Macs tend to be a bit underpowered when it comes to the GPU, but information gleaned from the firmware of the most recent Mac mini suggests that future iMacs and Mac Pros may be getting a beefy spec bump soon.
Specifically, the latest Mac mini OpenGL firmware reference support for the NVIDIA GeForce 480 and the Radeon HD 5000. Both cards are about to be superseded by newer offerings from both NVIDIA and ATI, but for Mac users, they would still represent a significant performance bump.
What’s curious here about the news is that Apple is again considering using ATI GPUs in their products. NVIDIA has been the sole supplier of discrete GPUs to Apple since late 2006, so if ATI is about to get back into the game, it would mark quite the transition.
