In addition to the "Santa Rosa" chipset, the newest MacBook sports the GMA X3100 integrated graphics chip. It's superior to the GMA 950 used in previous models of MacBook in that it supports hardware transform and lighting. It also supports vertex and pixel shader model 3.0 at 32 bit floating point per vector. And don't forget Anisotropic filtering of up to 16 samples.
We posted test results for 3D accelerated games yesterday. Today we're posting results for some "serious" professional graphics applications.
GRAPH LEGEND
MacBook Pro 2.2 = MacBook Pro C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GeForce 8600M (128M)
MacBook 2.2 = MacBook C2D "Rosa" 2.2GHz with GMA X3100
MacBook 2.16 = MacBook C2D 2.16GHz with GMA 950
(All three systems had 2GB of RAM -- two matching 1GB SODIMMs and
were running OS X 'Leopard.')
CONCLUSION
Not only is the new MacBook with the GMA X3100 a bummer for high rez gamers, it's going to disappoint pro users when running serious graphics intensive apps.
On the other hand, if you are running purely CPU intensive tasks (Compressor, Photoshop, After Effects), the new MacBook should compare very well with similarly clocked MacBook Pros. We'll publish those results next.
Would I buy a MacBook? I don't mean to be a snob, but I don't care for the MacBook keyboard. The keys are like "Chiclets" and I just can't survive without keyboard backlighting. I hope Apple product planners will consider a "WRX" or "SRT" version of the MacBook complete with aluminum case, backlit keyboard, FireWire 800 port, and a "real" GPU. Pro users with a need for a small form factor laptop would jump on a "no compromise" 13" MacBook -- IMHO.
