I want to get the 13 inch MBP and I think the 9400 will suit my needs, but I'd hate to later find out that really needed that dedicated graphics card. I'm not a gamer. So, what are you doing that demands you have a dedicated graphics card?
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Why do YOU need a dedicated graphics card?
- Thread starter darklich
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If you are not a gamer and are not doing anything else 3D related (such as 3D modeling or design work), then you probably don't need it.
The specs state a card supporting 256 MB VRAM and the other specs are rather mild. The mid-2009 13" will easily handle this with the 9400M.
Yeah, but those are minimum requirements. I have the need... for speed.
Also, there will be a lot more GPU accelerated software/plug-ins coming soon, so I'd like to be as "future proofed" as possible.
Yeah, but those are minimum requirements. I have the need... for speed.
For video editing, you are not going to see much if any speed improvement with a better graphics card, at least currently. Video is 2D and is much more CPU bound.
This is a good point though. If we start to see a lot of non-3D stuff starting to use the graphics card more with things like opencl, then it may be noticeable at some point in the future.
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Like one of the posters above me said, the higher you upgrade now, the better you will be in the long run.
Sure, a 9400m can handles things today. But what happens whenthe screen becomes a holographic projection???
Like one of the posters above me said, the higher you upgrade now, the better you will be in the long run.
Sure, a 9400m can handles things today. But what happens whenthe screen becomes a holographic projection???
I personally don't mind it, though all I do is 2D work. If your thinking about doing anything with 3D, get the dedicated video card.
Yeah, but the GPU is starting to be used for much more than 3D graphics. We will definitely see OpenCL being integrated more into programs such as Final Cut Pro.
There are already a number of applications that greatly increase video transcoding speed and rendering through the use of the GPU. A good example is the Nvidia Ion chipset which basically makes HD playback possible on an Atom system through GPU acceleration.
I have a 2.53GHz Mac Book Pro (prior generation) with 9400M and 9600M GT graphics. I have had this laptop for 17 months. I use it in the office during the day (Office Apps) and at night (iPlayer, Web browsing, e-mail, some World of Warcraft, and occasional Photoshop and Aperture work). Apart from when I first bought the notebook to try out the 9600M GT, I always use the 9400M as the laptop runs a lot cooler with this option, and I found that I did not need the higher performance 9600M GT discreet chip. Even playing WoW I can get up to 60 FPS using the slower and cooler 9400M.
That's probably because of the amount of memory available to the 9400m, and not because of the raw processing power of the gpu.
AtMonitor does report VRAM usage at about 70-75% when opening for example the Downloads stack (lots of files). The GPU time jumps to 90-95% though.
