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Disappointed with Integrated Graphics

P

pattman247

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 13, 2007
139
0
Toronto
Hey everyone. I am just asking if anyone regrets buying a macbook or wishes it would have had a dedicated graphics card like other competing computers (cough Dell M1300 cough).
I never had an issue with it until I went to this lan party place with my friends and noticed that they were using significantly inferior computers and it was fine playing games like counterstrike and the like. I am so willing to pay around 200 dollars for a card like the 8600 or even the 8400m just to play the occasional game. It would give the macbook much more value in my opinion.

Does anyone else agree with this?

I love Apple, but I hate how they will never put a quality card in the Macbook just because thats what sets apart from the pro.
 
pattman247 said:
Hey everyone. I am just asking if anyone regrets buying a macbook or wishes it would have had a dedicated graphics card like other competing computers (cough Dell M1300 cough).
I never had an issue with it until I went to this lan party place with my friends and noticed that they were using significantly inferior computers and it was fine playing games like counterstrike and the like. I am so willing to pay around 200 dollars for a card like the 8600 or even the 8400m just to play the occasional game. It would give the macbook much more value in my opinion.

Does anyone else agree with this?

I love Apple, but I hate how they will never put a quality card in the Macbook just because thats what sets apart from the pro.
Click to expand...

Well Macs really aren't for games and no I don't mind the intergrated I mean yeah i would prefer dedicated but not so much that i wouldn't buy a macbook.
 
I didn't buy a macbook for gaming. If I wanted to do that, i would use my discount from intel and make a quad core gaming pc for probably 900 bucks.

I bought a macbook because it does everything i need and the integrated graphics card is suffice for daily usage.
 
k new question, what do you guys do with your macbooks :D sorry if its off topic, but I want to feel like i spent 1500 for a good reason, and not just pure impulse :p
k me first :)
check facebook/ macrumors
use itunes
download stuff limewire/ azureus
make songs for fun with garageband
do the occasional hw assignment with pages
have fun with photobooth wit friends :eek:
and watch movies! with frontrow/ vlc player/ quicktime

btw did anyone notice that black distorts very easily with the macbook display under certain angles?
 
Yes it does suffice, but really what is the big deal? Why not add or at least offer as a CTO dedicated graphics? IMHO there enough other aspects that set the MBP and macbook apart. Of course, I am sure others may not agree.
 
Firstly they can't be significantly inferior machines if they are better.

Secondly I use my MB and a portable work machine for when I am away from my iMac.

Very hand to carry around my work with me to the library, labs, meetings, presentation etc.
 
The MacBook is the entry level notebook from Apple, hence the integrated graphics.

I'm quite sure people would like to see the MacBook grow 1-2mm in thickness, adopt a tray loading drive, and go down a couple hundred dollars in cost instead of becoming a more expensive MacBook Pro clone.

A $899 MacBook would likely sell better than a $1599 MacBook Pro with a plastic case.
 
What I don't understand is how apple has available custom purchases where they choose what parts they want in their computer, but the options are so poor its laughable.
Consumers loose the fourteen day refund for this, and what do they get? only upgrades in cpu speed for macbook pros, change in ram or hard drive space (both EXTREMELY easy to replace with the macbook), and choice of matte or glossy only for the macbook pro.
Consider the Dell M1300, where the options are much greater, fingerprint reader, 7200rpm or SSD (amazing), and a built in dedicated graphics card, all at the same size. Im pretty sure there are more, but too lazy to check :eek:
 
I think people are missing the point. Integrated graphics were not as good back in the day as they are today. Now saying that, any recent dedicated graphics card will trump these X3100 cards, but are you seriously arguing when your macbook cost as a budget price? Is this really something to rant about?

At the price you are paying, you are getting alot. Like I said, if you wanted a gaming pc....GET A GAMING PC!!!!! Don't complain that your honda engine can't beat a corvette when you clearly know what you got yourself into.

If you wanted an additional graphical upgrade, well that's what MBP are for. But they cost 700 bucks more.

