Nvidia 9400M Rocks!

For those of you joining us from Onxo, welcome to these benchmark intepretations.  Previously, we talked about Apple's new benchmark numbers and we have been eagerly waiting for independent ones from Macworld.  Here's here.

Macworld is kind enough to bring us additional gaming numbers for the new Macbook.  But in general, it speaks to the wise move Apple made in going with Nvidia.  So, anyone who says Apple don't care about gaming, Steve Jobs appreciate a little apology.

Here goes.  I've eliminated some numbers such as the iMac and new Macbook Pro's 9400M because they were essentially the same as the Macbook's own 9400M numbers.

• How does the Macbook stack up against the MBP with 8600GT?  Pretty much along the same line as what Jobs said.  The 9400M numbers came in about 62% of the 8600GT.  This is a huge improvement over the X3100, and certain the X4500 had Apple gone with it instead.  
• How is the Macbook 9400M compared to the new Macbook with X3100?  It did very very well. The 9400M was able to provide 5X more FPS than the x3100.  It would come out roughly 2-3 times more than the X4500. 
• I'm a Call of Duty guy and I think we're got a winner with a playable number of 28.4 FPS at 1280x800 and 35.7FPS at 1072x728.  I don't need more than that, thank you.
• How is the 9600M GT stacked up against the 8600GT?  This is great news for folks who have the older Macbook Pro.  the 9600M GT is averaged only 11% faster than the 8600GT.  It's a good improvement but folks with the older models can go into the weekend feeling good about their earlier purchases.  

There you have it.  But I want to impress upon you the advantages of new models and notes about the early-2008 models

• New build.  Very sexy and brings the all the Macs into 2008 looks with the new keyboards and with LED screens.
• The new MBP is ready for Snow Leopard.
• The new MB has LED screens now.  And better suited for gaming because of the new Nvidia chipset.  Also ready for Snow Leopard.
• If you bought an earlier model, even 2007 ones, you're still in the game.  If you got a Macbook, your X3100 graphic processor is still in use and you've got a lot of milage left on those Macs.  For day to day work, you're going to be stuck with these elegant workhorses for a long time to come.  That's the thing about Macs, they last.
• If you bought one of the previous editions of Macbook Pros, you are safe when it comes to graphics and gaming.  You're also likely safe as far as Snow Leopard's GPU feature is concerned. We'll likely hear more about it at Macworld and definitely throughout next year until the Worldwide Developer Conference in June of 2009.

So, I encourage you to head on over the Macworld for the latest numbers.  

Note: Barefeats as additional benchmarks waiting you.