I don't want to wait for leopard but I might want to wait for the X3000. What to do?

[dannewell15]

I'm hoping to get a regular macbook (2.0ghz core 2 duo processor, 2gb of RAM, 120 or 160 Hdd) but I don't know when to buy it. I really want it soon because I am fed up of my crappy PC.

The thing is though, I don't know whether to wait or not. I'm don't want to wait for leopard, I'll just upgrade when it has been out for a couple of months - I have heard that the first major releases can be buggy anyway.

I'm not sure if I want to wait for the hardware though because if it is substantial upgrades then I may wait but the first Macbooks had little problems like the heat isues and the "mooing" and I want my first Mac to be as good as it can be. (the issues with the current macbook are mostly solved).

Will the next macbook definitely have the X3000? The graphics are the only thing that I'm not sure about on the current model (GMA 950). The rest of it is good enough for me and I don't want a pro macbook beacuae it is too big and expensive. Also what exactly is "santa rosa" and what will it mean for Macbooks?


Thanks in advance for any advice on my first ever mac!

ps. Sorry for my lack of knowledge - mega newbie

 

[juanster]

i think the guarantee for this is only about 80%, we dont even know what they are going t release and when? but then again i dont know thats just me and my un-educated guess...

 

[whateverandever]

i think the guarantee for this is only about 80%, we dont even know what they are going t release and when? but then again i dont know thats just me and my un-educated guess...

80% guarantee? If it uses the Santa Rosa chipset, it'll probably be GMA965, which will be the X3000 video.

You can't really put percentage rates on this, haha. If it uses Santa Rosa and integrated graphics, it'll use some variant of X3000.

 

[juanster]

80% guarantee? If it uses the Santa Rosa chipset, it'll probably be GMA965, which will be the X3000 video.

You can't really put percentage rates on this, haha. If it uses Santa Rosa and integrated graphics, it'll use some variant of X3000.

lol TOLD you it was an un-educated guess.... well there you go,, IT WILL BE x3000 video

 

[Abstract]

Yeah, I may want to sell my MacBook just to get the X3000. All I want to do is run 2 screens smoothly, the LCD on my MacBook, and an external display. It's not like I'm asking for much, but I can't do that with the GMA 950 and 64 vRAM (that'd be 32 MB of vRAM for my MacBook LCD, and 32 MB vRAM for the Dell 20" widescreen I just purchased).

My next MacBook will be the perfect laptop for me, spec-wise.







...until the next MacBooks are released after that.

 

[iW00t]

I got a feeling the Macbooks will get speed bumped before the MBPs this round

 

[siurpeeman]

Yeah, I may want to sell my MacBook just to get the X3000. All I want to do is run 2 screens smoothly, the LCD on my MacBook, and an external display. It's not like I'm asking for much, but I can't do that with the GMA 950 and 64 vRAM (that'd be 32 MB of vRAM for my MacBook LCD, and 32 MB vRAM for the Dell 20" widescreen I just purchased).

i always thought 64 mb was a minimum, supporting up to 224 mb.

 

[dannewell15]

Hmm. . .

I'm just not sure what to do. This wiki link compares the GMA range of chipsets and if you look in the table under X3000, the chipset mentioned is the "G965 Express". Then, if you look on the second link, that chipset is catagorised under desktop chipsets on intels own website. The third link is what you get if you click on the chipset, just for convienience Now being a n00b as I believe the term can be used, I don't know what difference that makes. Any thoughts?

Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_X3000


Intel
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/index.htm?iid=prod_desk+sc_chipset


http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/G965/index.htm






On another note. . .

i always thought 64 mb was a minimum, supporting up to 224 mb.

I believe that the gma 950 will supprot up to 224mb within windows like bootcamp or natively, because it supports Windows Vista if for some strange reason you wanted it to. I don't know enough about Macs to know if it will work in the same way.

 

[Abstract]

i always thought 64 mb was a minimum, supporting up to 224 mb.

Tell that to Apple. The GMA 950 in the MacBook can only access 64 MB of RAM. I'm guessing this is because OS X is so RAM hungry, and they don't want the video card to hog the available RAM, thus limiting the amount of RAM to 64 MB. They also want the difference between the MBP and MB to be larger (although dedicated graphics cards are obviously capable of much more if you have software that requires a decent graphics card).

I'd be happy with a GMA X3000, and if Apple upp'ed the amount of RAM accessible by the integrated graphics to 96 MB or 128 MB. It would be quite perfect for me.

 

[dannewell15]

Interesting though

i always thought 64 mb was a minimum, supporting up to 224 mb.

check out this article on apples website. I'm not sure if that confirms anything as it doesn't specify how much can be used up. :S


http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303407

 

[juanster]

yes i think they should bump it up to 128 mb, make it come stock with 1GB ram AND upgradable to 3G ram,, wouldn t that make sense? i dont know if that would increase the cost of manufacturing a lot tho?

 

[whateverandever]

I'm just not sure what to do. This wiki link compares the GMA range of chipsets and if you look in the table under X3000, the chipset mentioned is the "G965 Express". Then, if you look on the second link, that chipset is catagorised under desktop chipsets on intels own website. The third link is what you get if you click on the chipset, just for convienience Now being a n00b as I believe the term can be used, I don't know what difference that makes. Any thoughts?

G965 is the whole "Santa Rosa" chipset. GMA X3000 is the name for the graphics chipset, which is only part of G965.

 

[whateverandever]

yes i think they should bump it up to 128 mb, make it come stock with 1GB ram AND upgradable to 3G ram,, wouldn t that make sense? i dont know if that would increase the cost of manufacturing a lot tho?

It's a drive issue, really. GMA950 is more than capable of addressing more than 64MB of RAM, as it does in Windows under Boot Camp. Mac OS's drivers simply don't do it, for whatever reason.

 

[Manic Mouse]

I'm sure Apple will increase the amount of RAM the GPU can access to 128Mb with the X3000, they'll probably make 1Gb the standard across the board for the Macbooks.

 

[juanster]

I'm sure Apple will increase the amount of RAM the GPU can access to 128Mb with the X3000, they'll probably make 1Gb the standard across the board for the Macbooks.

sound slike my wish coming true...

 

[chris200x9]

I'm just not sure what to do. This wiki link compares the GMA range of chipsets and if you look in the table under X3000, the chipset mentioned is the "G965 Express". Then, if you look on the second link, that chipset is catagorised under desktop chipsets on intels own website. The third link is what you get if you click on the chipset, just for convienience Now being a n00b as I believe the term can be used, I don't know what difference that makes. Any thoughts?

Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_X3000


Intel
http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/index.htm?iid=prod_desk+sc_chipset


http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/G965/index.htm






On another note. . .





I believe that the gma 950 will supprot up to 224mb within windows like bootcamp or natively, because it supports Windows Vista if for some strange reason you wanted it to. I don't know enough about Macs to know if it will work in the same way.

oh wikipedia.....the website where you can be an expert on anything even if you don't know what the hell your talking about

 

[dannewell15]

oh wikipedia.....the website where you can be an expert on anything even if you don't know what the hell your talking about

Fantastic isn't it. Saves my butt on music homework. lol. (sorry I actually used "lol" it seemed appropriate) I'm just trying to understand all of this techness. confused!.com

But Yes. I am aware that I don't know as much as most/any of the kind people trying to help me solve my dillema so you didn't need to point it out.