Apple envisioned the Macbook to be used my a certain demographic and that's not professionals who need graphics. (thats why there a PRO model!!!!). Most people use their computers for these reasons:

Internet
Word processing
Photos
Music
Movies / Videos

All of which you can do on your macbook.


Stop complaining. or Just return it. You have choice here so make one.
 
pattman247 said:
integrated graphics were never used back then i think?
Click to expand...

Apple owned and designed the chipset, but they didn't own any GPUs to integrate into pangea, intrepid 1 or 2 -- basically impossible to create an integrated chipset without buying a GPU.

So there was a really good excuse. Plus they tended to keep chipsets around 18-24 months, and updated GPUs well before that.
 
Eric5h5 said:
The iBook was the entry level notebook from Apple, and did not have integrated graphics. There's really no excuse.

--Eric
Click to expand...

That's because Motorola/Freescale never offered a chipset that included integrated GPUs. If they had Apple would almost certainly have used them.
 
I can understand it for the entry level MacBooks, but the black version at $1500 is not a budget notebook by any stretch of the word. Even a low-end 8400M in there would be a big improvement over the Intel graphics, and it would finally put an end to all the complaints about the "black tax".
 
Dammit Cubs said:
but are you seriously arguing when your macbook cost as a budget price? Is this really something to rant about?
Click to expand...

Let's say that we do agree that MBs are at "budget price," but you're failing to note that Macs are never on sale. Therefore, the real price of the Macbook compared to say, a PC notebook with comparable stats, is far more, especially given all of these holiday sales.


Look, I'll never go back to using PCs, but at least I don't claim that any Mac is at budget pricing. I recognize that I'm paying for the premium. But as mentioned, my 3.5-years-old iBook even has a dedicated graphics card.
 
pattman247 said:
Hey everyone. I am just asking if anyone regrets buying a macbook or wishes it would have had a dedicated graphics card like other competing computers (cough Dell M1300 cough).
I never had an issue with it until I went to this lan party place with my friends and noticed that they were using significantly inferior computers and it was fine playing games like counterstrike and the like. I am so willing to pay around 200 dollars for a card like the 8600 or even the 8400m just to play the occasional game. It would give the macbook much more value in my opinion.

Does anyone else agree with this?

I love Apple, but I hate how they will never put a quality card in the Macbook just because thats what sets apart from the pro.
Click to expand...



it's desgusting the quality of the graphic card in the mac books, I think for the price it should be something a lot better.
 
Wouldn't dedicated graphics have a negative impact on battery life? Personally, I would choose better battery life over better graphics any day. After all, it is a notebook...
 
If you want a great gaming machine, just send Dell a check for $3500 and they'll come up with something. Better yet, get a PS3 for $400 and stay up all night.

I use my MacBook as a portable personal computer. It handles my personal finances for me, keeps all my records, finds answers to all of my questions, lets me communicate with friends and family, runs my business from my home, office, or on the road and it does all this while running the best OS on the planet. Did I mention taking my photo album and music collection with me wherever I go?

I really wish that technology was at this level when I was school age. While I was in college, the closest thing I had to personal computing was creating my own punch cards. Pong (a toy) was something on a box you hooked up to a TV. I'm glad that they were separate then and very confused that people want them lumped together now.
 
GfulDedFan said:
I really wish that technology was at this level when I was school age. While I was in college, the closest thing I had to personal computing was creating my own punch cards. Pong (a toy) was something on a box you hooked up to a TV. I'm glad that they were separate then and very confused that people want them lumped together now.
Click to expand...

LOL awesome! old school! :cool:
 
Well, there was some hype around the Santa Rosa X3100 integrated graphics, which was supposed to be much better than the GMA 950. Problem is, even if it's twice as fast, if you're going from 5fps to 10fps you still don't have anything playable. :)

To be fair though, I think there are some games that went from an unplayable 20fps to a barely playable 30fps.
 
While I don't own a Macbook, I have a Sony Vaio with a GMA900, and it seems to do gaming fine.

Sure, it's not amazing, but it's really not that bad.

Although, I will admit I have been thinking about replacing it with a MBP.
 
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