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You are right - it is ridiculous.

The drivers for the 9600GT are just rubbish. It isn't a hardware problem or anything - boot up Windows and the 9600GT smokes on NVIDIA's new "official" drivers (for laptops).

Back on OS X, go to the movie trailer part of Apple's website and watch a 1080p trailer on the 9600GT (stutters) and then same one on the 9400M (fluent). How Apple ever let this out is crazy.

Now NVIDIA are officially supporting laptop drivers, Apple have no excuse not to be collaborating with them to get the best and most optimised drivers yet.

this couldn't be more true. I never use the 9600 in osx because the performance is worse. Everything from HD video playback to expose and spaces runs much smoother with the 9400.
 
I think 9600GT and 9400 are about identical when it comes to hardware accelerated decoding of video formats. I have 9600GT and Leopard 10.5.6 and 1080p videos work perfectly fine.

from what i can understand, Video playback has little to do with gpu power, since quicktime (or vlc) isn't GPU accelerated, it takes most of it's power from the CPU. Thats also why Intel's "montevina" CPU platform is touted as being HD ready.
 
this couldn't be more true. I never use the 9600 in osx because the performance is worse. Everything from HD video playback to expose and spaces runs much smoother with the 9400.

It's got to do with psychology, switching to 9600m Gt shouldn't give you a massive boost in power because barely and programs are using the GPU. U just think it running slow when it's running just a bit faster.

oh and btw, in 9400m i usually close programs after i'm done with them, but with 9600m i just leave them open, there is no difference in performance, DAMN i love this machine!!
 
If you want, try:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thetaleofdespereaux/hd/

Trailer 1, 1080p (stutters for me on 2 machines, including both MBP video cards)

Another one I tried appeared to stutter as well, but it does not appear to now (The International 1080p). I'm actually beginning to suspect that the Desperaux trailer I downloaded was somehow corrupted. Perhaps we happened upon bad transfers?

To those who think that QT is not GPU accelerated: there is some evidence that suggests that it is. CPU utilization rates are reported lower on these machines than previous generation, by a factor of 2. Also, the new unibody machines shipped with a QT version that was different from earlier editions, and they are still ahead version-wise, which may reflect the differences.
 
If you want, try:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thetaleofdespereaux/hd/

Trailer 1, 1080p (stutters for me on 2 machines, including both MBP video cards)

Another one I tried appeared to stutter as well, but it does not appear to now (The International 1080p). I'm actually beginning to suspect that the Desperaux trailer I downloaded was somehow corrupted. Perhaps we happened upon bad transfers?

To those who think that QT is not GPU accelerated: there is some evidence that suggests that it is. CPU utilization rates are reported lower on these machines than previous generation, by a factor of 2. Also, the new unibody machines shipped with a QT version that was different from earlier editions, and they are still ahead version-wise, which may reflect the differences.

I have no stutter no that trailer either
 
Are you saying the drivers you download from Nvidia's own website to run in Windows under bootcamp are written by Apple then and not Nvidia?

Well, Apple certiantly gets to tweak during the development of said drivers but nvidia still writes them in the end.

However the distribution is different. If I recall correctly you must go to start > apple > boot camp update or something to that effect and get the goods directly from their update service, not nvidias site.
 
This hasn't been the case for me.

I find the performance of the 9400m to be impressive and very usable with Aperture but the 9600gt is noticeably faster - eg. when using the loupe on heavily altered images.

Bottom line: sounds like you have a problem with your individual setup (though I welcome faster 9600gt OS X drivers, of course).
 
If you want, try:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thetaleofdespereaux/hd/

Trailer 1, 1080p (stutters for me on 2 machines, including both MBP video cards)

Another one I tried appeared to stutter as well, but it does not appear to now (The International 1080p). I'm actually beginning to suspect that the Desperaux trailer I downloaded was somehow corrupted. Perhaps we happened upon bad transfers?

To those who think that QT is not GPU accelerated: there is some evidence that suggests that it is. CPU utilization rates are reported lower on these machines than previous generation, by a factor of 2. Also, the new unibody machines shipped with a QT version that was different from earlier editions, and they are still ahead version-wise, which may reflect the differences.

I can't play that one on my MacBook 2.0. It stutters and beachballs while playing. I've not had any problems with others at 1080 though. I think this particular one must have been encoded different.
 
Well, Apple certiantly gets to tweak during the development of said drivers but nvidia still writes them in the end.

However the distribution is different. If I recall correctly you must go to start > apple > boot camp update or something to that effect and get the goods directly from their update service, not nvidias site.

Ah, not any more. Now that Nvidia have Laptop graphics drivers on there website you just download them direct, and there is no special driver for Boot Camp. There just Windows and Linux drivers so you should get the same performance.
 
