesn't rely on nVIDIA's optimus but perhaps there's more to it than this bold statement. At least they could offer higher end nvidia cards if redeveloping the switching for ATI is too complicated.

OP: are you talking of the 5650 or the 5850? 5850 power consumption is really high. Perhaps you should clarify the title of this thread.

 

[ermir4444]

Indeed. More BTO video cards would be great. I wonder if it has anything to do with Apple's switching technology. I know they said it doesn't rely on nVIDIA's optimus but perhaps there's more to it than this bold statement. At least they could offer higher end nvidia cards if redeveloping the switching for ATI is too complicated.

OP: are you talking of the 5650 or the 5850? 5850 power consumption is really high. Perhaps you should clarify the title of this thread.

LOL sorry i just noticed it now. I'll fix it now. I was actually talking about the 5650 since the TDP is 15-19 W and that was the whole point. I will go on a limb and say that even if they utilized this card wout the auto-switching technology it would still have better battery performance than the 330M with the auto switching because there is a difference of 5-8W and that is huge in battery consumption.

 

[deus ex machina]

The cost per unit may not be an issue if Apple could just make it a BTO order instead.

It would make for a more complicated motherboard.

 

[Wehrwolf]

Oh...you were referring to the 5650...lol. Big difference there.

I'm not sure the 330M in the MBPs has a ~24watt power requirement. Apple is using an underclocked version, so it may be closer to the ~19 that the 5650 requires.

Regardless, it would've been nice to see a DX11 GPU in the Core iX MBPs.

 

[Rithem]

I wish Apple used a more powerful GPU in their machines. The 330 is definitely alright when you overclock it though.

 

[Hexero]

One simple answer. ATI doesn't have the technology for dynamic switching between graphic cards. Nvidia has.

 

[mark28]

One simple answer. ATI doesn't have the technology for dynamic switching between graphic cards. Nvidia has.

I'd rather have the manual switching ATI has than a computer controlled switching that makes very silly decision.

I think most people can decide for themselves if they want the ATI to be activeted or the Intel GPU.

Atleast the new Envy 14 got that right. Now let's hope Apple will give us a manual option too.

 

[Yinmay]

One simple answer. ATI doesn't have the technology for dynamic switching between graphic cards. Nvidia has.

Except they're not using nVidia's, or so Apple claims.

There's no telling whether Apple could have used or can use its switching technology with ATI.