toggle

AAPL Stock: 497.67 ( 0 )

MacNN News

Apple changes Mac Mini graphics tune

updated 06:45 pm EST, Thu March 2, 2006

Apple eats its words

Apple's been bitten by its own marketing words, according to report on CNET News.com. The company had touted its graphics superiority in the first G4-version of the Mac mini, noting that it had included a separate graphics card, while other low-end PCs used an integrated chip. The Apple webpage, which has since been taken down, said: "Go ahead, just try to play Halo on a budget PC," Apple said. "Most say they're good for 2D games only. That's because an 'integrated Intel graphics' chip steals power from the CPU and siphons off memory from system-level RAM." Ironically, Apple's new Intel-based Mac mini features an integrated graphics processor: the Intel GMA950 graphics supports Tiger Core Graphics and the latest 3D games, sharing the main system memory.

by MacNN Staff

(45)

TAGS :

Apple

Share the Article

Facebook Twitter Delious Slash Dot Digg

toggle

Comments

Enigmaaron
Forum Regular

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/02, 07:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
This is news?

Funny how this article references the CNet article which references the MacWorld article. Both of which were posted today, while users in the forums here noted this same thing two days ago when the Mini was announced. Glad to see the media is on top of things.

nonhuman
Posting Junkie

Joined: Jun 2001

0

03/02, 07:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ok...

But how do the mini's graphics actually compare to those of other budget PCs and to separate graphics cards in a similar price range?

There's nothing wrong with changing your mind when something better comes along. Is that all that happened here?

jparker
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/02, 07:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
step down

No, this is a step down. The G4 mini had an ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card. The Intel GMA950 graphics is the weakest part of the current Mini. For a box that is perfect for the living room - hooked to a wide screen TV, not having a mid-level graphics ability option to play games is a big pause. Others have sighted lack of hard drive, but you can always add easily via USB or Firewire. For the living room, you don't want the laptop, or iMac - you don't want the integrated monitor. The PowerMac is overkill. So the mini is the right idea. Core duo is a welcome surprise, but lack of a good graphics option is a bummer. Listening Apple?

trevc
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2000

0

03/02, 07:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
and ....

... they raise the price on this?

crawlingparanoia
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/02, 07:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: raised price

MUCH better CPU, more USB ports, better HDD..

lockhartt
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2000

0

03/02, 07:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
Trade off...

The specs for the new Mini indicate the hard drive is a "standard serial ATA drive operating at 7200 rpm" which would indicate that it is not a 2.5" drive as with the previous Mini, but then Apple hobbled the beast by going with an integrated graphics chipset.

Since the mean is meant to be as inexpensive as possible, I suspect this graphics compromise was necessary just to keep the Mini close to its old price point... given that the processors now cost them considerably more.

Roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/02, 08:09pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Trade off...etc

It is indeed a 2.5" Serial ATA 7200 rpm. The same serial ATA 7200 rpm notebook drive that is inside the MacBook Pro.

Lets also clear up something about the Integrated graphics card. The GMA950 does use 32 MB of onboard memory and if needed it will pull an additional 32 MB of memory from the system memory through a 64-bit bus. You may find that this is an increase over the 32 MB video card that came in the previous Mac mini. When Apple made the statements about onboard in the past they were correct, but Intel's Onboard video technology is much different than it was at that time.

smoke-tetsu
Forum Regular

Joined: Jan 2003

0

03/02, 08:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
got my hopes up

I was thinking they changed their tune and already started offering BTO options for upgrading the GPU or simply replaced it. =p

dave a
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2002

0

03/02, 08:35pm | report spam | close Reply |
No...

It is a 5400 rpm drive, all right. The 7200 was a mistake. And RAM is not really user installable, though they say it is.

dimplemonkey
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

03/02, 08:55pm | report spam | close Reply |
Dvorak's a soothsayer...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1925239,00.asp

titanium76
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/02, 11:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
Graphics

Shared memory? Am I buying a Mac or a Dell? C'Mon Steve, keep the Mac a Mac.

Lance Moody
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

0

03/02, 11:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hyperbole can hurt...

as now when Apple gushes about how they have shrunk the MacBook Pro (which I have and love) down from the old fat size to just 1 inch thick.

Sounds good unless you realize that the old Titanium Powerbooks were just 1 inch thick, too (and lighter).

