Intel HD 3000 wow...

[macsrcool1234]

So?

They dont all run at the same speeds, and no one has tested the SB processors to be used in the next Air on OS X, so its impossible for anyone to say how well the HD3000 in the Airs will run in comparison to the 320M in the C2D model.

It's not hard to make some basic inferences. Clearly it's going to run between the current air and MBP.

I don't know why people like you live in a fake world where you think there's going to be some kind of magical GPU in the next model that runs everything fast.

Come back to reality.

 

[striker33]

It's not hard to make some basic inferences. Clearly it's going to run between the current air and MBP.

I don't know why people like you live in a fake world where you think there's going to be some kind of magical GPU in the next model that runs everything fast.

Come back to reality.

What the hell are you on about?

 

[XX55XX]

People expect too much from their puny sub-notebooks. 15-inch MacBook Pro is the way to go for gaming. Why would you try to game on such hardware in the first place? And the 320M wasn't completely out of this world in terms of high performance gaming, either.

 

[striker33]

People expect too much from their puny sub-notebooks. 15-inch MacBook Pro is the way to go for gaming. Why would you try to game on such hardware in the first place? And the 320M wasn't completely out of this world in terms of high performance gaming, either.

Agreed. I dont know what the fuss is about the 320M. I thought it was pretty damn poor gaming wise on the 13" MBP last year, and the MB Air's use a higher res screen so it will be even poorer performance wise.

I have no gripes with the HD3000. Most people buying into the Airs wont care for serious gaming. HD video, light video editing or photoshop, word processing, internet use, all of it done easy enough with the IGP.

The only people who seem to be getting worked up about the GPU are the gamers, and gamers are definitely in the minority of Air users.

 

[Duke15]

Agreed. I dont know what the fuss is about the 320M. I thought it was pretty damn poor gaming wise on the 13" MBP last year, and the MB Air's use a higher res screen so it will be even poorer performance wise.

I have no gripes with the HD3000. Most people buying into the Airs wont care for serious gaming. HD video, light video editing or photoshop, word processing, internet use, all of it done easy enough with the IGP.

The only people who seem to be getting worked up about the GPU are the gamers, and gamers are definitely in the minority of Air users.

Yea I agree, most gamers have a desktop for gaming or a different laptop, although some gamers swear by the perfomance of the MBA. If you dont care about playing on the best settings than why not use the air for gaming, if it can handle it at low settings than by all means use it. We cant really know that type of performance we will get from the new MBAs but I highly doubt apple would release a subpar product to the current MBA.

 

[Oppressed]

Why do people seem to think that gamers are either hardcore or nothing? That there is no gradation in terms of how much someone invests in term of time and computer choice when gaming. If a hardcore gamer wanted to invest in a laptop for pure gaming then I'm pretty sure they would have look elsewhere. There are people who do light gaming and want an extremely portable ultraboook. As small of a market as that may be.

 

[blipmusic]

Why would you try to game on such hardware in the first place?

Why shouldn't I?

 

[XX55XX]

Why shouldn't I?

The Witcher 2 gets less than 5 FPS on my 9400M. Try fighting that.

 

[trims]

Interesting to read some of the posts on the OS X 10.7 Lion forum.

Sounds like Lion is not quite there yet, esp wrt HD 3000 drivers.

Really looking forward to the MBA refresh, but might yet wait until 10.7.1 before committing . . . .

 

[specialbuddy]

There are people who do light gaming and want an extremely portable ultraboook. As small of a market as that may be.

You can do light gaming. Turn everything on low and play.

I don't know what you guys expect though. Macs have never been good for games. You can build a desktop with a current mid range card and it will still be better for games than a MBA 4 years from now. MBA is for light computing and that's what I plan on getting one for.

 

[Oppressed]

I don't know what you guys expect though.

I aim for around 30 FPS and I'll be happy.

Macs have never been good for games.

True, but thankfully the developer who I mainly care about supports Mac. (Blizzard)

You can build a desktop with a current mid range card and it will still be better for games than a MBA 4 years from now. MBA is for light computing and that's what I plan on getting one for.

Can't take a desktop traveling.

 

[blipmusic]

The Witcher 2 gets less than 5 FPS on my 9400M. Try fighting that.

Perhaps, picking the current cream of the crop of cutting edge games isn't the best counter in this case.

Again: why shouldn't I?

 

[2IS]

..although some gamers swear by the perfomance of the MBA.

Those aren't gamers, those are average joe's who may have launched an old game or two and don't know any better. I've said it before, if you want to game on an MBA, OnLive is for you.

 

[Oppressed]

Those aren't gamers, those are average joe's who may have launched an old game or two and don't know any better. I've said it before, if you want to game on an MBA, OnLive is for you.

Another case of those extremists. Don't make such broad judgements in my opinion.

 

[Acronyc]

Another case of those extremists. Don't make such broad judgements in my opinion.

Agreed. There are a lot of generalizations flying around here, and when it comes to gaming I don’t think people can be classified into either a “hardcore gamer who needs 100 FPS and would never try to game on an MBA” or an “average casual gamer who doesn’t really know anything about gaming.” There are so many levels in between and there are plenty of people who love gaming, know a lot about the hobby, and want to get in some gaming when they can, but don’t want/need/have a massive gaming desktop or heavy notebook. For them (myself included), the MBA can be the perfect compromise of size, weight, and performance. It’s fantastic to have something so light and small but that also has an IGP that’s good enough to play a lot of modern games on low to medium settings.

