How bad is the Video Card?

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/gameroom/2006/05/macbookgames/index.php

Peter Cohen wrote an excellent article from a gaming perspective. If you're going to be wanting to play the games he mentions, then the MB is not for you.

It has onboard graphics, so yeah its pretty bad. Probally doesnt even have its own video ram. Probally hogs memory from your system ram. You want at least a Geforce 6800/Radeon X1600 or better to play the latest games. Your also better off runing your games under your windows partition or just getting a seperate PC for games, and use your mac for whatever you use it for.

The integrated graphics will do everything but let you play very graphics intensive games.

The video is fine. I have watched a movie and online video and have not had a problem. Since I am not a gamer I have not tried that.

Here it is, as straight as Elton John isn't:

The MacBook does not have dedicated video RAM; it steals 64MB from your system's memory, in which case, it's definitely best to max out your system memory (to 2 gigs). Along side this, is the Intel GMA 950 GPU. It's a pretty weak chip, therefore isn't sufficient for gaming, in any way at all, really. If you plan on gaming at all, I suggest you check out the MacBook Pro. The base model comes with 128MB of video RAM and the mid-high end models come with 256MB of video RAM, and all models come with the ATI Radeon X1600 GPU; a very solid graphics processor. So, again, the MacBook is not for gaming.

Hope this helps.

hi. you seem to understand the video card well... does it also matter for graphics work (i.e. photoshop) to a user who doesn't do any gaming?

thanks

Here it is, as straight as Elton John isn't:

The MacBook does not have dedicated video RAM; it
steals 64MB from your system's memory, in which case,
it's definitely best to max out your system memory
(to 2 gigs). Along side this, is the Intel GMA 950
GPU. It's a pretty weak chip, therefore isn't
sufficient for gaming, in any way at all, really. If
you plan on gaming at all, I suggest you check out
the MacBook Pro. The base model comes with 128MB of
video RAM and the mid-high end models come with 256MB
of video RAM, and all models come with the ATI Radeon
X1600 GPU; a very solid graphics processor. So,
again, the MacBook is not for gaming.

Hope this helps.

Photoshop wil run just fine, the problem that slows photoshop down is the programs still running under rossetta, and hasn't been optimised for universal/intel mac.

And I'm disagree with the post that saying the videocard is bad, it isn't bad, but it is standard profile, not wow but plain standard.

I do know that the Video Card on the MacBook is
pretty bad, but how bad is it really? Some people are
saying that it is the worst thing that Apple can
offer, others say its decent for typical use, so I
want a STRAIGHT answer. Would this video card be
appropriate for:

iChat

YES

Typical web browsing, maybe some online videos, not
intensive

YES

Maybe on Boot Camp ill run EverQuest 1

MAYBE (see below)

Microsoft word

YES

iTunes

YES

Movies on DVD

YES

I have never played EverQuest, so I can't say for that specific game. As for 3D games in Boot Camp, I can run Medal of Honor with maxed out options at 1024*648 resolution. So from my experience, the video card is better than: Geforce2 MX and ATI radeon mobility x300.

I hope that helps!

I do know that the Video Card on the MacBook is pretty bad, but how bad is it really?

Why do you say that. It supports core video, I'm able to use my software, run aperture. If you know its pretty bad then why ask how bad it is. If you play games its not the GPU for you, but for most other tasks its more then up to the job.

well, it's not. because you just heard some prejudice on shared memory graphic card from others? you're not sure until you will use macbook by person. so don't say what it is bad before eperience.

actually, it shared memory between 64MB and 442MB range, depending on situation. of course, it borrows from RAM, HDD space. but if you don't do some serious 3D graphic jobs, or intensive works, 3D dedicated games, everything is working very well.

I ordered macbook yesterday. I will report this chip's performance someday next week.

hi. you seem to understand the video card well... does it also matter for graphics work (i.e. photoshop) to a user who doesn't do any gaming?

As a couple of people have mentioned, Ronse, it depends very much on the amount of RAM you install. With 512 Meg of RAM its performance on such tasks is pretty ordinary (similar to my early model PB12 or my wife's 12" Thinkpad). With 2 gig, however, it is significantly faster for photographic work than my iMac G5 with an ATi 128Meg video card.

Cheers

Rod

I agree with Michael. I find it to be quite good.

I am editing photos with PhotoShop Camera Raw and it works well.

I can also play The Sims 2 on it and it looks really pretty good. But, the MacBook was not really meant to be a game machine.

You have to max the RAM or at least go to 1GB. Mine is 1GB.

I am very happy with it overall. It is a fantastic little wide-screen.

I have been a Mac users for many many years, so I am biased, but, I am seeing a lot of die hard PC Geeks (no offense, I proudly admit to being a Mac Geek) running out and buying these and absolutely loving them. I am serious. Many of them even love the screen and the vidcard.

My experience so far, perhaps it will help.


MacBook, G5 iMac, G4 PowerBook, G3 iBook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Apparently it's also unable to run the Motion application in the Final Cut Studio suite.

My previous laptop had a 32MB shared intel video, GM855. The games I played, not first person shooters but radio controlled flight simulators. I was getting around 20-30fps. When I loaded it in my macbook in XP I was getting 150-200fps! So it's not bad at all in my books. Then again, I"m thinking those games were probably more CPU intensive.