Lance

SolarMedia
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/03, 02:47am | report spam | close Reply |
It is a downgrade

The only difference in the drive is the bus (SATA), and a slow drive is still a slow drive. The Intel graphics card is junk compared to anything ATI or nVidia produces.

Gigabit is so cheap that including it is almost a non-issue.

A PC user can build this system for less than half the price, with Windows being the most expensive part of that.

Sorry, but the feature upgrades don't even come close to the raise in price.

kw99
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2001

0

03/03, 03:58am | report spam | close Reply |
marketing words...

The key word is "marketing." What a dumb article. Marketing is about selling your product. Of course they were pointing to the superiority of the old G4 Mac mini at that time. Products change. Technology changes. Marketing changes. Big whoop...

mytdave
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2000

0

03/03, 08:25am | report spam | close Reply |
bad move

The graphics in the new Intel Mac mini is a significant downgrade. This was a terrible move on Apple's part both from a technology point of view as well as perception. I believe this is going to hurt them.

I for one will not be buying a Mac mini until the graphics chip is replaced, and the price is lowered back down to what the G4 models were.

Now that Apple went the Intel route, there is no real difference other than MacOS X. The new mini specs are so underwhelming that a cheap small form PC running Linux is looking better and better all the time. While not as elegant or easy as MacOS X, Linux works, and it's solid.

Apple would have been better off to simply upgrade the mini with a dual-core G4 (the MPC8641D) made by Freescale.

csi95
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

03/03, 09:02am | report spam | close Reply |
No win scenario

If the new Mini had an "above average" graphics card, I'd toss my 1.42 Mini on eBay and get one of these new ones. With the integrated graphics, I'm keeping what I've got.

Apple is really against the wall here though. If you've seen those photos of the machine disected, there's just no room for a seperate graphics card. The box is just packed too tight to fit it.

Maybe they'll manage to find space in the 3rd generation...

ferg
Forum Regular

Joined: Sep 1999

0

03/03, 09:33am | report spam | close Reply |
WoW

This must play games like World of Warcraft like a pig, if at all. I would keep my old machine if all I wanted was a word processor. What a waste of time, I don't comment on things much, but I was waiting for this new iteration of the mini to get at least 128meg graphics and the intel duo...guess I will keep waiting...nice one Apple...nice one...

ibugv4
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2003

0

03/03, 09:53am | report spam | close Reply |
Morons

This thing is to play back DVDs and watch PVR-styled movies with, NOT PLAY GAMES. Apple's never been a gaming platform, buy a PC. This chipset does exactly what it needs to do, Mini is a living room extension not an intro Mac ... you've not been following Apple very well if you can't figure that out.

macbarry
Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2002

0

03/03, 09:58am | report spam | close Reply |
still waiting

I have a home theater / DVI enabled HDTV set up in my living room and the rest of the house full of ethernet networked Macs loaded with media on their various hard drives. I have been patiently waiting for Apple to announce a cheap, Intel Mac Mini that would act as the head unit in my living room and help me pull everything together. I was confident that last Tuesday's special event would send me rushing off to the Apple Store to happily lighten my bank account for a MM and give me the home entertainment system of my dreams... but it didn't happen. The 2 choices I've been given by Apple are neither cheap nor perfect for (at least for my) use as a media center. The low end single core MM has been reported to probably not have enough horsepower for HD video. The high end dual core MM can probably handle HD but is not cheap and contains a stock expensive DL DVD burner and barely adequate yet still too slow internal hard drive - both of which I have no use for. Meanwhile both of these new MMs sport questionable graphics for gaming.

I think Apple needs to get it together and offer a version of the MM that is a cheap, full on media center box. They are missing a grand opportunity to capture the emerging HDTV - computer interface market with a MM offering but with these 2 they are just not there yet...Apple if your listening I've put my hands back in my pockets for now and am...still waiting.

OtisWild
Junior Member

Joined: Feb 2005

0

03/03, 10:00am | report spam | close Reply |
meh.

New Mac mini == junk :/ Integrated graphics are hard suck, Apple told me so.. and they shoulda just used a celeron in the entry level to maintain or reduce the base mini price..

Wait for the Powermac replacement, maybe they'll even take standard PCIe cards instead of overpriced OpenFirmware..

hayesk
Professional Poster

Joined: Sep 1999

0

03/03, 10:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Oh the lies...

The lies people make up just so they can win an argument.

"I could build a Dell or clone PC for less".

Really? Where can I get a good quality PC that is the size of a mini, with Airport, bluetooth, *remote control*, firewire, for $600?

