[Alexanda]

Whats a graphics card used for, as i'm working out if it's worth the extra cash for a macbook or a pro?

[sub]

It's all to do with speed and efficiency. If you're working with graphics go with a Macbook pro (with extra RAM). Here's Apple's comparison chart:
Apple - Notebooks - Compare Models

[Alexanda]

ok, i only do print though so do i need a graphics card for that?

[freelancr]

that list is really out of date sub.

[sub]

Ahh, still a fairly good indication to the difference between models me thinks.

ok, i only do print though so do i need a graphics card for that?

Even more so I'd say. I'm not sure about the technical differences between graphics cards but you'll find the Pro will handle processing files much faster.

Link to more up-to-date info:Which Apple notebook should I buy? - Mac Guides

[JonoMarshall]

Graphics card = faster display rendering and video processing = good for games and motion work.

It also helps with Photoshop too, if you can afford it and don't need ultra portability then go pro. The normal MacBook's no snail though, so if you're on a budget it should do just fine.

[Hunch]

Unless you're doing realtime previz or something similar, you'll be better off spend your money on a faster processor and more RAM. Macs are slightly different in the sense that the Quartz technologies in Mac OS X (which include the graphics subsystems) do actually use the graphics card for processing more than other platforms, but CS3 doesn't take advantage of that except in After Effects, Premiere and I believe Photoshop Extended. But since most of CS3 is pretty old legacy code, Adobe don't really use it to anything like its maximum benefit.

I believe that some of the newer apps that have started to appear (like Pixelmator for example) are designed to really take advantage of the extra horsepower of the graphics card, but these apps are still in their very early generations and aren't anywhere near being ready for pro work yet. Most of them are barely out of Beta.

You might find that some of Apple's own stuff is using the card a lot more (e.g. Aperture, Final Cut etc.) but that's just a hunch (no pun intended) and you'd have to ask someone who uses them. I don't.

[hawken]

there you go. Future proof your self mate, get a macbook pro. Adobe plan to insert code to take advantage of it.

Although in saying that, my mac mini runs illustrator just fine. (yeah, it's not my only mac obviously)