9600gt. Worth it?

Hey guys.

I just had a brainwave. Maybe I could sell my laptop BEFORE buying a new one, and then put that cash towards a better Macbook.

I'm figuring I'll have around £1200 with a university discount and after selling my current Notebook.

Now.. the 15-inch: 2.53GHz is affordable. Still with 9400m.
The 15-inch: 2.66GHz with the 9600gt is out of my budget by around £70.

I mean.. I could do with the 2.53GHz.. But is the 9600gt a MAJOR upgrade? Along with the better processor and higher HDD?

Thanks.

-Dread.

 

If the price point is an issue, then dont worry about the 9600GT or the "little" faster processor - unless you are using your laptop to edit/create pictures/movies for living. I dont play games, so I dont know how "crucial" is 9600GT for that task.
Good luck!

 

I might play some WoW or some others every now and again. Possibly Crysis or Left 4 Dead. Diablo 2 aswell when it comes out.

And I will be editing photos, photography is a hobby of mine. The SD card was a major swinger for me, haha.

Maybe I'll try and persuade my parents for the extra money.

 

I dunno about crysis on the 9400, but WoW, Diablo 2, and L4D on low settings will work great. Crysis might run well on low settings on the 9600 though... But why crysis xD I personally don't find that game all that great, try CounterStrike Source or TF2!!! =D

 

Yea I had this question as well. I am looking to buy a MBP soon and at first I was going to get the 13 inch 2.53 model but lately, I have been getting into photography and was wondering if I should go for the 15inch 2.66 with 9600GT. Will the graphic card be a deciding factor for me? I will be running Lightroom/ps and or aperture.

 

Yeah same, I'll definately be running Photoshop.
And I like Crysis. Dunno why.

I'll throw my mom the idea tonight and she what she says.

 

Unless you are using Maya, 3dsMax, or any other 3D/Video editing programs, discrete cards are unnecessary.

Photoshop is GPU accelerated, but its not gonna put a dent in the 9400m.

 

What about games?

 

9600m GT Can handle Crysis at medium-high settings and GTA4 at medium settings. I don't know if the 9400m will play these kinds of games but if you're playing older titles like counter-strike or half life 2, then you will probably be okay.

 

The fact that you are asking about games means that you are someone who wants to play games and still have them look half decent.

I would recommend you go with the 9600m GT if that's the most powerful you can get.

Remember your limitation in gaming WILL be your GPU. Don't go and get a weak one like the 9400m GT and then feel bad when things aren't looking great and smooth.

 

What about things like 3D web applications? Seems like there will be more of these in near future, Google Earth and so on.

 

I say no,since it is 3 generations old... thats a lot of money, and if you don't need new laptop now, wait for refresh!

 

You should also look at the refurbished UMBPs. For $1300 you can get a 15" 2.4ghz with a 9600gt. Of course its the one without the sd-card slot and has the removable battery.

 

Still nothing compared to 3D programs.

9400m is quite a bit faster than integrated, and thats all you'll ever need if you don't:

A: Game
B: Use 3D/Video programs

 

9600m gt is nice to have tbh, i thought i wouldnt play games on my mac(still havent, ps3...) but if a good game comes out (i want starcraft2 ) then its nice to have the 9600m gt as the 9400m is absolutly useless in any modern game,

 

the 9400m is integrated, so it is not faster than integrated cards. it IS integrated.

that said, it is better than integrated cards that came before it, or intel integrated cards... and it is comparable to some ultra low end dedicated cards (like the 9300m gs)

that said, the 9400m is not your pick if you want to play crysis, period.

google: apple refurb

in the US store, you can get a unibody 2.4ghz processor with the 9600m GT for $1299.

 

It's funny because I always thought it would be nice to have more power just in case a game came out that I might be interested in but it hasn't happened yet.

I am not saying there are no games in my future but I find myself wanting to play old games like Mechwarrior and Myth.

I don't know if I want to give up the small size of a 13" for a 15" with the 9600. I only wish most of my issues were this trival!

 

When I said integrated, thats what I meant, Intel integrated.

 

If you have the money, go for it. If you wait for a refresh, you'll be waiting forever. If you do any sort of gaming such as Left4Dead etc, 9600gt is almost a must. =X

 

Not to spark flames here, but there are a few points I want to correct in some past statements, since I think we need a bit of technical accuracy in some of the posts:

The 9400m in the MacBook and MacBook Pro is a separate GPU with Shared Memory, NOT an Integrated GPU, which is a GPU integrated into a bus architecture with software or soft-instruction-set processing capabilities. Sharing memory with main memory simply means that this is not considered a "Discrete" graphics solution.

Also, just to clarify a few other things, most 3D and video applications seem to work just fine on the 9400m. If you do HD editing or 3D/effects rendering, you might experience faster render times with the 9600, but video performance and basic capabilities with today's apps are totally acceptable from the 9400 card (YMMV).

As far as gaming, if you need to play Crysis or BioShock, you need the 9600, but at 1280x800 and medium settings, most other games play fine with 25-40fps framerates on the basic 9400m solution. It even outperforms the dedicated/discrete 8600GT from the past gen in some benchmarks and game performance ratings.

I also edit HD Video on the 9400 and have no trouble playing back or clip browsing with the 9400m in my uMBP 13, but rendering might be faster if I had dedicated graphics ram, or more GPU capabilities.

One of the things that helps with the performance level of the 9400 is the fact that its sharing DDR3 ram with the system, and that it pre-allocates this RAM and doesn't give it up to applications, so its always available.

Trade that slight performance difference with the HUGE battery life difference and the 9400 is a clear choice for the pro line. It is NOT a garbage card by any stretch.

This card shifts the thinking that all "integrated" or "Shared Memory" graphics cards are junk - Its highly usable even for professional applications and some fun. (Halo, Halo 2, Source/Valve games, etc.).

 

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody/590/3

The 9400M is integrated, since the laptop could not function without it.

 

...

negative.

i guess the question is: separate from what? as far as i am concerned, the 9400m is not a separate GPU, because it is built into the motherboard. it certainly "exists" - it isn't just a set of logic implemented by the CPU... integrated gpu's vary wildly in terms of performance and implementation. in graphics card land, we consider "not discrete" to be the same thing as "integrated". although, granted, the line gets more and more blurry, and the performance difference gets smaller and smaller...

 

The 9400m IS an integrated GPU as it is INTEGRATED into the motherboards southbridge, such at the Intel IGA's are integrated into intel southbridges and ATI has their IGA's as well, any IGA will be much less powerful then a dedicated chip die. with its own memory bus and subsystems

 

I run mostly the 9400, since better battery life for school work but I still play wow on it and runs nice only time I use the 9600m is when I boot win7 to play Aion. If you don't need it no use getting it I planned to get the lower end MBP but couldn't resist the deal I got on mid range with the 9600m

 

Same thing happened to me, I couldn't resist the deal =X

 

If you want decent resolution, framerates, and level of details in Crysis, the 9600m GT might not even be sufficient. My guess is that it can play Crysis at mostly low-medium settings on 1440x900 (MacBook resolution?) at a decent framerate (20-30 fps). If I were you I'd forget about Crysis unless you are getting a more highly-spec-ed laptop.