"The only difference in the drive is the bus (SATA), and a slow drive is still a slow drive"

Really. Then please explain why the drive in my G4 Mac mini is 4200 RPM - where the new ones are 5400 RPM. Please explain the articles around the web that say a 5400 RPM external firewire drive can provide a significant speed boost to the mini if you boot from it.

Here's what I see that's changed about the mini: - faster CPU - now includes wireless (Airport and Bluetooth) standard - Front Row and remote control - a system capable of playing HD video (see Macworld article - they claim it runs smoothly) - video that now supports Core Image (the old one didn't).

Those are all positives. The only negatives are a $100 price increase, but considering all you get, it seems worth it to me. The video card that is slower on a few 3D games. Do people really buy a mini to play 3D games all day?

I really don't see the point of all the whining.

wadepeeler
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2004

0

03/03, 10:55am | report spam | close Reply |
3D Games

People keep saying that the mini isn't for playing games, so it doesn't matter if the graphics card is good enough for 3D games...

Except that Apple says: "The Intel GMA950 graphics supports Tiger Core Graphics and the latest 3D games.", but according to every benchmark and test I've seen on the GMA950, it performs terribly even on games that are fairly old. Everything I've read on it says that if you intend to do any gaming at all you need to go buy a dedicated graphics card, which of course you can't do with a mini.

Maybe Apple should stop advertising it as a gaming machine if it really isn't supposed to be one. Or maybe instead of saying "the latest 3D games" they should say "3D games that were released more than 3 years ago".

wadepeeler
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2004

0

03/03, 10:58am | report spam | close Reply |
Addendum

In one article I read on the GMA950, the quote from the Intel guy even said that they don't design their cards with a view toward gaming and that they leave that to ATi and nVidia. Well if even Intel says that it's not made for gaming...

Timothy Flint
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/03, 11:14am | report spam | close Reply |
OSX does not work?

"While not as elegant or easy as MacOS X, Linux works, and it's solid." So, you are saying that MacOSX doesn't work and is not "solid." I think some people might disagree.

Roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/03, 11:16am | report spam | close Reply |
Games?!

Gaming is not the end all be all of what a computer does, or is even intended to do. The integrated graphics, though I wish they could have found a way to do it without, is still better than what they had. The 32 MB card in there before performs worse than the Intel integrated does, and using 80 MB off the system RAM will barely be noticeable these days, that is still less RAM usage than a lot of simple Applications. I'm just happy they have 2 RAM slots now instead of one.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/03, 11:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: morons

This thing is to play back DVDs and watch PVR-styled movies with, NOT PLAY GAMES. Apple's never been a gaming platform, buy a PC. This chipset does exactly what it needs to do, Mini is a living room extension not an intro Mac ... you've not been following Apple very well if you can't figure that out.

Really? I must've missed Apple's literature about their new Home Entertainment system. I just assumed since they're still selling this as a "computer", not a "Entertainment" device, that its intention was to be used for computing tasks.

Hmm. So I now need to buy an HD TV and put this in my living room? Just like Apple. Sell a computer and then force you to spend a boatload of money on other parts to just make it do what its supposed to do out of the box.....

palane
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2005

0

03/03, 11:34am | report spam | close Reply |
Need an HDTV?

"Hmm. So I now need to buy an HD TV and put this in my living room? Just like Apple. Sell a computer and then force you to spend a boatload of money on other parts to just make it do what its supposed to do out of the box....."

Come on, Testudo. You can do better than that. Why exactly do you have to buy an HDTV to use this as a computer? I suppose you have to buy a digital camera, too (though I haven't seen many computers that take digital photos right out of the box).

aristotles
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Jul 2004

0

03/03, 12:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Blah blah blah

The GMA 950 support HD resolutions, Core Image and has a greater pixel shader support level than the ATI 9200. It is a step up from the ATI card.

