Graphics Cards and PowerBooks

When I bought the Quad, the only video option around was the entry-level card, the Nvidia GeForce 6600. The 7800GT was a BTO and would have taken an additional month or two to arrive. Had I known how dog slow the 6600 would be with applications that rely so heavily on CoreImage and the GPU, such as Aperture, I might have held out.

This morning, I sent in an order for a reflashed Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX 512MB. From the review on BareFeats, it’s the fastest video card for the Mac today. In a few months, when Apple releases the new MacPros, that will likely change. That’s tomorrow, however, and I need faster performance now.

This afternoon, I swapped hard drives out of my PowerBook. It was a harrowing experience the first time I did it a couple of years ago, and it was harrowing today as well. The “new” hard drive in the PB is actually the original 40GB hard drive. The “old” hard drive was an 80GB model that has developed several bad sectors. Disassembling the laptop is not was the faint of heart, and I am very glad that there are several websites that detail the process. Thanks to Vin and Chris for their help today!