Who knows. I wouldn't be surprised. ZBrush users like myself are currently in a similar situation.
After waiting for nearly year and a half beyond the windows release of version 3.1 of the software the developer (Pixologic) decided to release the OSX version.
Turns out it's proving to be a bit of a handful due to significant bugs in the software. One of which is so bad it can be considered a show stopper.
When confronted with numerous reports by users the developer decided not to fix it for a quick .1 patch release to get people back up and running.
Instead they told their customers to wait an unspecified time until the release of the next big version upgrade. :eek::confused::mad:

So.. yeah... sometimes developers do seem to behave in such a manner. :(

Snow Leopard could be up to 6 months away.

They released the Unibody MBP in October. 8 months on crap drivers?

So according to you, we have to upgrade to Snow Leopard just to get the 9600GT to work as it should?
 
Apple arn't concerned about the 9600 at the moment or the useless drivers its got, they're conecerned about Snow Leopard, theres no point wasting resources making the drivers better when people are going to be upgrading to a 64bit o/s soon, and also in Snow Leopard the graphics cards will be acting in hybrid sli with open cl so the whole driver issue goes out the window.
FYI Leopard IS 64 bit. And also, there is no proof that Snow Leopard is going to use Hybrid SLI technologies. It is going to use Open CL and Grand Central, but that's another matter that has nothing to do with current graphic drivers. Apple should work to keep their 3000 USD+ Laptop buyers happy.
 
I just checked out a couple of 1080p trailers and The Tale of Despereaux trailer 1 has a way higher average bitrate (12,03Mb/s) than others (≈7-9MB/s). That might be the cause but more likely there's been just a problem with encoder. I remember the first Valkyrie trailer stuttered as hell but then they re-released it and it worked perfectly although bitrate remained about same. That was just a bad encoding that caused problems.
 
Some bug in the OS, probably. Dual graphics is still in its beta stage at this point, because one is not supposed to reboot the damn thing just to change one setting.

This is not dual graphics. This is not hybrid SLI. It's two discrete chipsets.
 
Apple arn't concerned about the 9600 at the moment or the useless drivers its got, they're conecerned about Snow Leopard, theres no point wasting resources making the drivers better when people are going to be upgrading to a 64bit o/s soon, and also in Snow Leopard the graphics cards will be acting in hybrid sli with open cl so the whole driver issue goes out the window.

You have a source where you read that SL would be supporting the 9400 and 9600 in SLI?
 
Wow, I didnt realize there would be so many replies.

"Use Lightroom."

Sorry, but I am not about to move everything I have over to Lightroom. This is not a problem with Aperture, it is a problem with my machine and it is clearly linked to the graphics card. Plus, I personally don't like Lightroom having tried it out with some photos from my library.

"Yeah it sucks."

For all those with the same problem, despite the situation I am glad that I am not alone in this. Hopefully Apple will work it out, otherwise I should have just bought the top end Macbook.

"You're doing something wrong."

Really? That is the best response you could come up with? If using the programs that are meant to run on this machine and in the way they should be used is wrong, I guess I will stop buying computers. Really though, is dragging sliders wrong? I should have read the manual...

Problem with your individual setup.

Here ye, I present these respondents with the "Super Captain Obvious Award!!" Congratulations! Anyway. Even if that was the case, it is still a problem no matter how many people have it, and second there are clearly people having issues so how could it be a problem with my setup only?

Loupe? Yeah, not very usable at all under the 9600GT. Stutters, freezes, etc etc.

Bottom line: This advice does nothing for me. This is my third machine and I am currently not in the best position to exchange it.

HD Trailers

I do not really care about HD trailers. On these machines they are clearly assisted by a decoder which offloads some of the power requirements. This is not a good test of how well the card performs in my opinion.

"It's in your head" (psychology)

Please, what a ridiculous response. Is it really in my head when it takes a few seconds for the slider to move when I drag it? To be clear, the changes to the image are not visible until the slider actually moves (there is a delay there too.) And note, this does NOT happen on the 9400M. Sure the 9600GT is "faster," but there is clearly a problem with the card as it is not living up to its potential.

Bottom Line: For me and others, the 9600GT is worthless and that is ridiculous. I should not get less performance than the Macbook when using the 9600GT.

Oh well.
 
Problem with your individual setup.

I present these respondents with the "Super Captain Obvious Award!!" Congratulations!

Bottom line: This advice does nothing for me. This is my third machine and I am currently not in the best position to exchange it.

An ounce of logic would enable you to relegate the null hypothesis, that all UMBPs are affected, to the realm of impossibility, shifting focus to oddities of your machine (and potentially those of others).

Snideness and a hyperbolical journalese thread title will rarely produce the best responses.
 
