MacBook Pro - 2 Graphics Cards
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- seed
Do anyone know if the version with 2 graphics cards is worth the extra money? I could go without the other added specs.
Here's a comparison:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olsp…
- akrokdesign0
2 cards? you mean 256 vs. 512?
- seed0
The better one is up to 512 but it has 2 cards:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GTI believe for power saving and a better card for full graphics modes.
- version30
how many monitors do you want to run?
- akrokdesign0
"the 9400 shares 256MB of your system ram, while the 9600 uses its own dedicated 256/512 depending on your model"
- seed0
It's $500 more than the basic one.
According to this article:
"The other major reason for the huge upgrade to more proficient graphic cards in both the MacBook and Pro is Snow Leopard, which will be big on parallel processing and offloading work to the graphics card"
- johndiggity0
snow leopard offloads a lot of processing to the more powerful gpu's which is one of the reason apple adopted the dual card setup in the mbp.
do you do video editing or a lot of gaming? go with the dual cards.
do you work off the battery a lot? go with the single card.
- apple just replaced my 1st gen mbp with the new 15" 2.53 mbp. it is driving a 24" dell lcd and is more than adequate for print/photoshop work.johndiggity
- print/photoshop work. spend the extra on the 7200rpm drive if you can. or better, get a ssd.johndiggity
- seed0
That is the one I was thinking of getting (2.53). Seems to be the best value for the $. I was wondering if the 2 cards would be better with Photoshop, etc. Good advice on the 7200 HD.
- chow0
Regardless of the application, if you plan on running an external monitor alongside your MBP display at the same time, then yes, the upgraded video is totally worth it.
- lobstarr0
I'd rather spend the money on an OEM SSD. OCZ/Intel works wonders, you can find a 120GB for around the same price as a card (I think, otherwise watch for deals).
64x Photoshop + SSD == Craziness!!!!!!!!!!!!
But it doesnt just help Photoshop, the whole system boots a whole lot faster and is just snappier.
Just remember to move your Photoshop cache onto a different drive.
- seed0
So does having an external monitor take up much of the graphics cards power?
- lobstarr0
You're not going to have a problem with another external monitor affecting your performance in day to day use if that's what your asking. Having an external DOES suck up more (although minimal) power, so be sure to have the MBP plugged in at all times.
You mentioned that you are worried with Photoshop, two cards aren't going to help as much as a fast HDD or SDD, which is why I recommend it (the latter even). Unless you are rendering/editing videos or playing games on it then sure, get two cards.
Trust me on this. I've done my research. Redrawing issues with Photoshop always have related with a SLOW HD rather than a video performance issue.
- do not leave a battery charging all the time unless you want it deadversion3
- lobstarr0
If you are still not convinced, ISO50 wrote an article up on SSD's.
- lobstarr0
version3,
Lithium-ion batteries have no "memory effect" like nickel-based batteries, so there's no worry about plugging them back in before they're completely drained.