04-30-2008, 01:57 AM

Hi, my friend is going to buy a macbook this weekend. She is a graphic designer, who uses photoshop, quark and illustrator. She asked me what macbook she should get. I took a look at them and told her that the major difference I see is screen size. I noticed some minor differences in specs and wanted to understand/clarify some things.

All the video cards are essentially the same - Nvidia Geforce 8600M Gt. The lower end model has 256mb of ram and the others have 512. Other than that I see an increase in 100mhz in cpu speed every tier we go up. The hard drive being 50gb larger is pretty much meaningless to us because she most likely will be using her external hard drive in combination with her laptop. I told her to get the 7200rpm drive to access information more quickly. I thought that would help, and ram would be a nice thing to get more of also.

However, how can I tell what is enough mb in a video card for her programs. What does the video card really do? I don't really understand all the benchmark tests that they do and was wondering if anyone could explain/show me some technical things. I know a little but not enough. I want to make sure she gets a good purchase. She doesn't want to go over kill. Any suggestions, insults or whatever would be appreciated. [I understand most terminology because im a *cough* PC user that builds them on occasion]

04-30-2008, 02:12 AM

I'm no Mac expert, but I think I can help you out as I am a graphic designer my self.

I'll start by just saying that if she is to choose a Macbook, it should most definitely be the Macbook Pro.

Now, for your questions...

The video card is more than enough. Graphics are different than Video and Gaming. The video card will let the graphics for Video Editing and Gaming run much faster and better, but they don't give a insane boost on Graphics Works.

For graphic designing etc', the more important parts of a computer are the following:

-Microprocessor speed
-Memory
-HDD Speed
-Screen

To simply sum the list up in no particular order ^


Overall though, it's a dedicated 256mb Nvidia graphics card which by itself is a good card, so there won't be a "lack" of anything.

Here's what I don't recommend... The memory from Apple.

Not that it's bad, but the price is.

Apple charges around $400 or so for 4gig Memory. You can get equivalent if not the same sticks for about $106.00 (shipping included) from Crucial and install them yourself. Installing is as easy as turning on the laptop...

But the memory upgrade is definitely a good move.

Good luck.
-AC

04-30-2008, 03:45 PM

she works on a mac pro at work. That was what I was telling her though, was if she REALLY wanted a laptop. I guess she wants to be able to take it places, like to work or to a friends place. I was looking for some hard-cut see it for myself effect or bench test on how much video cards actually play a role in basic computing. [No video games or video editing] Also, I didn't know that mac told you exactly what chips they had in their computer? So I can just buy her an extra two gigs of memory and put it in myself? I don't know if she'd let me, but I definitely would do it. I just add the sticks in and the os automatically detects them like a pc?

05-01-2008, 01:15 AM

Regarding the memory:

Apple's sticks aren't made by Crucial, I was just saying that they are all pretty much the same.

I just recommend Crucial. You can buy the laptop, and when you receive it, can go to Crucial.com and use the system scanner which will tell you exactly what memory units you need that will work with your system.

If you want the sticks at the same time as you get the laptop, then just pick from the list or contact them and get the correct stick information.

Once you are ready to install, you just turn-off or sleep the notebook, take out the battery pack... Unscrew about 3 screws, push the stick release "levers", and then swap the memory units.

Screw everything back on, put the battery back, and re-start the system.

Once that happens, go to the Apple icon and click on this mac or my mac, and make sure that the sticks appear under Memory.

It's very simple, and exact video instructions are on YouTube.

You will save a lot of money by purchasing the sticks from Crucial rather than Apple.

Only downside is that the sticks from Crucial will not work with the Apple's Warranty, but doing the procedure will not void your warranty.

All the best,
-AC.

05-01-2008, 02:22 AM

Just keep the original memory and reinstall, if you need to take the macbook into Apple for warranty issues.

05-02-2008, 03:07 PM

how many memory slots are there? Can I keep the original memory in and add in the crucial in the open bays? Or are there only 2 memory slots?

05-02-2008, 07:27 PM

There are only two memory slots.

You take out the two 1gb sticks, and replace them with two 2gb sticks.

09-29-2009, 10:09 PM

MISINFORMATION: The NVIDIA 9400m is not a dedicated graphics card. It is integrated. It shares system RAM. The 8600 GT IS a dedicated card.

I'd recommend your friend get a refurbished 15 inch macbook pro that has both the 9400m AND the 8600GT.