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Apple goes Nvidia with MacBooks

by Mike Schramm Oct 14th 2008 at 1:30PM

The day we gamers have been waiting for is finally here -- Apple is announcing at their event right now that the new MacBooks (and presumably Pros) that they'll be releasing will have Nvidia graphics chips inside them, finally replacing the integrated graphics chips that have been the bane of 3D gamers on the Mac for years and years. The "NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M" boasts 16 parallel graphic cores, and 54gflops of graphics performance. "It's a stunner," says Steve, and we're happy to hear it.

This couldn't be better news for Mac gamers -- Steve says that the new chips offer 6x the performance in terms of 3D graphics that the old chips did, and while that level of 3D performance probably still won't be able to go toe-to-toe with the very fastest of 3D gaming PC rigs, it does mean that World of Warcraft and all of the other popular 3D games on the Mac will run faster than ever before.

Update: Looks like that's not the only chip in there -- the Nvidia 9600M GT will offer more power (and less battery life), and it looks like both will be included on the MBP, with an option for double the graphics memory.

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The day we gamers have been waiting for is finally here -- Apple is announcing at their event right now that the new MacBooks (and...
 

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mayer

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October 14 2008 at 11:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Wormy

@ Jamus

That's bec your nVidia GPU is probably overheating and is about to die. I don't understand why Apple went with nVidia graphics again. Now all our notebooks have defective graphics :(

October 14 2008 at 9:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jamus

hehehe, but will the new graphics help it run COOLER? My lap is getting a wee bit warm from the old MacBook Pro when using heavy graphics these days...

October 14 2008 at 4:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MIchael

this sucks more then I care to say here because my 3 week replacement macbook for my broken macbook pro is now outclassed by far. in fact my old macbook pro is outclassed as well by the hew macbook and oh by the way. it costs as much as the education discount I got on my macbook was for a stanard macbook!

October 14 2008 at 4:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
nggalai

Err, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but:

“finally replacing the integrated graphics chips that have been the bane of 3D gamers on the Mac for years and years.”

The 9400 M IS integrated in the chip set. It’s just faster than available Intel solutions, that’s all. Only the MBP comes with a dedicated GPU.

October 14 2008 at 4:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to nggalai's comment
vandil

Yes, the Nvidia 9400M graphics are integrated. But unlike Intel's GMA chipset, the 9400M is actually decent for 3D gaming because its a 3D accelerator chip that supports OpenGL and DirectX features required by modern games.

GMA can't even draw Vista's Aero UI, let alone play any games.

So having a real 3D accelerator chip in the laptops, despite its integration, is a great thing..

October 15 2008 at 11:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
vandil

Once the retail/public beta test has been going for a month or two, I will see how dual-booting gamers feel about the Nvidia graphics change. The new chipsets are promising and even the regular Macbook now has become compelling.

I am definitely one of the people liking the $700 "price drop" I'm seeing with today's revamp.

October 14 2008 at 3:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SIP

That missing firewire port is a right bummer. I think I'll hang on to my black Macbook for a while yet...

October 14 2008 at 2:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to SIP's comment
David

I can understand removing the firewire port as most probably don't use it, but I use it regularly to pull video off DV cameras. I too will be keeping my Black Macbook. It runs adobe master suite cs3 just fine for mobile design, and works great when plugged into 24" lcd monitor as well. I don't feel the features added to new 13" macbook justify an upgrade just yet. I don't quite understand why anyone would want to play hardcore games on a macbook, macbook pro, or even a laptop in general, but it is nice to see improvements on graphic performance. The new trackpad is nice but i prefer a stand alone button, one that I can break over time and justify buying a new laptop. For people looking to by a new 13" notebook unless money is no object I would look to snag the older models at a discount.

October 14 2008 at 2:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
eric f

I am now forced to upgrade to MacbookPro, as the Macbook has no FW options whatsoever, and I use it for work, shoting tethered from my digital back. that sucks, since the power of the macbook was fine to begin with.

October 14 2008 at 2:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mike k.

the dedicated graphics are standard for the MBP.. so no choice or extra cost involve, at least the way i read it on the apple store. I think the choice is do you go PRO or normal macbook, which has integrated graphics.

October 14 2008 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
J

I can not express my joy for a more pro-gaming Apple.

We have waited a very long time!

October 14 2008 at 2:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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