GeForce 9400M to hit notebooks from five major vendors, mock Intel
By Samuel Axon 
posted Oct 23rd 2008 1:01AM
posted Oct 23rd 2008 1:01AM
Now that NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M has made its debut in Apple's new MacBooks, Technical Marketing Director Nick Stam says that five major notebook vendors are planning to ship systems with the chipset -- though we don't know if that includes Apple or not. Stam expects NVIDIA will carve out 30 percent of the integrated graphics market for itself, partly by improving other experiences besides games -- Google Earth, photo editing, day-to-day video encoding, and other activities performed by people who use keys besides W, A, S, and D. Frankly, we're just thankful we've evolved past the days when we needed a 19-inch monster to perform high-impact 3D tasks without sacrificing to the sinister gods of screen tearing.
There are more keys to life than WASD?
No freaking way...
p... like in W.A.S.P.!!!!
yeah of course, cant reload without R yknow
will it overheats like 8400/8600 ?
Nick how about replacing thouse faulty ones ?
Yeah, you need R to reload!
QWERASDFZXC123456789 are all commonly used, to lean left and right, use objects, switch weapons, etc. The rest are noticeably absent from the n00b alphabet, except when using the loan-character "b" used to spell n00b itself.
9400M chipset laptops with better specs and half the cost + OSX86 community = the MBP I've always wanted. Hell, if it weren't for that damnable glossy screen, I'd be (un)happy to pay Apple Tax on a new 2.53Ghz MBP. But no, you had to make it shiny. Bastards! :)
Apple taxes kill babies.
and Boards of Canada is one of my favorites.....you should check out the new Motionfield CD "Optical Flow" if you're into them.
Care to provide a link to such a machine? I bet you can't find ONE laptop that is EQUIVALENT to the new Macbook's in terms of size, design, features and software. If you find one that is 80% similar is will cost nearly the same. Fact is, the there is no Apple Tax, you are paying for a superior product, just like a BMW costs more than a Hyundai.
Yea but I wouldn't buy a Hyundai, Id buy a Honda its reliable and more affordable than a BMW, and because I don't need or want to spend the extra money to buy a BMW so I can brag about it to everyone else who doesn't have one. Just like I don't want or need to spend the extra money to buy a Mac so I brag about it to everyone else who doesn't have one, because I can buy or build a PC that's more affordable and just as reliable as a Mac.
What is this 'community' you speak of?
Anyway , there are few competitors to the new Mac yet because the chipset is new. But there will be and they'll be cheaper and have better specs.
We know this, don't we?
down with gloss!
@spyyder
Most of the Dell XPS Series is $100-$200 cheaper per model when compared with the same type of sepcs. The Mac book that goes for $1299 can almost be matched by the XPS 1330 for around $949. In that comparison the Mac has 2GB DDR3 but the Dell has 3GB DDR2, the Dell has a 250Gb hardrive and the Mac has 160Gb. The Mac does have better Integrated graphics.
Yeah, but they use Windows. Take a look at Mac OS X vs Windows power drain:
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3435&p=13
Yes, heffeque, I think that's an interesting review. Score one for OSX in efficiency. But that's just one aspect. There are reasons people will want or need Windows and I'm sure there are reviews which expound upon the virtues of Windows. I think OSX is great and I love Apple machines but they are expensive. Or, they're a good value if you like OSX and iLife and the design. I think the best thing about the new design from a standpoint of uniqueness is the unibody. I seriously doubt that for the most part anyone else will be doing that, while obviously the new chipset will soon not be exclusive to Mac. But I don't think that was ever to be expected. I think what it comes down to is that even now, since Apple computers are using essentially the same key components as PCs, you still can't compare Apples to oranges. A Mac is a Mac because of OSX. If you don't like OSX or you must use Windows, there's little reason to argue the point of which is "better". Personally, I use both at home and Windows only at work. But I prefer OSX at home most of the time.
@Heffeque
You forgot one thing: the x300 got the same battery life as the MBP with a SMALLER BATTERY. So what if the x300 had a 37wh battery isntead of 27wh?
doe sit mean OSX is not more efficient? Not in the slightest, but again, it is probably becuase apple controls the hardware, so they can tweak it in conjunction with the OS. windows does not have that luxury.
@S14acker:
Too true, 99.99% of BMW drivers will never, ever, take advantage of the fact that their car is RWD, and if anything it just makes their cars even less suited to their lives. My friend owns a RWD Mercedes and even with good winter tires on her car got stuck in the snow twice last year and required people to help push it out, lol. She will never, ever, ever, get any benefit from owning a RWD car.
