garageCube

[chromafresh]

I was wondering if Yves or Boris could take a look at the new MacBook specs and give their thoughts on the graphic card. It looks to be almost too good to be true otherwise and they finally did the right thing and officially supported dual screens!
Any thoughts? Graphic card or otherwise?
Obviously reviews from anyone who bought one would be great too.

[Akira]

It is too good to be true.

The new MacBooks have SHARED Video memory, a fact that slipped through most eyes. Check the specs.

This surely will affect modul8's performance a-plenty, but I wait for reports.

[chromafresh]

how would shared video memory affect things?

[sigmasix]

There is no video card.. Core Image and Core Videos are using the video card so it's bad

[yves@garagecube]

I did not test these machines, however I expect the performances to be close to the dual-core mini (which I did test a lot).

Basically there is no dedicated graphic card, so for intensive GPU processing it is not that great (read CoreImage filters, heavy patches, etc.). However it performs very well for most of the tasks people are usually doing in Modul8.

Performances for DV streaming are pretty impressive. The iBook G4, even with its dedicated graphic card, is a joke comparing to this machine.

[Akira]

Basically there is no dedicated graphic card, so for intensive GPU processing it is not that great (read CoreImage filters, heavy patches, etc.). However it performs very well for most of the tasks people are usually doing in Modul8.

Can yo uexplain more? How do you think people are usually operating modul8? This would be interesting to hear, it would help me in my decision on next computer to buy (never been fond of springing loads of cash for a powerbook i won't utilize to its fullest potential)

[yves@garagecube]

Well, in other words everything but the CoreImage filters is fast. Also 3D shapes (patches or particles) with a lot of polygons won't be as fast as with a true dedicated graphic card. Now even in this case, performances are descent.

[Akira]

Well, in other words everything but the CoreImage filters is fast. Also 3D shapes (patches or particles) with a lot of polygons won't be as fast as with a true dedicated graphic card. Now even in this case, performances are descent.

Ack ! I use a lot of graphics with 3D m8 fx!
And CoreImage seems to be running swell in my IBG4!

Gaaaah!!!!!!
Will have to test it

[yves@garagecube]

Some benchmarks:

http://www.barefeats.com/mbcd3.html

Of course be careful with these benchmarks, because they are game oriented and Modul8 does not use the GPU like a 3D game (pushing thousands of polygons with static textures instead of streaming video to the VRam). Like you said, the best is to test it yourself to see if it fits your needs.