So it was bad to buy laptops with shared graphics memory 20 years ago but now the other way around?

[modeonoff]

Hello, over 20 years ago, it was known that if we wanted to do graphics intensive things including playing back high res videos smoothly or doing things that used OpenGL, we should choose a laptop with a separate GPU as laptops with integrated graphics and shared memory were slow. I recall that I had a Thinkpad X series with integrated graphics memory but it could not play back high resolutions videos smoothly. Now, with the M1 chips in MacBook Pro, people keep saying that the excellent performance is because they don't have a separate GPU and the memory is shared between the CPU and the graphics system. Isn't this contradictory to the sayings 20 years ago. What have changed?

 

[USAFRet]

Hello, over 20 years ago, it was known that if we wanted to do graphics intensive things including playing back high res videos smoothly or doing things that used OpenGL, we should choose a laptop with a separate GPU as laptops with integrated graphics and shared memory were slow. I recall that I had a Thinkpad X series with integrated graphics memory but it could not play back high resolutions videos smoothly. Now, with the M1 chips in MacBook Pro, people keep saying that the excellent performance is because they don't have a separate GPU and the memory is shared between the CPU and the graphics system. Isn't this contradictory to the sayings 20 years ago. What have changed?

The Mac software and hardware is different.

A dedicated GPU is still indicated for an Intel/AMD/Windows system.

 

[modeonoff]

The Mac software and hardware is different.

A dedicated GPU is still indicated for an Intel/AMD/Windows system.

So Apple has found a way to make excellent graphics performance while having the CPU and graphics sub-system sharing the same memory?
Too bad their new M1 Mac cannot run some Windows programs.

 

[USAFRet]

So Apple has found a way to make excellent graphics performance while having the CPU and graphics sub-system sharing the same memory?
Too bad their new M1 Mac cannot run some Windows programs.

Apples and oranges.

 

[geofelt]

Integrated graphics has come a long way.
I would think that it would do well enough for HD movie playback.

 

[logainofhades]

Integrated graphics has come a long way.
I would think that it would do well enough for HD movie playback.

Yea especially if you get an AMD notebook chip. Also memory capacities are way higher, so a bit of ram dedicated to graphics, isn't as big of a deal. The claim that people are making, sound like Apple fanboys speaking fiction.