Where does it stand in the graphics card chain?

Will it play current games at the display's native resolution?

Thanks

Depends on what current game, what resolution and what settings you want.....also some people can't play unless they have 50-60fps.......right now it is the best DX10 mobile card so I suppose it is highend by default :P

Well, in no way could I consider it "high end" I'd say it's more mid level. I wouldn't call anything high end (IMO) thats not in the top 2 or 3 cards. Since there is a supposed 8800 on it's way, I simply can't call something with performance like the 7600GT a "high end" card. Thats only my opinion though

, pd

I agree this is a mid-range card. That said ... it looks like a darn good mid-range card to me. If gaming is your primary goal ... the MacBook Pro probably isn't your best choice - you'll want to go with a 17" system with top-o-the-line video card(s).

If, however, you want a 15 or 17" notebook that can handle gaming and most everything else - AND that is slim and light weight (relatively speaking), it's hard to beat the 8600 card.

It is a mid range card. The higher end of the 7 series(7950 for example) cards actually have better graphics performance than the 8 series short of the 8800. However the 8 series is more flexible for programmers, I would find it very interesting if someone took advantage of it to, for example work as an external DSP processor.

Not much use for the end user till it happens, but eventually hopefully it will.

Seablade

Does this have those new processors in it that they're trying to market as a complimentary CPU when not doing any intense graphics work?

The entire 8 series is built on the same architecture. IN fact the difference between some of the cards is actually which came out of the factory with more working parts, and which didn't meet the qualifications for the highest end due to a bad fab,in which case they disable to bring it in spec with the lower card. Kinda funny, but good strategy in terms of reusing what would otherwise be dud componets. Apparently NVidia has been doing this since the 6 series...

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paed...and-beyond.ars

Great article that just got posted a few hours ago explaining it.

At any rate, the mid-range cards (8500 and 8600) have a smaller number of stream processors, but they certainly still have them. And they could conceivably still be taken advantage of, is someone wrote the code to do it. I may eventually look at doing it for Ardour/Jack/LAU, but that would be a big IF as I am just now trying to brush up my C to a decent level and might not have time, especially if I get the job I am aiming for.


Seablade

Here is the current card benchmarks (taken from a post on the dell forum)

Actually the new 8600GT is very good for the 15.4" form factor and maybe my next laptop. Asus have a similar sized laptop with the same card.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...ist.844.0.html

All of these ratings are for stock cards, before modding. With my nvidia card I get about +10 to 20% with simple clock adjust, so you would expect the card to be able to be clocked (in a windows environment, for gaming) significantly too

I wonder if the thermal job is any better. I have a core duo macbook pro and I have to throttle my CPU back in XP to game for extended periods.

your GPU?

have you tried using fangui to force to force the fans to max speed, theres links in the dell section, people use it effectively on the dell 15" models too

(I dont know the heat pipe design setup on apple, 1 or 2, but I know just by replacing the crap dell thermal paste with a dob from a $10 tube of AS5 greatly improved my card thermal stability, cooler with same clockspeed. Its not as hard as it sounds to do)

here are some numbers for (afaik) games under OS X.

http://barefeats.com/santarosa.html

i'm guessing that games under windows would be even speedier.

i would say its mid-high end. higher than the x1600 when the
X1xxx line came out.

its a nice gpu, for a tight spaced laptop no doubt

Its pretty surely mid end. The nvidia x600 (6600,7600,8600) series are always mid end. Same with ati, where the xx600 (e.g. 9600,x600,x1600,x2600) are also mid end.

Mid-high end would be something like an 8700M or something as both manufacturers have done in the past (7700, x1700,x700 etc).

High end would be x800 or x900 (e.g. 8800,8900 like the old 5900,6800,7800,7900)

Just look at the second number. 6=mid, 7=mid/high, 8/9=high

ok ok, u got me

but fair to say, High end FOR apple?

Let's just say it is a very nice addition to the Mac Book Pro line. While, technically it is a mid-range card for the current 8xxx series (e.g. <8800), it is definitely better than the 7600, and the 6600, and the x1600.

I've yet to truly test the 8600 yet, but so far very happy that this MacBook Pro does not seem to generate much heat in normal use - hanging in low 50s (C) after an hour of use - email/surfing/nothing too taxing. But, still promising.