Future Mac minis likely to sport the Intel G965 chipset
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Apr 4, 2006 at 5:31am
Since the Intel Mac mini’s release, there’s been grumbling—including my own in my March 21 review—about its integrated graphics chip.
The mini’s GMA950 graphics processor sports 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM that’s shared with the main memory. There’s quite a bit of debate about this, but, as I’ve mentioned, it seems to me to be a step down from the previous PowerPC Mac minis. The GMA950 uses “Dynamic Video Memory Technology” (DVMT) to support up to 224MB of video memory and system memory is allocated where it is needed dynamically.
A report at DigiTimes leads me to suspect that the next rev of the Mac mini will continue the integrated graphics chip trend with the Intel G965 chipset, which should pack considerably more oomph than its predecessor. The article says that Intel’s G965 will integrate the company’s fourth-generation Graphic Media Accelerator (GMA) graphics core and deliver a significant increase in 3D gaming and multimedia performance compared to Intel’s other chipsets with GMA 900/950 graphics processors, according to sources familiar with Intel’s product roadmap.
The G965 is one of the Broadwater chipsets supporting DDR2 800 memory that Intel has scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2006, with the P965 and G965 series for the consumer market and the Q965 and Q963 for the business segment. Now I’m still not too keen on integraphed graphics chips myself, but I suspect they’ll be a mainstay of the Mac mini line from now on.
That and a digital video recorder?

Thoughts? Write me at dsellers@macsimumnews.com
Brian Peat Says:
Too bad you can’t run Final Cut Pro on those things, due completely to the video card. I have a friend who runs a teaching lab, which he filled with G4 minis that can run FCP just fine...good thing he got them in time. The processors are smokin’ but don’t expect to be able to run pro apps on those things.
Posted on April 04, 2006
Art Gorski Says:
That’s the nice thing about HD Video. Compared to software, the requirements are fixed and it’ll never run slower than it does now. So if the current graphics does the media stuff well, and that’s what you want the Mini to do, you can breathe easy. Unlike software, which obsoletes your computer with bloat every few years.
Posted on April 04, 2006
hmurchison Says:
I’m happy with my mini. The integrated graphics don’t bother me because I don’t game that much. My ideal upgrades in the future will be more RAM and a 7200rpm hard drive. That’ll give me some extra oomph.
Posted on April 04, 2006
Thomas Barta Says:
"That’s the nice thing about HD Video. Compared to software, the requirements are fixed and it’ll never run slower than it does now.”
You make an excellent point. We are reaching a point in computing where the most difficult imaginable tasks are within the capabilities of inexpensive machines. I have a G4 mini. I have been playing a “shooter” on it, and, for all the squaking about Macs being bad on games, I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with my performance.
Posted on April 04, 2006
Rainy Day Says:
The Apple ][ had integrated graphics too!
;-)
Posted on April 05, 2006
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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Stevie Stets Says:
I must say, I own a core duo mac mini and am VERY impressed with its graphics capabilities. My friend’s G4 mini doesn’t even come close.
Posted on April 04, 2006