# macbook and mini **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [March 13, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/macbook-and-mini/1618 "2009-03-13T22:00:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Allen\_Ingling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Allen\_Ingling](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/Allen_Ingling)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/macbook-and-mini/1618/1 "2009-03-13T22:00:45Z")
Hi, Psychtoolbox users, I am going to be using psychtoolbox for display of stimuli for EEG.  I'm particularly interested in knowing that the timing of stimuli is correct.  For various reasons, I'd like to use a laptop to present stimuli.  What do you think of using the new macbook laptops for this purpose?   These computers have a pretty good graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M).  Has anyone extensively tested timing for the new batch of mac laptops with psychtoolbox?   Do you anticipate any timing problems due to having either a dual display or mirrored display configuration? I had a look at the page [http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements) and didn't find my answer, but I may have missed another discussion of the topic. In addition, I'm interested in whether anyone has used the new macbook minis for stimulus generation.  Are these computers (graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) up to the challenge of having a single display?  I notice from the message board that many people are using macbook pro -- is there a reason to upgrade to that if the computer is used almost exclusively for stimulus generation? Thanks for any help you may have, Kristina ---
**Author:** ![mariokleiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@mariokleiner](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/mariokleiner)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/macbook-and-mini/1618/2 "2009-03-16T00:24:44Z")
Hi Kristina, no practical (test) experience with these, so all comments just based on the official specs and under the assumption that the drivers don't contain any unknown bugs specific to that chip. The 9400M is feature-wise state of the art and provides support for all functionality of PTB. The timing of stimuli should be correct, i.e., stimulus onset frame- accurate and perfectly synced to display retrace, timestamps reliable and sub-millisecond exact, of course always assuming you use a CRT display for stimulus presentation, as exact timing on any current LCD flat panel is impossible. Performance will be lower than with the 9600M GT in MacbookPro for some types of stimuli, as the 9400M doesn't have dedicated VRAM memory and a lower number of stream processors, but that will only affect you if you try to do fast animation with complex stimuli or complex post processing. As always, it depends on the complexity of your stimuli. Wrt. to display configuration. Single display is always lower load than dual-display. Mirror mode should be lower load than "true" dual display with separate content and dual display under control of PTB (e.g., for binocular stimulus presentation on two displays) should always be lower load than having 1 display for PTB and 1 display for the regular Matlab GUI etc. These are rules of thumb, they are always true for technical reasons, but their relative impact is highly dependent on what you're doing, so the only way to find out if it's a problem is to find out if it's a problem for your specific setup. What do you mean with "suitable for stimulus generation"? One reason to go for a MacBookPro in the past was that Apple used Intel graphics chips in their previous MacBooks, and Intel is not exactly famous for high performance graphics or bug free graphics drivers, so the MacBookPro with an ATI or NVidia GPU was a safer bet. That said, there are still two serious unfixed bugs in Leopard 10.5.6 at least on the NVidia 8800 cards: a) Trying to open two fullscreen windows on a dual-display setup causes serious system malfunctions up to the point of a system crash, so real dual-display mode with PTB is a no-go until f%$#%#$Q#$ Apple fixes their operating system, instead of completely ignoring the open bug reports. b) Frame sequential stereo for shutter glasses is also broken on Geforce 8800 with 10.5.6. See a) for the solution. However if you don't need stereo display via a) or b), it should be fine. As far as i know, one can turn the internal display of MacBooks off by connecting an external keyboard, putting the machines to sleep by closing the lid, then waking the machines up via the keyboard, so only the external display turns on. Or you use mirror-mode. -mario > --- In [psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com](mailto:psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com), Kristina Visscher \ wrote: > \> > \> Hi, Psychtoolbox users, > \> I am going to be using psychtoolbox for display of stimuli for EEG. > \> I'm particularly interested in knowing that the timing of stimuli is > \> correct. For various reasons, I'd like to use a laptop to present > \> stimuli. What do you think of using the new macbook laptops for this > \> purpose? > \> These computers have a pretty good graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce > \> 9400M). Has anyone extensively tested timing for the new batch of mac > \> laptops with psychtoolbox? Do you anticipate any timing problems due > \> to having either a dual display or mirrored display configuration? > \> > \> I had a look at the page [http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements) > \> and didn't find my answer, but I may have missed another discussion > \> of the topic. > \> > \> In addition, I'm interested in whether anyone has used the new macbook > \> minis for stimulus generation. Are these computers (graphics card is > \> NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) up to the challenge of having a single display? > \> I notice from the message board that many people are using macbook pro > \> -- is there a reason to upgrade to that if the computer is used almost > \> exclusively for stimulus generation? > \> > \> Thanks for any help you may have, > \> > \> Kristina > \> ---
**Author:** ![thadczuba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@thadczuba](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/thadczuba)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/macbook-and-mini/1618/3 "2009-06-10T17:13:06Z")
The new MacBook Pros handle some of our pretty complex motion stimuli just fine. I've only lightly used it b/c we present mostly on our Mac Pros too, but used it for projector demo of our stim and it handled it no problem. Make sure to switch it to Performance mode to use the better 9600M GT GPU. (upper 2 15" MBP levels, and the 17" MBP) The old Macbook with Intel GMA will choke. -Thad. > --- In [psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com](mailto:psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com), "deborah.apthorp" \ wrote: > \> > \> Hi, > \> > \> I'm also interested in the topic of graphics cards as I will have to use a laptop to present stimuli on a data projector to subjects in the scanner for an fMRI experiment. > \> > \> I don't think the graphics capability in my old laptop (MacBook with Intel GMA 950) is sufficient as I am presenting quite graphics-intensive motion stimuli. At the moment for presenting stimuli I use a Mac Pro 1.1 with NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT and this works fine, but I can't take it to London with me. > \> > \> The new MacBook Pro 15-inch boasts NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 256MB dedicated RAM - this seems the best option. Has anybody tested this configuration yet? (Obviously not on the newest MacBook Pro announced today, but the previous model seems to have much the same graphics setup.) > \> > \> Thanks! > \> > \> Deborah. > \> > \> --- In [psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com](mailto:psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com), Kristina Visscher \ wrote: > \> \> > \> \> Hi, Psychtoolbox users, > \> \> I am going to be using psychtoolbox for display of stimuli for EEG. > \> \> I'm particularly interested in knowing that the timing of stimuli is > \> \> correct. For various reasons, I'd like to use a laptop to present > \> \> stimuli. What do you think of using the new macbook laptops for this > \> \> purpose? > \> \> These computers have a pretty good graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce > \> \> 9400M). Has anyone extensively tested timing for the new batch of mac > \> \> laptops with psychtoolbox? Do you anticipate any timing problems due > \> \> to having either a dual display or mirrored display configuration? > \> \> > \> \> I had a look at the page [http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements](http://psychtoolbox.org/wikka.php?wakka=GraphicsHardwareRequirements) > \> \> and didn't find my answer, but I may have missed another discussion > \> \> of the topic. > \> \> > \> \> In addition, I'm interested in whether anyone has used the new macbook > \> \> minis for stimulus generation. Are these computers (graphics card is > \> \> NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) up to the challenge of having a single display? > \> \> I notice from the message board that many people are using macbook pro > \> \> -- is there a reason to upgrade to that if the computer is used almost > \> \> exclusively for stimulus generation? > \> \> > \> \> Thanks for any help you may have, > \> \> > \> \> Kristina > \> \> > \>