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#1
July 29th, 2008, 03:40 PM
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 Graphics Cards etc. Hey Guys, I'm trying to decide what Macbook Pro to buy. 15.4-inch: 2.4GHz with: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and dual-link DVI or 15.4-inch: 2.5GHz NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and dual-link DVI Apart from the second one being more expensive can anyone please tell me the main benefits of it? Thanks!  |
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#2
July 29th, 2008, 04:01 PM
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| It's slightly faster (about ~5%, give or take a few percentage points), and it's got twice the amount of video RAM... which comes in useful for games, 3D modeling, and graphics-intensive operations. That's about it from the specs you posted. You didn't say if the second one also had a bigger hard drive, or perhaps an LED-screen and high-resolution display, which would also influence my decision if it were my decision to make.
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you_without_me (July 29th, 2008) | ||
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#3
July 29th, 2008, 04:07 PM
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| I've heard that some people have been having some video problems with the nVIDIA-based MacBook Pros (I have one friend that's been telling me about NVchannel errors almost daily). It looks like there might be an issue with the 8600m chipset, and Apple is not the only one affected by the issue. http://lists.apple.com/archives/quar.../msg00153.html http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/21/...o-by-failures/ Wait and see what happens with the upcoming crop of MacBook Pros. Supposedly, they might switch back to ATI but don't quote me on that.
__________________ • Apple iMac G5 17" (2 GHz G5) - Mac OS X 10.4.11 • Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 (33 MHz MC68040) - Mac OS 8.1 • Apple PowerBook Duo 230 (33 MHz MC68030) - System 7.1 • "JHVH-1" (2 GHz AMD Athlon XP 2400+) - Slackware 12.1 • "Kidbuntu" (2.8 GHz Celeron D 335) - Ubuntu 8.04 |
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you_without_me (July 29th, 2008) | ||
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#4
July 29th, 2008, 04:08 PM
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| ElDiablo summarized it up. Plus then the hard drive size.. and the RAM size. I got myself the simpler one a few months ago, with 256 MB graphics card. I do mostly virtualization, photography etc etc so moderate use (but with bigger hard drive, and external hard drives etc). As I shed the cash out of my pockets, I got the plainer one - either I will use a desktop for more graphic/stressing work, or if I will be doing work where the difference between 256 or 512 MB video card matters, then the contract or the employer better get me the other one  I don't regret.
__________________ MacBook Pro + Mac mini | Newton 2000 | @Work : Dell D620 & 2x20" + a lot of Macs | Workstation, VC & Fusion Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. ~ Samuel Clemens | Rants | Photos |
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you_without_me (July 29th, 2008) | ||
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#5
July 29th, 2008, 06:21 PM
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| thanks alot for your replies. the macbook pro will be needed for mostly graphic design/video editing/audio editing/animation. Here are more specs. 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1440 x 900 resolution 2GB memory 200GB hard drive1 8x double-layer SuperDrive SuperDrive NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256 MB for 160euro extra you can get 4GB memory. for 90 euro extra you can get 7200rpm instead of 5400rpm Is the extra RPM only crucial if you're working 24/7 on editing media? |