And half the retards who actually try to take advantage of their RWD are probably teenaged idiots who drive a used 323i and think it's a fast car that everyone's jealous of.
So I definitely agree with you, I'd probably buy a V6 Accord Coupe EX-L because I have no need to pretend like I attempt to oversteer around corners all the time. That and the fact that it's actually going to be faster on the streets and the highways than a 328i while being a good $10K cheaper than the 335i.
Of course, if money were no object at all I'd probably have an M3 in the garage, but most BMW 3 series drivers are just being posers.
@Cranius Lupus: You didn't read the article. It compares X300 with MacBook Air. MacBook Air does A LOT better with Mac OS X than with Vista and X300 has the same battery life in Vista than the MBA in Vista.
>Just like a BMW costs more than a Hyundai
A Delorian costs considerably more, even used, than my Mitsubishi. That's why I'm considering buying a flux capacitor for the Mitsubishi instead and installing Mac OS X on my Eee. Who buys a car/laptop for one feature, and pays an extra 20-30% for it? Yeah, they have aluminum shells, but so does my Coke can.
Seriously? Similarly spec'd Hyundais can perform the same (or better) for half the price up front and for maintenance. So aren't you kind of shooting yourself in the foot by saying that you're really just buying a logo?
Plus the new Macmooks are glossy balls...
Ah, geez...friggin comment mistakes. That was obviously meant for spyyder, the beemer king.
Actually,If I could afford it and would pick between the two, I would say I would take a BMW.
1: better fit and finish (plastic and parts in a Hyundai are cheap and look it, and tend to degrade quicker)
2: Comfort and driveability (those cheap foam padded seats in a Hyundai are nothing compared to the BMWs)
3: styling (Hyundai styling SUCKS. Seriously. After having one, it is hands down HORRIBLE).
But wait, we are talking about COMPUTERS, not CARS,which have to be compared a good deal differently.
When can I see this on a netbook? :)
Maybe this is what Dell are waiting for, and going to implement in their new XPS line. Hurry up Dell, i want a new laptop....
NVIDIA: ... And the battery life will be just great! I mean have you ever used our performance graphics cards in computers? They require no additional heat sinks/liquid cooling and also will run off your current 250W PSU
MAKE ME A LOW POWER GPU... THEN WE'LL TALK
P.S. News from tomorrow: Massive recall on 9400M chips due to shoddy manufacture (a inferior gold substitute being used in connections, and thinner layers of silicon ala XBOX360 RROD)
If you want a powerful GPU, it will draw a lot of power. That's just a fact of life. These things have many times the FLOPS power of a standard CPU, so you can only expect it to draw like crazy. The magic 10W GPU that is still powerful is still many years away, and by that time, we will have 150W GPUS that make that 10W look like a 6100.
Larraboob
Hey, if apple debuted this chipset, howcome they have been available in Alieanware notebooks for about a month now?
As long as this helps push out the terrible Intel GMA chipsets, I'm happy. Those things have been lurking around in laptops a little too long now, and their presence is a complete nuisance to PC gaming. The importance of the GPU is often played down by computer suppliers in an effort to shift more computers and laptops with crappy integrated Intel graphics, causing players to become disillusioned with PC gaming when they find their £300 PC won't play Crysis. If Nvidia can eat into this trend, I'm happy.
What kind if sad excuse for a PC gamer are you? Get yourself a real desktop. Who plays on crappy integrated graphics anyway?
Man, I never said I had integrated graphics. =o I'm saying that their un-advertised presence in PCs these days is putting people off PC gaming. As it is, my PC sucks anyway, but that's besides the point. This isn't a wealth contest.
The new Dell Studio XPS 13 coming out next month will probably get it. The Studio XPS 16 will probably get the same setup as the new MBP, 9400M & 9600M GT.
"Frankly, we're just thankful we've evolved past the days when we needed a 19-inch monster to perform high-impact 3D tasks without sacrificing to the sinister gods of screen tearing."
What?! Just because nVidia has entered a new card into the mobile integrated market does not mean that you can "perform high-impact 3D tasks" that you couldn't before. You have been able to get notebooks with Mobility Radeon HD3650 GPUs for quite some time, and they will easily rival an 9400. The 9400 is the lower-end mainstream GPU from nVidia's 9xxx series, while the 3650 is mid range for the 36xx series. The only reason this is better than the 8600 they had before is because now it can run in hybrid SLI which, by the way, has been available from AMD in the form of Hybrid CrossFire for a while.