Let's wait for some real mac benchmarks before passing judgement. For all we know, the Windows drivers could be c*** and the OS X driver might be optimized.

aristotles
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Jul 2004

0

03/03, 12:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: morons

[i] Really? I must've missed Apple's literature about their new Home Entertainment system. I just assumed since they're still selling this as a "computer", not a "Entertainment" device, that its intention was to be used for computing tasks. [/i] Really? http://www.apple.com/macmini/accessories.html See those "TV" Tips? Front Row? http://www.apple.com/macmini/frontrow.html

benj
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 1999

0

03/03, 12:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
morons II

The comments here are just ridiculous. It's really shameful that this very cool and very small product is so denigrated. When you all graduate from high school daddy dvorak will buy you a new pc. Ok, angst and sarcasm aside- this is a nice machine- yes- better than the previous models-integrated graphics-it's not that important -and the core graphics routines will run properly now. come on now, Front Row- 4 usb (!) 3.5 HDD- it's way better than what it was -not to mention iLife06 etc. Stop looking at the specs and use one- Everyone I know with a mini (quite a few I might add) have had No Problems what-so-ever. Something I can't say about g5 Powermac, g5 Imac or g4 powerbook owners that I own and/or work with. I wish apple would just release these things without fanfare inside of building up "speculative" anxiety about products.

apostrophe
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2005

0

03/03, 12:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
Not a gaming machine?

"This thing is to play back DVDs and watch PVR-styled movies with, NOT PLAY GAMES. "

I LOVE comments like this...

http://www.apple.com/games/ Apple is SELLING MACS AS CAPABLE-GAME SYSTEMS.

Sure a Mac mini may become a PVR in the future, but for now they are selling it as a MAC, and Macs are supposed to be able to do gaming, office, video, audio, all of the above, well. Not half assed. I do not pay a premium for a Mac so I can watch a video only. If I want something half-assed I will buy a Dell.

Please don't make excuses for Apple s******* up here. Sure a Mac mini was never going to be a Gaming Machine, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be able to be able to play current and upcoming games on it well enough for casual gamers.

Instead we have an overpriced machine with what is often regarded as the WORST performance graphics "card" on the market.

I have been waiting for an upgrade to the Mac mini since launch and was 100% going to buy the next release, until I saw they gimped the video card (which tbh wasn't that great before but at least was somewhat capable).

Let's hope Apple don't go totally Dell and release the iBook successor with a similar integrated POS.

doc e
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2005

0

03/03, 01:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Just to add to this

After reading the chicken little responses from the typical message board experts (if Steve would only listen to me...) I thought it might be worth adding a few more bits of info that would help soothe their fears. As always, try it first to see how it actually performs instead of judging by press releases.

As for the video performance for games, no one mentioned that the video chip is sharing memory that is 667mhz PC2-5300 ram...quite a bit faster than the old ram. Combined with the significantly faster processors this may actually be respectable in performance for games. I intend to try it out and actually see before judging it.

No one mentioned in the condemnation-of-Steve-for-not-consulting with-message-board-experts diatribe that he thoughtfully included digital dolby 5.1 surround sound support with fiber optic audio connectors in and out on this new Mini. Sure that's great for watching movies but it's also great for gaming!

And Apple did all of this in a surprisingly small and quiet package for a price that has no comparison on the PC side. You can't build all the features this new Mini has in a package that small and quiet for that price as a PC. Now that the eMac has been dropped from the retail channel this new Mini basically steps up to fill that price point and does it pretty well.

Roehlstation
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/03, 03:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: Not a gaming machine?

How can you say the video is often regarded as the WORST performance graphics "card" on the market, when really it hasn't been out there long enough to make that determination. After all it does suport Tiger's Core Graphics which we can't say the same about the previous GPU. Who knows, maybe Mac OS X does something that will make it perform quite well. It is a 667 MHz bus to the RAM, on a processor that isn't likely being worked all that hard anyway. I do not feel Apple made this decision without looking at the performance, after all they were so against doing that in the Past.

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

03/03, 03:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
It's a desktop computer.

"This thing is to play back DVDs and watch PVR-styled movies with,"

This thing is to do anything you want to do with a desktop computer. You can use it as a PVR, if you don't mind spending 2-3 times as much as a TiVo with more capacity. The GMA950 is going to bog down even on simple OpenGL applications that use 3d (and there's a LOT more of those than just first-person-shooters). It doesn't have a vertex shader and it doesn't do lighting, it doesn't even seem to have FSAA or anisotropic filtering, so not only is it going to be slow it's not going to look as good as the Radeon 9200 (let alone the relatively inexpensive nVidia on the current Powerbooks).