 

[MartiNZ]

Those aren't gamers, those are average joe's who may have launched an old game or two and don't know any better. I've said it before, if you want to game on an MBA, OnLive is for you.

I've played a lot of SC2 on my MBA this year, and it runs it just as well as my 2008 15" MBP with the dodgy 8600 card, with the added bonus that the MBA never even gets warm. The only time it has ever bordered on unplayable was last night going for the 4v4 Kin vs Insane AI achievements - with 8 Zerg players on the map and 7 insane AIs and the mad armies they have running around, I spent a good while at 1 FPS or lower. Still got the achievement, as Brood Lords don't need that much micro .

Not being interested in modern first person shooters makes it a lot easier to be totally happy with MBA GPU performance ... although even that may change with the 3000HD. But umm ... definitely still a gamer, thanks.

 

[FX4568]

For those who say, "the macbook air is not a gaming machine"
Who gives a crap? Then is the MBA a coding machine to have such a powerful SB processor? Why are you saying that gaming is not necessary yet you need a power processor for what?
I dont get it, I bet the people who will suffer due to the decrease in graphics will be more than the people who will benefit due to the increase in processor performance.

Increased heat in one side of the Macbook Air + (perhaps Backlit?) is what you're looking at this update. And a thunderbolt port.

Apple might blow us out of the water by proving us all wrong, but seriously, I believe the C2D and 320m combo wont be matched in quality until next year, and wont be surpassed until a year and a half or even 2 years from now.

 

[fatlardo]

For those who say, "the macbook air is not a gaming machine"
Who gives a crap? Then is the MBA a coding machine to have such a powerful SB processor? Why are you saying that gaming is not necessary yet you need a power processor for what?
I dont get it, I bet the people who will suffer due to the decrease in graphics will be more than the people who will benefit due to the increase in processor performance.

Increased heat in one side of the Macbook Air + (perhaps Backlit?) is what you're looking at this update. And a thunderbolt port.

Apple might blow us out of the water by proving us all wrong, but seriously, I believe the C2D and 320m combo wont be matched in quality until next year, and wont be surpassed until a year and a half or even 2 years from now.

Well put!

 

[Davidkoh]

Gamer or not, I don't understand how anyone can defend a step backwards in performance for a refresh?

 

[2IS]

Another case of those extremists. Don't make such broad judgements in my opinion.

Hardly an extremist, lets take a look at a few posts below yours. Says he's a gamer, and praising the MBA's gaming abilities and provides an example where by his own admisison he was hovering around 1fps. Yeah ok. Not only did his example prove my point in my previous post but it also goes to show how poor the MBA is for gaming.

If it can't maintain 30fps in a modern game it's not a gaming machine. 30 fps is hardly extreme. If anything, claiming the MBA is a good gaming platform is far more extreme then claiming that it isn't.

Just like my gaming desktop isn't good at being lightweight and portable, my MBA isn't good at playing modern games well, and neither is anyone elses.

 

[2IS]

Gamer or not, I don't understand how anyone can defend a step backwards in performance for a refresh?

Very simple actually. If your NOT gaming it's NOT a step backward.

 

[Davidkoh]

Very simple actually. If your NOT gaming it's NOT a step backward.

It is always a step backward if performance is lower. Just because you are not using it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. There's not just in games that your GPU is used either, and there been talk about the HD3000 not supporting OpenCL and other standards as well as the 320m.

With your logic we can say that if your not encoding videos then the CPU upgrade is not a step forward.

Apple will most likely take a step backwards in the GPU department, most people will accept that and still buy the new Air, but that does not mean they defend the performance loss.

 

[jmpnop]

Very simple actually. If your NOT gaming it's NOT a step backward.

lol'd. Performance of HD 3000 is crap regardless of one games or not. It IS a step backward.

 

[2IS]

It is always a step backward if performance is lower. Just because you are not using it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. There's not just in games that your GPU is used either, and there been talk about the HD3000 not supporting OpenCL and other standards as well as the 320m.

With your logic we can say that if your not encoding videos then the CPU upgrade is not a step forward.

Apple will most likely take a step backwards in the GPU department, most people will accept that and still buy the new Air, but that does not mean they defend the performance loss.

By your logic, if everything about the computer is better, and one thing that you won't notice if you're not a gamer is worse, the entire thing is a downgrade. If you're not going to take advantage of the slightly added performance of the 320, the performance difference as far as the individual is concerned most certainly does not exist. I can tell you right now that for what I personally use the MBA for, the "refresh" would do everything better and I'm willing to bet that the majority of MBA consumers fall into this category. The MBA is crap for games either way you look at it.

If I didn't already own an MBA and had to make a choice on which to buy I'd easily give up video performance that I'm never going to use to have a more powerful CPU and HOPEFULLY longer battery life. It's not even a question.

 

[jdechko]

Again, I'll say that I wish we were going to get something other than the HD3000, but I realize that it's just not going to happen. As far as the rumors go though, that's about the only downside. If everything else pans out (like Thunderbolt, Backlit Keyboard, i7 CPU, maybe RAM upgrade/4GB standard) then it is going to be an increase in performance for most people (except 3D gamers). I'm sure that if Apple could have figured out a way to include a better GPU, they would have, but sacrifices had to be made. The time has come to let go of the C2D for better or worse.

On the positive side, my most recent graphics intensive computer game purchase was the Orange Box which should run fine on the HD3000. Other games for me include old emulated games and Sudoku/Puzzle games... oooooh intensive.