Growing Pains for Mac Users

We are now seeing two sets of Mac OpenGL driver-related bug reports: problems with the new Mac Book Pros (with an nVideo GeForce 8600) and with the new iMacs (with an ATI Radeon HD2400 or HD2600).

This doesn't surprise me for two reasons (both of which are speculation, btw...I am not privy to what goes on inside Apple):

1. Both of these cards are "next-gen" in a major way: DX-10 compatible hardware. That means they have a lot of cool new features. My speculation is that this larger jump in functionality of the hardware means more changes (and more bugs) in the drivers.
2. We're getting closer and closer to the next major OS upgrade (10.5), but this new hardware has to run 10.4. So I wouldn't be surprised if everyone at Apple is fighting two fires at once, limiting resources.

So while this is frustrating to Mac users who have these machines, I would encourage patience. I don't think we've seen to date a Mac that has been "left broken" -- several machines have had problems with the drivers in their initial intro, and Apple usually fixes them as soon as possible. In the long term I believe that these will both be really nice X-Plane machines.