An ounce of logic would enable you to relegate the null hypothesis, that all UMBPs are affected, to the realm of impossibility, shifting focus to oddities of your machine (and potentially those of others).

Snideness and a hyperbolical journalese thread title will rarely produce the best responses.

First, can you please send me information on purchasing logic by the ounce? I have been looking everywhere.

Quite obviously ALL UMBPs are not affected. But thank you for stating it in such an elegant way, it was very helpful.

However, we are talking about the "oddities" of my machine as if it were an entirely different computer. It is quite clear that these cards have problems as noted over the last few months. I have done the work required to isolate the problem to the 9600GT. For example, fresh OS installations, etc.

To say my problem is an oddity would be fine if I were the only one having the problem. I would most assuredly accept that statement if that were the case. However, when I find many reports of problems with the card the word I use is not oddity. In other words, calling my problem an oddity minimizes the problem at hand as if it were "a few here and there."

Call it what it is, I have a bum video card which is decidedly not an oddity among this particular model MBP.

But, maybe I should buy an ounce of logic (I need that link, seriously) so that I may come to the most obvious of conclusions and then state in such a way that suggests my interlocutor accepts the converse of that statement. Sounds sort of like a straw man to me... Take what the opponent did not say and present that as a statement he or she must accept by the omission of it in their position! Brilliant!

Snideness? I was only snide after reading a number of ridiculous posts that offered nothing, although I requested nothing in terms of advice, I was merely stating my experiences and opinions. I did request others experiences in regards to the problem I was having, meaning those who have had similar experiences.That would exclude "Mine works great!"

The title? Oh come on. What should it have been? If you have good suggestions, I could hold a vote. My title was merely a statement of my feelings towards the 9600GT; it is worthless and that is ridiculous given that I paid more to have it included in my machine. I suppose though that my impressions which are based in personal experience are worthless though. I should just say, "Problem with graphics card in Apple notebook computer, specifically when dragging sliders in Apple pro graphics application."

So that I may do well by you in the future, could you also point me to a place where I can purchase "Dry language" by the ounce. Thanks.
 
First, can you please send me information on purchasing logic by the ounce? I have been looking everywhere.

Quite obviously ALL UMBPs are not affected. But thank you for stating it in such an elegant way, it was very helpful.

However, we are talking about the "oddities" of my machine as if it were an entirely different computer. It is quite clear that these cards have problems as noted over the last few months. I have done the work required to isolate the problem to the 9600GT. For example, fresh OS installations, etc.

To say my problem is an oddity would be fine if I were the only one having the problem. I would most assuredly accept that statement if that were the case. However, when I find many reports of problems with the card the word I use is not oddity. In other words, calling my problem an oddity minimizes the problem at hand as if it were "a few here and there."

Call it what it is, I have a bum video card which is decidedly not an oddity among this particular model MBP.

But, maybe I should buy an ounce of logic (I need that link, seriously) so that I may come to the most obvious of conclusions and then state in such a way that suggests my interlocutor accepts the converse of that statement. Sounds sort of like a straw man to me... Take what the opponent did not say and present that as a statement he or she must accept by the omission of it in their position! Brilliant!

Snideness? I was only snide after reading a number of ridiculous posts that offered nothing, although I requested nothing in terms of advice, I was merely stating my experiences and opinions. I did request others experiences in regards to the problem I was having, meaning those who have had similar experiences.That would exclude "Mine works great!"

The title? Oh come on. What should it have been? If you have good suggestions, I could hold a vote. My title was merely a statement of my feelings towards the 9600GT; it is worthless and that is ridiculous given that I paid more to have it included in my machine. I suppose though that my impressions which are based in personal experience are worthless though. I should just say, "Problem with graphics card in Apple notebook computer, specifically when dragging sliders in Apple pro graphics application."

So that I may do well by you in the future, could you also point me to a place where I can purchase "Dry language" by the ounce. Thanks.

Satisfying your first request, try idioms.com. For the second, try school. Finally you may wish to look into concision - I completely missed my children growing up in the time it took to read your waffle.
 
I found another bug with the 9600M GT when you wake the MBP from Standby: minimum power drain (wattage) is higher after wakeup than before (about 5W) and wont get any lower unless you either do a restart or change back and forth to 9400M and then again 9600M.
 
If it is an isolated problem, couldn't you take it to Apple for an exchange?
 
Satisfying your first request, try idioms.com. For the second, try school. Finally you may wish to look into concision - I completely missed my children growing up in the time it took to read your waffle.

:D:D:D:D:D
Brilliant comment. And to the OP, your title of this thread should read something else. Not state that 9600GT is worthless, thus implying every machine with it is also worthless regardless if it's Mac or PC! It play's games fine both in Mac and Windows, but the Mac does have issues granted however I am more then sure Apple will resolve them.
 
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