[cnet]AMD: MacBook issues giving graphics bad rap

958 Views 15 Replies 12 Participants Last post by mrtn400, Mar 12, 2009

gamervivek

Discussion Starter · Mar 11, 2009

macbook fallout seems to be affecting AMD too.

Quote:

Advanced Micro Devices worries that lingering issues--both real and speculative--with Apple MacBooks are giving laptop graphics a black eye.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Stan Ossias, director of marketing, mobile graphics, at AMD, began by asserting that my March 11 post "overstated" the case about heat and the instability of graphics processors in laptops and that some readers may interpret heat issues too broadly.

"In the case of Apple's product, I don't know what happened with Nvidia's GPU but we'd like to avoid having the negative aspects taint the entire industry," he said.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10...heCircuitsBlog

Quote:

AMD provides tools to PC makers, he said, who make the final design decisions on how the GPU will perform in different power-usage scenarios. But sometimes the laptop maker won't make the best choice.

"Somebody may choose a GPU that doesn't necessarily have the best operating characteristics or doesn't deliver the optimal power consumption in all operating ranges. That's a constant development challenge" for laptop makers, he said, then added: "A very, very large proportion of our customers do a very good job of this."

"I don't think Apple does a bad job of this in general. They are extremely meticulous generally," he said. However, in some cases "a product decision is made (where) maybe there is more emphasis put on performance characteristics than on another characteristic. Again, that's another choice that can be made," Ossias said.

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1 - 16 of 16 Posts

OrphanShadow

· #2 · Mar 11, 2009

Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

gamervivek

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 11, 2009

iirc there was 3870 on mac roster too,4870 is in the new max pros not sure what macbooks will have but the issue seems to be that failing macbooks might give a bad name to high end graphic solutions on laptops,where amd is likely to make some inroads with their 40nm lineup.

Higgins

· #4 · Mar 11, 2009

2

They're just clarifying to buffer any potential backlash on the GPU sector but it is strictly a poor business decision by nVidia and nothing more.

/Offtopic:
Pendulum FTW

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OrphanShadow

· #5 · Mar 11, 2009

3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgins

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/Offtopic:
Pendulum FTW

I concur with this statement

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drbadass

· #6 · Mar 11, 2009

3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Higgins

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They're just clarifying to buffer any potential backlash on the GPU sector but it is strictly a poor business decision by nVidia and nothing more.

/Offtopic:
Pendulum FTW

I haven't caught all the way up on the other thread regarding these failures, but has it been determined this was nVidia's issue and not partially apple's design causing problems? Just curious. I'm aware in the past it's been nVidia but I hadn't heard that the latest problem was conclusively linked to them.

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FuNkDrSpOt

· #7 · Mar 11, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrphanShadow

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Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

Bothered to post in the thread but didn't bother to read the news in the thread, i see. the OP even quoted it for you.

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bruestle2

· #8 · Mar 11, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrphanShadow

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Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

Some MACs have ATI video cards now. Plus, they are complaining that Apple's bad cooling is giving a bad name to all mobile video chips. Which, in all honesty, people need to learn that mobile video cards suck in every way, except they are portable.

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Ce1eron

· #9 · Mar 11, 2009

Hey... there's no bad rap in here! What a let down.

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lokster

· #10 · Mar 11, 2009

not all mobile video cards suck, the gaming laptops of gateway do pretty well. Apple just put more effort in making the laptop look good than practical, seriously the Air can get really hot! its like a hot razor blade or something

gamervivek

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 11, 2009

4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ce1eron

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Hey... there's no bad rap in here! What a let down.

if only ati guys were as outspoken as the whoopa$$ guy...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruestle2

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Some MACs have ATI video cards now. Plus, they are complaining that Apple's bad cooling is giving a bad name to all mobile video chips. Which, in all honesty, people need to learn that mobile video cards suck in every way, except they are portable.

mobile cards do suck but ati's 40nm might change a few things around,

Quote:

The faster Mobility Radeon HD 4860 will have a 650MHz core, up to 4Gbps GDDR5 memory and a computing power of 832GFlops.

iirc the guru3d sample of ati's 40nm RV740 was also clocked at 650Mhz, coupled with a good processor it should easily beat a desktop 8800gt so should be a decent gaming card for laptops without burning a hole through them.

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Licht

· #12 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrphanShadow

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Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

Yeah i am kind of wondering that too... i don't remember seeing AMD Apple products.

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nathris

· #13 · Mar 12, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ce1eron

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Hey... there's no bad rap in here! What a let down.

YouTube - Soulja Boy Tell`em - Crank That (Soulja Boy)

Happy now?

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OrphanShadow

· #14 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuNkDrSpOt

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Bothered to post in the thread but didn't bother to read the news in the thread, i see. the OP even quoted it for you.

I did read the post, but I still had trouble seeing how anything that would occur on a solely Intel/Nvidia platform could have implications for AMD's business. Its not their chips going bad.

And I dont think that people are gonna see a few bad Macs and suddenly be put off high end laptop graphics entirely, unless the laptops users of today are really that shallow.

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dizzy4

· #15 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrphanShadow

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Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

Apple uses the HD2000 series very often in their mac pro systems to this date. (multiple cards and are overpriced)

Also, my 1st gen macbook pro has an ATI Radeon x1600m pro. So ATI is just as involved.

Edit: Macintosh is jsut an OS, apple is the computer maker AND os maker.

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mrtn400

· #16 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrphanShadow

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Macs are Intel/Nvidia based machines...

...How is AMD implicated in this?

They don't want this incident to worsen the mobile graphics industry's image.

For example, I bought an Alienware with a mobile P4 and a 6600GT back in the day. The thing got so hot and had such a bad battery life, and I haven't bought another high performance/gaming laptop since.

In fact, I'm looking at getting a 10" netbook to try to get the exact opposite results.

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