Prev Gen 8400M GT or new gen 9400M??

[anirudh]

Well, like many people in here I am faced with the option of buying either an old MBP or the new MB. So apart from the extra harddrive space (which I dont really need), the only spec difference I see is the graphics card. So between the old MBP's 8400M GT and the new macbook's 9400M, which is the better one? Considering the MBP in my case also has 256 MB of VRAM

 

[proc]

Well, like many people in here I am faced with the option of buying either an old MBP or the new MB. So apart from the extra harddrive space (which I dont really need), the only spec difference I see is the graphics card. So between the old MBP's 8400M GT and the new macbook's 9400M, which is the better one? Considering the MBP in my case also has 256 MB of VRAM

The old MacBook Pro has a 8600M GT and the new MacBook has a 9400M GPU.
The 8600M GT is faster than a 9400M and has dedicated VRAM. Quite simply the 8600M GT in the old MacBook Pro destroys the 9400M regarding GPU performance. If GPU performance is the deciding factor, I would go with the previous MacBook Pro.

You can compare the GPU's here. The 8600M GT clocks in at number 51 and the 9400M clocks in at number 77.

 

[anirudh]

any reason why i should consider the new gen MB?

 

[phobic99]

any reason why i should consider the new gen MB?

I'd say it all boils down to personal preference really. The only reason I'd get a new macbook over the last gen macbook pro is the form factor. I almost bought a macbook yesterday but after reading some reviews, I think I'm going with a refurb/used MBP. I have a MSI wind (with OSX on it) I can use for ultra portability.

 

[kenned]

I have the new 2.0 aluminum Macbook, i find it has plenty of graphics power, and it has the videoplayback accelerated by the GPU, which means you'll have a big bonus over the old MBP when you're watching video because you'll have the processor free for everything else.

The new MBP has the 9600M GT which is 10-20% faster than the 8600M GT, and for some reason the 9600M GT is scoring loads higher than other laptops also running 9600M GT. Check out this Benchmark
Maybe it is actually running hybrid SLI with the 9400M under windows