[iREZ]

Why is it the iBook has a Radeon 9200 in it and the 12" PB's are still stuck with the Nvidia 5200. I dont know about most people but I for one would have definetly upgraded to the newer PB without question if they had the 9200 ATI Radeon instead of what they have now. Even if it were still 32MB of VRAM I for one think it would still be an improvement over what the 12" PB has now. Another thing, why is it that the 5200 can have 64MB of RAM but not the 9200?

[Lateralus]

I think this is one of those times where there is little reason to go with nVidia at all on the mobile front, but Apple is giving them a small presence just so it doesn't look like Apple has dumped them completely.

As far as the 9200 in the iBook only having 32MBs: Yes, I agree that it is riddiculous. On the PC side, you can get AGP 8x (desktop) Radeon 9200s with 256MBs of RAM for $80. Yes, that is right, $80. With free shipping to boot (NewEgg).

Of course, desktop cards are never a reflection of the mobile offerings, but the point is that the Radeon 9200 could work with a lot more video RAM than Apple is giving it.

I suspect Apple is bottlenecking it to 32MBs to drive PoweBook sales since the performance gap between the iBooks and PowerBooks is smaller than it has ever been. It is now down to how much you care about a hundred or so MHz, and which you like more: White plastic or aluminum.

[tekno_geek911]

I agree iRez...The 5200 is a pretty lousy chip,I would also be tempted to upgrade even if it was a 32MB 9200.

[jamesa]

it's discussed here.

Apple should really put the ATi cards in the Powerbooks and leave nVidia to the iBooks

-- james

[iREZ]

Now that makes sense jamesa, if they don't wanna completely rub Nvidia out they should use their stuff in the iBooks and give us PB users the ATI goods, not that I'm saying ATI is better then Nvidia, its just we all know how old and crappy the 5200 is.

[tooki]

Originally posted by PowerMacMan:
As far as the 9200 in the iBook only having 32MBs: Yes, I agree that it is riddiculous. On the PC side, you can get AGP 8x (desktop) Radeon 9200s with 256MBs of RAM for $80. Yes, that is right, $80. With free shipping to boot (NewEgg).

Although I will point out that most PC laptops in the price range of the iBook don't have a proper GPU and VRAM at all: they use that awful "shared video" that results in horrible graphics performance.

tooki

[RadarBob2]

I suspect Apple is bottlenecking it to 32MBs to drive PoweBook sales since the performance gap between the iBooks and PowerBooks is smaller than it has ever been. It is now down to how much you care about a hundred or so MHz, and which you like more: White plastic or aluminum.

... and dual display mode and firewire 800 and PC cards and higher resolution and illuminated keyboards and gigabit ethernet and 80GB 5400rpm Hard drive and S video and 333MHz DDR RAM and lid-closed operation and 167MHz system buss and uh.. i forget.

[RooneyX]

ATI's new graphic cards look amazing and use less power than the Geforce 6800 series. Hopefully the mobile version comes soon.

[iREZ]

... and dual display mode and firewire 800 and PC cards and higher resolution and illuminated keyboards and gigabit ethernet and 80GB 5400rpm Hard drive and S video and 333MHz DDR RAM and lid-closed operation and 167MHz system buss and uh.. i forget

I think PowerMacMan was referring to the 12" PB which doesn't have most of the stuff you mentioned like backlit keyboards, FW 800, PC card slot, higher resolution, and gigabit ethernet.

[h00ligan]

Originally posted by jamesa:
it's discussed here.

Apple should really put the ATi cards in the Powerbooks and leave nVidia to the iBooks

-- james

if you look at the barefeats benchmarks for even the 1.5 and m11, it isn't going to play halflife well..

another reason for the nvidia card is battery life.. as i understand it the 5200 has much better powersaving feathures/abilities then the 9200

may translate to 30 mins of baattery life, which is more important to most in an ultraportable.