Analysis of graphics cards used in MacBook Pro and MacBook Air?

Without graphic cards, your beloved MacBook will a useless mysterious electric device. In this post, we're going to review different graphic cards used in MacBook and how it works.

What is a graphic card?

The images you see on your MacBook are made of tiny dots called pixels. Even at the lowest resolution, an image on the monitor displays over a million pixel, and the task of a graphic card is to decide what to do with each pixel in order to create an image. Besides, as you know, videos are just sequences of images that are displayed within a certain period of time (usually 24 frames per second). So, in a nutshell, the main job of a graphic card is to get data from your MacBook and display them on the monitor of the system. But how does a graphic card work?

Let's thinks of computer as a company with its own art department.  When a staff wants a piece of an image, he/she send a request to the art department. Then, the art department creates the image and sends it back to the staff. The end result is a real viewable image made from someone's idea. Graphic cards work on the same principle. 

CPU that works along with application software sends information about images to be displayed to GPU, then graphic card processes data and converts data to the format appropriate for the monitor. Finally, the graphic card sends the data to the monitor through an external cable. The end result is amazing images and videos on the monitor of your MacBook.

Beyond rendering high-quality images and videos modern graphic cards have numerous applications. Now games are becoming increasingly computationally intensive due to hyper-realistic rendering, 4K displays and high refresh rates. As a result, modern games require an advanced graphic card capable of rendering high-resolution 2D and 3D image in real-time. So, if you play games on your MacBook you'd better for a MacBook with an advanced graphic card, preferably a discrete one.

Other possible applications of Graphic Card on your MacBook are:

Video Editing and Content Creation

AI and Machine Learning

High-Performance Computing

Cryptocurrency

Types of Graphics cards used in MacBook

Typically, two types of graphic cards can be found on notebooks including MacBook; integrated and dedicated.  The integrated graphic card refers to a scenario that you find both CPU and GPU on the same chipset. When you purchase a MacBook that has an integrated graphics chip, your MacBook comes with a central processor chip that does the job of both CPU and GPU. In this case, there is no discrete graphic car on your MacBook and this usually means that your MacBook has the limited computing power to offer and you cannot upgrade the graphics of your notebook.

On the other hand, a dedicated graphic card comes completely separated from the CPU and usually is installed on a discrete slot on the system motherboard. They also include their own graphic memory called VRAM (video RAM, or video random access memory), a type of high-speed memory designed to work along with GPU.

when compared to integrated graphic chipsets with no or limited video RAM. a discrete(dedicated) graphic can save and restore images quickly from VRAM. So, if you're going to use your laptop for gaming, video production, computation or machine learning we recommend that you choose a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with a discrete(dedicated) graphic card rather than an integrated graphics processing unit.

Which Graphics Card does MacBook Pro have?

When introduced in 2006, the first generation of MacBook Pro came with a 256MB GDDR3 video card capable of supporting the max resolution of 1440x900/1680x1050 and doesn't include any FireWire 800 or S-Video port. The FireWire 800 was added in the next 15-inch model revision. But the problem with the graphic card wasn't solved because Apple notebook could not be connected to external displays. Later this capability attained through the use of a DVI to S-Video adapter. Thanks to the upgraded NVIDIA Geforce 8600 GT video card and DVI ports the first-generation MacBook pro was able to provide smooth images and videos for up to two external displays with the maximum resolution of 2560x1600 pixels.

The next generation of MacBook Pro featured either an Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT with either 256 or 512 MB of dedicated memory or a GeForce 9400M with 256 MB of shared system memory. Although the FireWire 400 port was removed, the FireWire 800 port remained. The DVI port was replaced with a Mini DisplayPort receptacle. Later in 2010, Apple released Intel Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs for 15- and 17-inch models. These were accompanied by GeForce GT 330M, with 256 or 512 MB of dedicated memory options. The 13-inch Core 2 Duo model also received and a brand new Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processing unit (GPU) and a 256 MB of shared memory as well.

Apple shipped the next generation of MacBook Pro in 2012 which contained an integrated graphic unit or a dedicated graphic card.  While the low-end MacBook Pros only have HD Graphics, the higher end models came with both integrated and dedicated graphic cards installed. In order to maintain both energy saving and high performance, the system was able to switch automatically between the built-in graphic chipset and dedicated NVIDIA graphic card supporting 4K resolution and up to two external displays.

The next MacBook pro generation announced in 2019. The 15-inch model came with a 2.3/2.6 GHz graphic processor featuring 4GB of dedicated video RAM and automatic switching between Intel UHD Graphics 630 and Radeon Pro 555X. Although The 13-inch model comes only with an integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 but still offers very good video support specs such as support for 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colours or up to two displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colours.

The low edge 2020 MacBook models are shipping with integrated Intel HD 6300 graphics while the more expensive MacBook models have AMD Radeon Pro 5600M or MD Radeon Pro 5500M graphics cards which make use of new 4nm RDNA (Radeon DNA) microarchitecture paired with 4-6GB GDDR6 VRAM and 1.25/1.3 GHz graphic processor units.  Both graphic cards belong to Radeon Pro 5000M Series that supports DirectX 12 and Shader 6.4.  

Last but least, in 2020 Apple introduced its own system on chip (SOC) which collects CPU, GPU and Neural engine in a single chipset. Now you can buy a 13-inch M1 Chip MacBook Pro with 8-Core CPU and 8-Core GPU from Apple official website. Both models have the 8GB unified memory (A type of high-speed memory that can be used by both CPU a GPU) but differ in storage size and price. Benchmarks show that the performance of GPU on the Apple Silicon is better than older NVIDIA or AMD desktop GPUs and it could accomplish this with lower energy, a factor that is very important for mobile devices with batteries including MacBook. For example, a new benchmark submission to Tom's Hardware implies that the M1 Chip beats GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560 for Graphics Performance.

Now you know what a graphic card is, how it works and which graphic cards are installed on different models of MacBook Pro, it's your turn to choose the best MacBook model that fits your needs and budget.