DX10 in Apple portables :D

[Machead III]

I dread to ask, but when (do you guys imagine) will Apple introduce DirectX 10 compatible GPUs into the portable Pro line?

I haven't actually heard of any in existance yet, and there are only a handful of desktop GPUs announced, although there are already a fair few games planned to be released in the 1st/2nd/3rd quarters of the 2007 that will require DX10, many of them seriously killer apps - no need to mention names *cough* BioShock *cough*.


I's also wondering what we might expect as a GPU in the (almost guarenteed) April updates to the MBP line - I am planning to sell my laptop a couple days/weeks before the announcement seems sure so I can upgrade at minimal cost.

 

[djinn]

GPU update? That would be interesting. I haven't seen any rumors about a new video card being released? Can you provide a site with info?

 

[mkrishnan]

Apple has stuck with predominantly ATI cards in recent pro notebooks, right? The only one that had a NVidia any time recently was the 12" PBG4. My guess would be that when the current crop (X1600, etc) are replaced by versions that do DirectX 10, you will see them appear in the notebooks, but that you're less likely to see a big jump to a different line of GPUs or a massive upgrade to a different ATI line.

 

[majiklantrn]

DX10 won't be fully utilized atleast with games for another year. However I did read that DX10 is easier to developer towards rather then DX9.

 

[mmmcheese]

Are there even DX10 compatible mobile chips yet? I was under the impression that only the nVidia 8800 line were DX 10, and those aren't mobile processors.

 

[majiklantrn]

Yes.. only nvidia has the DX10 card out, the 8800.. but they don't even have the released drivers for it with Vista so you don't get full advantage with the card.

 

[Machead III]

There's an nVidia G8 Go model coming out soon, which is supposed to be portable, but I don't think it's as small as the MXM architecture Apple uses in... everything but it's MacPro.

Sadly Apple aren't the types to be cutting edge when it comes to GPUs, so with widespread DX10 not likely in the PC world unti the end of the year, god knows when it'll finally wash up on our shores

Makes you wonder who's gonna be playing Crysis and BioShock when they're released

 

[djinn]

It all falls on who their target audience is. If Apple wanted to get the people in the gaming world, then they would release cutting edge stuff and sacrafice stability and reliablity. Apple perfers to deliever a slick fast machine. Not a bulky 10lb rigg. Perfect example is Dell. They are the top dog when it comes to start of the art computer hardware.

I compare Apple to IBM notebooks. IBM notebooks are targeted to your business audience cause they want a stable and reliable machine. They spend their dollars doing the R&D. Now that Lenovo owns the thinkpad world, who knows.

 

[mkrishnan]

Speaking of target audience, it's worth remembering that OS X doesn't use DirectX Zilch™.

 

[Machead III]

Hehe, yeah, but bootcamp is as much a part of being a macuser as the dock is these days

 

[iW00t]

DX 10 is a Windows-vista only thing, so I doubt any developer is going to shoot themselves in the foot and restrict their games to a small market anytime soon.

The wisdom seems to be going towards Vista for DX10, but sticking with XP for the raw performance. Kinda an oxymoron to take a performance hit to take advantage of the new version of DirectX.

Anyway I probably won't buy into Vista anytime soon, so I don't care

 

[StealthRider]

Plus, Vista has so far shown to be slower FPS-wise than a similar system running XP - just for all of the eye candy. If DX10 speeds that up, it eliminates the reason to stay with XP.

That, and Microsoft will probably force a "software update" that kills your XP install in two years if you havn't bought Vista...

 

[djinn]

You have to remember that there isn't any optimized Vista drivers for the 8800 (only dx10 video card). So performance is going to be affected.

 

[StealthRider]

Vista's not even out yet

 

[djinn]

Currently its RTM and on MSDN. That is how I got my copy is through MSDN subscriber.

 

[StealthRider]

Yes but there's no real reason for manufacturers to have drivers out for Vista until January 27(?)th - especially for a ridiculously expensive consumer card that like three people have.

 

[StealthRider]

I just don't understand why they're pushing technology to the point where a pretty interface obscures the function. From what I've been able to tell from my RTM copy, Vista is a prettier version of XP, with faster search. Not much of an upgrade, without WinFS and the other technologies they left out.

 

[Sesshi]

Not for quite a long time I bet. Not just DX10 compliance but GPU's which really leave the X1600 in the dust.

The MBP's been out for... what, 8 months? and I've been looking for something more powerful as my utility laptop now that I've been spoiled by the Dell XPS M1710 - and even with all the choices available in Windows hardware out there, there's really only the X1700 - and that's it right now, even among laptops which exceed the MBP by quite a margin in price. You can get better but only on the larger and much thicker laptops. So I'd expect something incremental by the next MBP refresh, maybe even the X1700 itself, but no huge jumps I think for a while.

 

[StealthRider]

We've had enough problems with cooling so far; let's try to avoid anything that will turn my laptop into a Thermonuclear Reactor™

 

[Sesshi]

Typically these days NVIDIA GPU's run cooler than ATI's but I dare say politics will have as much of a hand as performance in dictating what Apple sticks in the MBP's next.

If you actually compare various laptops side by side the MBP isn't that much thinner, and yet other machines do a much better job of managing the X1600. I would hope that Apple has learned it's lessons, cocking up something that every other top-tier manufacturer has managed without any issues.

So perhaps Apple + Nvidia for the next-gen is a matter of necessity.

 

[Machead III]

Not for quite a long time I bet. Not just DX10 compliance but GPU's which really leave the X1600 in the dust.

The MBP's been out for... what, 8 months? and I've been looking for something more powerful as my utility laptop now that I've been spoiled by the Dell XPS M1710 - and even with all the choices available in Windows hardware out there, there's really only the X1700 - and that's it right now, even among laptops which exceed the MBP by quite a margin in price. You can get better but only on the larger and much thicker laptops. So I'd expect something incremental by the next MBP refresh, maybe even the X1700 itself, but no huge jumps I think for a while.

Then it might be back to the desktop market for me - although only if Apple release something less than £1500 that I can actually flippin' upgrade.

 

[Sesshi]

Then it might be back to the desktop market for me - although only if Apple release something less than £1500 that I can actually flippin' upgrade.

It's a pipedream for a while. Space is too much at a premium inside actually portable laptops (Apple or anyone else) to devote to a user-upgradable GPU.

 

[StealthRider]

Well, since they switched to Nvidia on the 24" iMac, it's possible they'll do the same (with MXM no less ) on the next MBPs.

 

[Sesshi]

I do hope MXM catches on, but currently it's only to be found in the bigger machines. I'm not sure you'll see it in the next MBP, especially when Apple bleeding-edges space more than anyone except for Sony (and doesn't do it as well).

 

[mmmcheese]

There's an nVidia G8 Go model coming out soon, which is supposed to be portable, but I don't think it's as small as the MXM architecture Apple uses in... everything but it's MacPro....

Apple doesn't use MXM on the portables...there's no room for a removable GPU card. Apple doesn't even use socketed CPUs for the same reason.