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Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2006-11-06, 22:23

Space and heat are the two most often cited excuses for why Apple can't include this or can't include that. I see people say these all the time, but it's almost never true. The reason is cost, and nothing else.

Adding USB ports or a second RAM slot did not prevent Apple from including dedicated graphics. They have nothing to do with each other. That's like saying that because you're carrying a full backpack, you can't put anything in your pockets. Or that because it's an even-numbered year, you're not able to eat tuna noodle casserole. It makes no sense at all.

Every computer has some kind of GPU. The "dedicated graphics" of the G4 mini consisted merely of a Radeon 9200 GPU soldered onto the mainboard, with a couple of tiny VRAM chips also soldered to the board next to it. The "integrated graphics" of the Intel mini still consist of an Intel GMA 950 GPU soldered to the mainboard, except instead of having VRAM chips there, the GMA 950 simply uses a portion of the system RAM as a frame buffer instead.

Furthermore, the term "integrated graphics" refers to ANY GPU that is built into the computer. The old mini's GPU was integrated into the computer and could not be removed. The current MacBook Pro uses integrated graphics - that is, the Mobility Radeon X1600 is integrated into the MBP's mainboard. People use this wrong all the time. Integrated = built in. Shared = shares system RAM instead of using dedicated VRAM.
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