Comments on: Will MacBook chip end Intel graphics franchise?

Apple's decision to use Nividia is turning some heads and portends more design wins. But will it end Intel's market share lead in graphics?

[Technoracle]

As long as it works, the average consumer will be fine. I do think competition is healthy for Intel though!

[Someone-else]

Most computers sold today are bottlenecked by it's graphics, it's usual to see C2Ds with 2+Gb of RAM, 200+Gb HD that can't even run Vista Aero or HD videos smoothly, which is a waste.

It's good to see a sign that things might change soon.

[Astinsan]

It probably has something to do with gma chips being low end. When you sell a "high end" laptop... it would be easier to sell it with a high end graphics chip.

Intel isn't going to care. GPUs are only one area of their fab. I personally don't see any issues with it. It works fine on my little netbook running compiz.

[bakedpatato]

Do I care? No as I seek out computers without Intel GMAs.
However, it only means that people won't complain to me that "omg this game wont run sum card thingy is not supported" the less GMAs there are in the world.
The Toshiba example in the article kinda seems off, IMHO. High end laptops never had GMAs in em and the high end GPU/low end GPU tech has been around for a while, see the Alienware 15inch laptop.

[tacit]

"Games and photo editing applications like Photoshop are two obvious areas where Nvidia will beat Intel's newest GM45 integrated graphics."

That's only partly true. All versions of Photoshop through Photoshop CS3 do not take advantage of accelerated 3D graphics hardware *at all* and receive zero benefit from high-end accelerated graphics hardware. The only version of Photoshop where the graphics hardware maters is the new CS4, and even there it only benefits a handful of functions.

Far more important to Photoshop performance is RAM. Expecting a significant boost in Photoshop performance by buying a machine equipped with Nvidia graphics over integrated Intel graphics is likely to result in disappointment, and certainly will make no difference whatsoever to folks using CS3 and earlier.

[benjwah]

If you don't like GMA, I doubt another integrated chip is going to do the trick. It might be a little bit better, but a decent performance increase will come with a proper discrete graphics setup.

[John Howell]

My Mac mii has a crappy GMA 850 in it. I really would have paid an extra $400 for a propper video chip becuase it is the only thing stopping this great little machine being perfect for me 8(
Doesn't matter too much though, if I want games I use my XBox, but some PC game styles are much better and I prefer thinking games and sims to shooters.

[dmtien]

I'm one of the converts from the MacBook (Black, with GMA graphics) to the new MacBook. Aside from the obvious boosts in 3D graphics capability (games, Apple Motion, Keynote effects), it solved a big problem with flash videos disappearing off the screen because of insufficient video RAM as well as other 2D quirks ascribed to the underpowered graphics card. If nVidia is able to meet and exceed the Intel chipset as well as keep pricing and power consumption at the GMA levels, then it is definitely a game changer. Other than the lack of FireWire, for a media workstation, I don't really have a need for a MacBook Pro for the day-to-day tasks.

[kelmon]

One can hope that this gives Intel a kick up the backside. If a reasonable adoption is made of the nVidia solutions then Intel will hopefully be forced to produce better solutions to avoid a more widespread defection. That said, the price of the GPUs will be deciding factor for many companies in order to avoid increasing their final price to the customer unless they are sure that the customer is prepared to pay more.

[Canberra-photographer]

Given how useless Intel GMA is for... well, practically everything, this will hopefully give consumers better performance and give Intel a kick to put out something better.

[Alex Alexzander]

It's not a Mac Chip, it's an nVidia chip. I get you want headlines that draw people in, but at least get it right. It's not a Mac chip.

Alex Alexzander

[ittesi259]

Nowhere is it claimed to be a chip produced by Apple. MacBook chip clearly means the chip found inside the MacBook and the article makes it clear its from Nvidia. And the headline is correct as the prompting action for this whole discussion was Apple going with Nvidia and dropping Intel.

So understand the context of the article before you rip the headline, which is entirely correct.

[Alex Alexzander]

whatever... It's not a macbook chip. In an nVidia chip. Play with it all you like. It's nVidia and should be spoken and written this way. As the same chip is available to all. What next, you'll call it the dell chip, and the hp chip? It's going to get confusing when in reality it is an nVidia chip plain and simple.

Alex Alexzander

[Shadowcaster787]

I will stick to my workstation graphics :P

[snvindore]

Asia Business Investor is an on-line magazine with a focus on business for sale in Asia. Based in Singapore we cover business and investment across Asia. Asia Business Investor has the largest directory of business opportunities, franchise, franchising, in asia today from Dubai through to Shanghai.http://magazine.asiabusinessinvestor.com

[cutemar]

Hi,

I come across your website and I?m interested on what you have posted. Thanks for the information you shared and I learned more from it. Ill come back often.

Thanks,

Dux Franchise