SiliconAddict
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Feb 2006

0

03/03, 04:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
Cheap.

nonhuman,

The problem is that this isn't something better. I could understand a integrated Intel GPU. There are some OK ones out there. But integrated + shared memory architecture = bull f****. Only the lowest of the low sub-$500 systems use a shared memory architecture. SMA is generally relegated to the Presario and Pavilion scrapyard PC�s who�s value is somewhere between a steaming pile and a 3 week old pizza in a frig somewhere. In short Apple has fully embraced the x86 transition alright. . .They made their first cheap quality computer. Unfortunately it still is tagged with a semi-premium price tag which is why a lot of people are going WTF dude? My personal guess is that Apple sacrificed the GPU so they could maintain their profit margins. The CPU in the thing has to be costing them more then the G4 and as such was eating into their profits. Instead of taking a hit on their profits they gave us one cheap o� GPU. Yes that�s a WAG but I�m guessing it�s a pretty good guess.

DoctorGonzo
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Oct 1999

0

03/03, 06:21pm | report spam | close Reply |
Welcome to 1996

This really is absolutely pathetic.

Downgrading the quality of your components while raising the price is never a good idea, and when you've marketed your product as the means for PC users to dip their toes in the Mac universe, it might make sense to give it enough horsepower to run the software most casual users will be picking up off the store shelves without a second thought.

Just wait until switchers find out that just about any game out there runs terribly. The Sims series is the most popular franchise right now, what happens when people start installing The Sims 2 on their $800 ($1000 after display, keyboard and mouse) computer only to watch it crawl?

The image of Apple selling junk computers will once again take hold.

Ilgaz
Registered User

Joined: Nov 2004

0

03/04, 01:46am | report spam | close Reply |
So 2 mistakes

So they LIED at first place speaking about the integrated graphics solution and/or now they are effectively LIEING by CENSORING their own page.

Ilgaz
Registered User

Joined: Nov 2004

0

03/04, 01:59am | report spam | close Reply |
7200 RPM means

Noise.

You don't want HD seek noise in your living room.

If it was a wintel, I wouldn't wait a second to move it to "silent profile" via Acoustic Management utility.

Ilgaz
Registered User

Joined: Nov 2004

0

03/04, 02:01am | report spam | close Reply |
To the fanboys

Please watch your words. You may be functioning as a free lawyer to Apple Inc. but there is no reason to call people who didn't like a new device from Apple: MORONS!

ncbill
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2006

0

03/04, 12:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
previous mini was a joke

It's clear from MacWorld's initial test that the previous mini was also a joke when it came to playing recent games:

http://www.macworld.com/2006/03/firstlooks/minibenchmarks/index.php

Apple went to SMA to save some cash, given the cost of the new CPUs (even so, they had to increase price points by $100)

If you want to play games, Apple will be more than happy to sell you an iMac or MacBook.

On the old or new Mini, don't count on playing games more complex than Nanosaur.

I wish the new Mini had upsized a bit to use 3.5" hard drives, but I understand had Apple done that, the new Minis likely would cannibalize Xserve sales.

yakirz
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

03/05, 09:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Let's wait and see

before condemning Apple on the integrated graphics.

Yeah, I'd love for the Intel Mini to have a dedicated 256MB graphics card, but that's not realistic in a $500 computer.

But I've heard the onboard chip, with 32-64 MB shared is at least as good, if not better, than the 32 MB card in the G4 Mini.

Try it out and THEN complain.

Ilgaz
Registered User

Joined: Nov 2004

0

03/05, 12:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
There wouldn't be any

Graphics card and chip company like NVidia and ATI, Matrox if Intel integrated graphics performed well.

I was using PCs that time they shipped first "gfx chip", even tried to race with the large players of that time with a graphics card. It doesn't matter. GFX is a very tough business with 6 month expiring rate. E.g. the best GPU you buy today will be outdated in 6 months. That rule never changes.

Integrated gfx is really, really nothing to defend. I also don't get some posters, they really seem people knowing and using OS X. Well, OpenGL and shading is WIDELY USED ON OS X DESKTOP, not just 14 year old FPS games.

That is the quartz. That is what Microsoft wants to do for years, MAY finally offer in Vista.

If Nvidia and ATI didn't go out of business, the reason was the monopolist Intel couldn't make nice graphics chip.

Only there is "3d Labs" which is acquired by Intel and makes only OpenGL 2.0 compliant pro cards.

There must be a limit to fanaticism and I think defending a move from a dedicated, good quality gfx chip to a Taiwan like Intel no name chip is the limit.

