Have you used a MacBook or a MacBook Pro with the 9400M? I have, in fact I use my MBP mostly with the 9400m and my pro level Aperture works fine.
If you look at the various threads floating around here, you'll see that the 9400m is more up to task for "pro" level work and I've stated in various threads that I know pros that still use the polycarbonate MBs with their anemic intel integrated GPU.
I had a friend who owned a 9400m macbook and I used it profusely. He also would tout its performance, saying it is close or better to my 8600gt MBP.
But when we played games, it would be quite a different story. He would lag quite a bit whilst mine ran fine. (the 2.4ghz vs 2.0 ghz may also be affecting it too)
The fact of the matter is, this is their pro line. Not their student line and not their cheap line. And you'll a fool if you think you'll buy into their marketing.
And sure, I know people who still use a pentium 4 2ghz to do their professional graphics work. I once did my graphics work on a 800mhz AMD whilst running a webserver. And that was probably the most original era of my artwork (lots of time to think about how to do the graphics because things were so slow to make... I really learned patience)
Anyway, they should be including a 9400m with a 9600GT in all their MBP options, it's pathetic how they are not (I mean, sure, maybe not in a 13incher because of space, but now you're just being a jackass Apple) The space is there, they're merely not putting on in. Adding a better screen and firewire port doesn't make it "pro" in my sense. When i buy a pro laptop in the PC world, wow does it kick the best 17 inch configuration.
If anyone offered a PC laptop with an integrated 9400m and charged 1699 for it, I think the media would chew it to pieces.