X1800 on iMac / MBP Upgrade

[bboucher790]

The x1800 Mobility GPU has been around for a month in various Windows laptops. The performance is similar to a 7800 GO GTX. The x1800 GPU is capable of running ANY current game at very high resolution / FPS / Quality. I wonder when we will see this GPU in the iMac / MBP. Now that dual boot is available, I have high hopes we'll be seeing more frequent GPU updates / options, as it will result in more hardware sales. Does anyone know when Apple will be offering updates to the Intel Macs? I heard rumors of an Apple hardware release between April 18 - 25, probably the Intel PowerMac. Anyone have any juicy rumors?

[diamondsw]

The x1800 Mobility GPU has been around for a month in various Windows laptops. The performance is similar to a 7800 GO GTX. The x1800 GPU is capable of running ANY current game at very high resolution / FPS / Quality. I wonder when we will see this GPU in the iMac / MBP. Now that dual boot is available, I have high hopes we'll be seeing more frequent GPU updates / options, as it will result in more hardware sales. Does anyone know when Apple will be offering updates to the Intel Macs? I heard rumors of an Apple hardware release between April 18 - 25, probably the Intel PowerMac. Anyone have any juicy rumors?

Your info is off - Apple makes hardware updates only every 6 months at most, sometimes up to a year apart. We may see speed bumps in the interim, but a GPU upgrade is extremely unlikely

Furthermore, while there are rumors of the iBook/MacBook and the MacBook Pro 17" showing up in the next two months to fill out the laptop lines, Power Macs are almost certainly waiting for Conroe, which is the August/WWDC timeframe. Of course, on the desktops you can install anything you want. :)

Then again, remember that the whole transition wasn't supposed to start until June, and we should be near done by then. Apple's been moving like gangbusters. :D

[bboucher790]

Yep. I heard rumors of the PowerMac coming this month. Conroe could make an early debut on a mac for all we know. Hell...now that Mac's are running Windows...anything is possible. Oh look, a pig just flew by my window!

[pm5k800]

It would be nice for some to have the x1800 im sure but a, marketing-wise it wouldnt make much sense as the new imac was only recently released

Second, they havent even released the full intel line up.

Third, Apple is generally a company that gives you what you need to make your stuff run properly, not overkill.

4th, if they did a video upgrade, I would imagine it wouldn't make much sense to jump from x1600 to x1800, I think more time needs to happen for a bigger upgrade.

All my opinion of course.

[purerage]

Apple always has the midrange performance card in their powerbooks, so I'd expect the next video card revision to be the next middle-of-the-road card whenever ATI releases a new family of cards.

[DeathChill]

Your info is off - Apple makes hardware updates only every 6 months at most, sometimes up to a year apart. We may see speed bumps in the interim, but a GPU upgrade is extremely unlikely

Furthermore, while there are rumors of the iBook/MacBook and the MacBook Pro 17" showing up in the next two months to fill out the laptop lines, Power Macs are almost certainly waiting for Conroe, which is the August/WWDC timeframe. Of course, on the desktops you can install anything you want. :)

Then again, remember that the whole transition wasn't supposed to start until June, and we should be near done by then. Apple's been moving like gangbusters. :D
If you REALLY think Apple is going to update once every six months you're crazy. The only reason Apple had to do that was because PPC was much slower at updating and specialized graphics cards. Obviously now they don't need either; well, maybe the graphic card has A BIT of different firmware, but nothing big. :)

[gFizzle]

I don't think Apple will upgrade the GPU's or processors any more frequently then they do now. If anything, as newer technology comes out Apple will drop prices on its current products to increase sales until the next revision.

That being said, I do hope the X1800 makes its way into the 17in MBP...playing FEAR at full res then booting back into OS X would be pretty sweet.

[Sonoko]

Though I doubt it'll happen, I'd love to see Appple make some sort of thicker and bulkier MPB (Gaming edition maybe... it doesn't matter, Apple will still make it look sleek), so they can put a little more in it. A few fans, at least an x1800 (FULL CLOCK SPEED ^^), and maybe a faster Superdrive would be awesome :D

[CaptainValor]

I would think there is a greater chance of the X1800 going into the 17" MBP, as gFizzle said. Since the 17" will probably be running 1680x1050 instead of 1440x900, it makes that Apple might put a slightly beefier GPU into it to drive those pixels. I for one am waiting to see what the 17" model will feature before I buy a MBP for the Fall semester (when I go off to college). If they just slap the same X1600 into the 17", I'll go ahead and buy the 15".