The video display chips that drive the displays of Intel-powered Mac minis, MacBooks, and the entry-level iMac are Intel's GMA950 "integrated graphics processor." Video performance of these Macs has proven to be quite poor, particularly doing 3-D graphics-intensive gaming. Some reports suggest that even 2-D video playback performance is affected on these models. I myself would have purchased two of these models by now had their 3-D performance not been so poor.
Peter Cohen of Macworld.com wrote on March 8, 2007 that Intel's GMA965 chip, currently shipping in Windows-based computers, has built-in "transform and lighting" hardware, though it has not yet been enabled for Windows (software drivers are apparently in the works). In a recent demo held by Intel, the GMA965 demonstrated respectable gaming performance with contemporary games.
Apple has made no announcement that they will use GMA965 chips. If they do, Apple's entry-level models will be even better values.
Update August 2007: Alas, the recent new models of MacBooks and Mac minis continue to use the GMA950. On a positive note, I've discovered that the GMA950-powered video of the first-gen Mac mini actually produces reasonable gaming performance for the less-demanding titles.
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