Stone Soldier
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

03/05, 04:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
Mini more money then iMac

Here's the key. The iMac is cheaper than the Mini. To get a Mini, keyboard and 20" monitor will cost you $100 more than the 20" iMac. With the iMac you get a 128 MB video card and twice the HD space, a faster chip. Mini needs to have the same feature set for this price difference or be $300 dollars cheaper.

As for the "forum experts" comment. I AM the expert. I am the one who buy the products, nobody's opinion matters more then mine. Only Apple loses when they can't sell a product to me and I buy a competing product. Think about it. Many users are unhappy this this product when it comes to sales Apple will see the same trend.

This is also not a HD media center without HDMI you will not be able to watch copy protected content. Without PVR this cannot compete with a Windows Media center PC which I can get for about the same price. Sure it's not as small but I can put the PC is a closet.

I think Apple really needs to re-evaluate this product. Do they want a crossover device for PC users? Or do they want a HD media center device? Either way this item appeals as neither to me.

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

03/06, 10:07am | report spam | close Reply |
no vertex shader

I've seen benchmarks showing the GMA950 performs *ten times worse* than the nVidia fx6200 (which is in the same range as the Radeon 9200) in programs that use the vertex shader, because it doesn't have one - the OpenGL driver has to emulate that in the CPU. Think of what this means for programs doing lighting or 3d textures.

apostrophe
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2005

0

03/07, 10:06am | report spam | close Reply |
Let's not forget

That the previous mini for the past 6 months or so has shipped with a 64 meg video card (unadvertised). So the GMA950 is a significant downgrade.

Wait and see how the GMA950 performs? Video card junkies have already put it through it's paces, it SUCKS.

Let's face it, Apple made sure Tiger ran ok with the card, Steve maybe played Nanosaur on it... More importantly they realized they could save money this way. Everyone wins! cept the customer of course.

Integrated graphics are only in existence because they are put in el-cheapo boxes where they know most users will go out and buy a proper one later. When you go to the store and you see clueless people buying 60 dollar video cards for their new pc, thats because their GMA950 couldn't play Sims 2.

But news flash: WE CANT DO THAT. If you buy a Mini you cant say, oh this card sucks, I'll just go buy a new one. That's why the gfx card has to at least be good enough, a dedicated card with its OWN memory and chipset.

Let's remember that we, the consumers, are who will make or break these systems. So be sure to voice your concerns at the local Apple store and http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Sure it's too late for the current model, but hopefully they'll see the light for the next Rev.

Show More Comments

Login Here

toggle

Network Headlines

02/16	Apple claims backing for rights to...
02/16	Intel may push Ivy Bridge back to June...
02/15	Sony completes Ericsson stake buyout...
02/15	Apple upgrades iBookstore with screenshots...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...

Show All

02/16	Apple claims backing for rights to...
02/16	Intel may push Ivy Bridge back to June...
02/16	Ex-Olympus President, other execs,...
02/15	Sony completes Ericsson stake buyout...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...

Show All

02/15	Apple upgrades iBookstore with screenshots...
02/15	Congress asks Apple to answer questions...
02/14	Apple attempting to disrupt Siri hacks...
02/14	Readability iOS app delayed, Android...
02/13	Apple launches 2012 back-to-school...

Show All

02/15	Monster iCarPlay Wireless FM Transmitter...
02/14	Refurb. 16GB iPhone 4, now only $259...
02/13	Refurb. Flip UltraHD Pocket Digital...
02/10	$380 off refurbished 2.8GHz Mac Pro...
02/09	iHome Dual Alarm Clock for Apple iPod...

Show All

toggle

Apple changes Mac Mini graphics tune

updated 06:45 pm EST, Thu March 2, 2006

Apple eats its words

Related Articles

Recent Articles

This is news?

Ok...

step down

and ....

re: raised price

Trade off...

re: Trade off...etc

got my hopes up

No...

Dvorak's a soothsayer...

Graphics

Hyperbole can hurt...

It is a downgrade

marketing words...

bad move

No win scenario

WoW

Morons

still waiting

meh.

Oh the lies...

3D Games

Addendum

OSX does not work?

Games?!

Re: morons

Need an HDTV?

Blah blah blah

Re: morons

morons II

Not a gaming machine?

Just to add to this

re: Not a gaming machine?

It's a desktop computer.

Cheap.

Welcome to 1996

So 2 mistakes

7200 RPM means

To the fanboys

previous mini was a joke

Let's wait and see

There wouldn't be any

Mini more money then iMac

no vertex shader

Let's not forget

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace