Do Apple Silicon Mac's has a dedicated graphics card?

Yeet_Boy_FRESH wrote:

I'll be doing large iMovie projects. This friend is very knowledgeable about Macs and computers in general. However, none of you have answered my question. His message applies to Intel Macs. Do Apple Silicon Macs have graphics built into that SoC?

It's kind of complicated. However, they are integrated into the same package. This is in fact a lot better performance than previous discrete graphics on a separate package or board. There is so much performance lost because signals need to be driven from one chip to another. But no it's not on a separate chip/package/card/module. It doesn't really need it.

Here's an image of an M1 Pro. The graphics cores are on the bottom center and the CPU cores are on the top center.

Introducing M1 Pro and M1 Max: the most powerful chips Apple has ever built - Apple

The terminology "Discrete Graphics card" only applies to large, desktop Macs like the 42 lb silver tower Mac Pro, which actually have an internal slot and the graphics card can be literally be removed and replaced with a more capable graphics card, it you ever needed that.

For Intel MacBook Pro, models with screen larger than 13-in in general, feature a discrete graphics CHIP soldered to the mainboard. what the wire-heads here (Including me) are trying to point out is that you are looking at the wrong side of this equation -- you may wish to AVOID Macs that only have Intel Integrated graphics, because they may tend to underperform at High-End Video editing tasks.

For Apple-Silicon M1 models, the graphics sub-processors aka 'Graphics Cores' are integrated onto the System Die. That is not to suggest they are in any way inferior. They are tuned to the sorts of tasks people do on Macs. And they are connected in a way where performance is not hobbled by using a separate chip and separate display RAM.

"Discrete Graphics card" has no meaning in this context.

The 13-in models are entry level, and have fewer Graphics sub-processors.

Higher-end Macs have more graphics sub-processors on the die, and If you get high enough, the entire Die is doubled and the two are hooked together.

y_p_w provided a picture showing the memory arrays for an M1 Pro system-on-a-chip. Here is a diagram of what parts are where inside that chip:

Here is a chart of how the number of graphics processors increases with different models. Not that the increments are fairly uniform as you go up the performance ladder. There is no "underclass" of inferior graphics capabilities:

... not shown is the M1 Ultra, which includes tow "Mac" calibre chips working together.

graphics from Anandtech

Your friend is correct about RAM and SSD ... integral part of the logic board.

My interpretation of his message is to buy all the computer you can afford and not start with an entry level model. The graphics card of the higher tier Macs are what they are. Certainly you can pick one with a higher end graphics card. You'll need to read the tech specs for the machine in question and make an informed decision. That requires you to know what you require in terms of a graphics card, but those specs are published.

My only advice is to buy what you'll need in the future because you can't upgrade.

The advice to buy used is good assuming you stick with known reliable resellers like https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple_Systems/Used/Macs_and_Tablets and Apple.com.

In general Intel MacBook Pro in 13-in sizes use Intel Integrated graphics, and Intel Macs in larger sizes also have a Discrete graphics processor, and the Mac can switch between the two on the fly. When present, the discrete Graphics processor is always used when an External Display is attached. So in general, 15-in Intel MacBook Pro models have a Discrete graphics processor.

iMovie is optimized as the "everybody" video editor, and it can perform adequately on ANY Mac after 2010 MacBook Pro models (which are severely memory limited). All MacBook Pro after 2011 models have USB-3 ports to hook up larger faster external drives.

At this writing Apple-Silicon M1 and M2 MacBook Pros are all tightly integrated design, with "unified" memory architecture for maximum performance when needed, better power consumption otherwise. Discrete graphics is not available in current Apple-Silicon Macs, because there is no need for it for ANY purposes.

The main difference between the various models of MacBook Pro is that higher-end models have a larger built-in display, and can support More External displays. Higher-end models have more graphics sub-processors included.

If you were doing Theatre-quality Professional Video editing with Final Cut, you would also want a higher-end model for real-time effects generation.

All the cards that are built-into the logic boards are dedicated to that Mac.

What precisely are you looking for?

<< a dedicated graphics card >>

WHY do you need that?

Are you going to be running some hard-core graphics programs or editing 4K Videos, or something else?

+1

ALL Macs have Graphics built in. Newer Macs don't have replaceable/upgradable graphics.