Tikkabik

So there's been the predictable handwringing about Apple's new MacBooks, which look beautiful and sexy (especially in black), because they feature integrated graphics much like the Mac mini does.

This will negatively impact the MacBook's ability to run games and other software that use OpenGL.

I'll say the same thing about the MacBook that I said about the Mac mini -- the only reason Apple hadn't already gone to an integrated graphics processor before now is because Freescale, which was providing the CPUs used in these systems, couldn't offer them one.

The new MacBooks will surely be less suited for OpenGL-intensive tasks than the MacBook Pros, which will make them less suitable for anything more than "casual" gaming, and will probably make them not ideal matches for pro apps and other software that heavily leverage the OpenGL-intensive aspects of Tiger's Core Video and Core Image technology.

Does that mean they're bad machines? Not at all.

Does that mean I'll recommend them for gaming? Snowball's chance in hell.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating -- I anticipate that my Macworld brother Jim Galbraith will post a benchmark article before too long -- but everything I've seen and read suggests that the performance of these systems will be less than ideal for gamers.

But I'm wondering if this will spark a cottage industry of customizers who make black MacBook Pro cases.