MacBook Pro 15" video problems
Hi all,
I just bought a MacBook Pro (15" unibody) refurbished (although I think it was just a clearance item, since I bought it right after the WWDC).
It's a great computer, but I've noticed that the video seems to lag a bit. For instance, when I'm using a hungry program like Photoshop, the screen can get jerky, and when I scroll through large lists of fonts (and I have a lot of them, managed through FontXplorer), the list flashes on and off, as if the machine is having trouble rendering them.
I also have an iMac that's 1 year old, and it has not experienced these problems, even though it is slower and has half the video RAM as compared to my new MPB (256 vs. 512mb of video RAM). Until last year, I had a white MacBook that also experienced video issues (not surprisingly). Of course, my new MBP is much faster than the white MB, but still it scares me a little because its video issues sometimes remind me of that machine.
All 3 computers are (or were) used together with a large (24") external monitor.
Given that the main difference between my iMac and the new MBP is that the iMac has a conventional ATI Radeon graphics card while the MBP has the dual graphics-- integrated graphics plus the Geforce 9600M-- I wonder whether there's a problem with this dual solution. Could it be that the extra graphics card is not doing its share? When I look in System Profiler and click on "Graphics/Displays", only the integrated Geforce 9400M is shown as being connected to a display; the 9600M GT says "No Display Connected".
Thanks in advance!
Nate
I just bought a MacBook Pro (15" unibody) refurbished (although I think it was just a clearance item, since I bought it right after the WWDC).
It's a great computer, but I've noticed that the video seems to lag a bit. For instance, when I'm using a hungry program like Photoshop, the screen can get jerky, and when I scroll through large lists of fonts (and I have a lot of them, managed through FontXplorer), the list flashes on and off, as if the machine is having trouble rendering them.
I also have an iMac that's 1 year old, and it has not experienced these problems, even though it is slower and has half the video RAM as compared to my new MPB (256 vs. 512mb of video RAM). Until last year, I had a white MacBook that also experienced video issues (not surprisingly). Of course, my new MBP is much faster than the white MB, but still it scares me a little because its video issues sometimes remind me of that machine.
All 3 computers are (or were) used together with a large (24") external monitor.
Given that the main difference between my iMac and the new MBP is that the iMac has a conventional ATI Radeon graphics card while the MBP has the dual graphics-- integrated graphics plus the Geforce 9600M-- I wonder whether there's a problem with this dual solution. Could it be that the extra graphics card is not doing its share? When I look in System Profiler and click on "Graphics/Displays", only the integrated Geforce 9400M is shown as being connected to a display; the 9600M GT says "No Display Connected".
Thanks in advance!
Nate
Comments
Hi all,
I just bought a MacBook Pro (15" unibody) refurbished (although I think it was just a clearance item, since I bought it right after the WWDC).
It's a great computer, but I've noticed that the video seems to lag a bit. For instance, when I'm using a hungry program like Photoshop, the screen can get jerky, and when I scroll through large lists of fonts (and I have a lot of them, managed through FontXplorer), the list flashes on and off, as if the machine is having trouble rendering them.
I also have an iMac that's 1 year old, and it has not experienced these problems, even though it is slower and has half the video RAM as compared to my new MPB (256 vs. 512mb of video RAM). Until last year, I had a white MacBook that also experienced video issues (not surprisingly). Of course, my new MBP is much faster than the white MB, but still it scares me a little because its video issues sometimes remind me of that machine.
All 3 computers are (or were) used together with a large (24") external monitor.
Given that the main difference between my iMac and the new MBP is that the iMac has a conventional ATI Radeon graphics card while the MBP has the dual graphics-- integrated graphics plus the Geforce 9600M-- I wonder whether there's a problem with this dual solution. Could it be that the extra graphics card is not doing its share? When I look in System Profiler and click on "Graphics/Displays", only the integrated Geforce 9400M is shown as being connected to a display; the 9600M GT says "No Display Connected".
Thanks in advance!
Nate
Do the issues only happen with the external monitor?
As far as I know, you can't use the 9400 and 9600 simultaneously. Since your 9400 is connected, the 9600 is turned off. You have to turn it on in system preferences and log out and log in. After that it should be working.
By the way. I want to by a macbook pro soon, so is the difference between the 9400 and 9600 really that big?
Best regards
I'm not sure if this is the solution, since I have no new macbook pro.
As far as I know, you can't use the 9400 and 9600 simultaneously. Since your 9400 is connected, the 9600 is turned off. You have to turn it on in system preferences and log out and log in. After that it should be working.
By the way. I want to by a macbook pro soon, so is the difference between the 9400 and 9600 really that big?
Best regards
Future-ex-pc-user: Yes, that turns out to be the solution. Being new to the MB Pro world, I didn't realize that you have to turn on "better performance" in the energy settings (in System Preferences) in order to activate the better video card. And yes, to answer your question, the difference is certainly noticeable, at least when using an external monitor. Since switching from the 9400 to the 9600 GT, all jerkiness and lag times have been erased.
Is the display a third party DVI or VGA display or the 24" ACD? The gremlins with mini-DP adapters haven't quite been worked out yet?
BenRoethig: It's a third party DVI display (made by Samsung). I used this display with my iMac with no problems. Turns out it's no the mini display-port problem; it's just the fact that I hadn't turned on "better performance" in System preferences.
Do the issues only happen with the external monitor?
I don't know, since I've only used it with the external monitor, but turns out (as noted above) that I had the wrong settings in place.