NVidea Integrated graphics

1
Today, Apple finally brought out mac portables that may perhaps be worthy of replacing my
G4 powerbook (see: http://www.apple.com/)

Anyone already dare to make an (educated) guess about the suitability of the NVidia
Integrated graphics chips (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) in the new macbook and macbook air for
PTB related work? (Obviously, the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT in the macbook pro will be
(way)better, but I'd be happy to trade in a bit of speed (but preferably not functionality) for
the reduced size and weight.)

Gr.
Frans
2
FWIW, I am currently working on a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air (old version, not the brand new ones) and have found a number of frustrating incompatibilities. For instance, "FillOval" and "FillRect" produce strange behavior (they cause the screen to flash and then go blank) which they do not produce on the older Mac. 

best,

tD: Mike.


On Oct 15, 2008, at 2:29 AM, franswcornelissen wrote:



Today, Apple finally brought out mac portables that may perhaps be worthy of replacing my 
G4 powerbook (see: http://www.apple. com/)

Anyone already dare to make an (educated) guess about the suitability of the NVidia 
Integrated graphics chips (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) in the new macbook and macbook air for 
PTB related work? (Obviously, the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT in the macbook pro will be 
(way)better, but I'd be happy to trade in a bit of speed (but preferably not functionality) for 
the reduced size and weight.)

Gr.
Frans


3
Hopefully (and likely so) nvidia has better drivers for their onboard
chip than Intel has, see messages [8638, 8641, 8648]. The GMA in the
old MacBook, like some older ATI cards, produced squares instead of
circles in Screen('DrawDots',...).

jochen

On Oct 26, 2008, at 17:22 , Mario Kleiner wrote:

> Feature-wise, all NVidia 8xxx and 9xxx are pretty much
> identical, so it's all about performance and the numbers
> of Thad match what i read on different websites.
>
> The new MacBooks got good reviews, except in
> two areas:
>
> a) Only glossy displays available. Nice if you are a vain
> person which loves to watch yourself in a mirror, but
> of questionable use otherwise.
>
> b) No Firewire port anymore, despite Apple advertising
> it as the premium choice during the last 10 years. Now,
> suddenly the much bashed USB 2.0 seems to be the
> premium choice for video, multi-media, data transfer
> etc., in contradiction to any technical wisdom, but
> probably in conformance with the desire to get a few
> more $ of profit out of each sold unit. The lack of a
> PCI Express card slot also makes it impossible to
> upgrade with some external adapter. But you can
> still pay + 800$ for the MacbookPro to get the
> 10$ firewire port back.
>
> Other than that, its probably a good buy, but
> this all based on official specs, not hands-on
> testing.
>
> -mario
>
> --- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, "Thad Czuba" <tbc.class@...>
> wrote:
>>
>> per the apple event introducing the new macbooks, the Nvidia 9400M is
>> supposed to perform at 55% of the discrete Nvidia 8600M GT of the
>> previous macbook pros, compared to 11% performance comparison of the
>> intel integrated graphics chip vs the 8600 GT.
>> (http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2008/10/apple-laptop-event-
> 028.jpg)
>> ((...noted that these are "3D" benchmarks, and won't directly apply
>> to
>> the kinds of things you're likely doing with PTB, but you gotta have
>> some point of comparison))
>>
>> ...if you're just using the notebook to work on code on the road and
>> are really psyched about a 1lb difference, then the new macbook might
>> be worth a shot. but if you're doing anything moderately graphics
>> intensive then I'd say go ahead and kick in for the MacBook Pro.
>>
>> ...as far as the Air, I'd really just think of it as an
>> email/internet/word processor. A sweet machine, but I definitely
>> wouldn't expect to crank any psychophysics power out of it.
>>
>> -Thad.
>>
>>
>> --- In psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com, Michael C Frank <mcfrank@>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> FWIW, I am currently working on a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air (old
>>> version, not the brand new ones) and have found a number of
>>> frustrating incompatibilities. For instance, "FillOval" and
>>> "FillRect"
>>> produce strange behavior (they cause the screen to flash and then go
>>> blank) which they do not produce on the older Mac.
>>>
>>> best,
>>>
>>> tD: Mike.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 15, 2008, at 2:29 AM, franswcornelissen wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Today, Apple finally brought out mac portables that may perhaps be
>>>> worthy of replacing my
>>>> G4 powerbook (see: http://www.apple.com/)
>>>>
>>>> Anyone already dare to make an (educated) guess about the
>>>> suitability of the NVidia
>>>> Integrated graphics chips (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) in the new macbook
>>>> and macbook air for
>>>> PTB related work? (Obviously, the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT in the
>>>> macbook pro will be
>>>> (way)better, but I'd be happy to trade in a bit of speed (but
>>>> preferably not functionality) for
>>>> the reduced size and weight.)
>>>>
>>>> Gr.
>>>> Frans
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Post your message to: psychtoolbox@yahoogroups.com
> Please indicate OS9, OSX, or WIN version, and include your full name.
> Denis Pelli, David Brainard, and Allen Ingling.
> http://psychtoolbox.org
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>