Macbook Gaming: The Macworld wishlist

Uttering the phrase "Mac gaming" will normally elicit a fewchuckles, and perhaps even a hearty chortle. Sure, things seem to begetting a bit better, at least based on the games on display at thisyear's Macworld Expo.Mac gaming still has a long way to go, though, especially if you'regoing to be gaming on a MacBook, which will normally earn you looks ofpity due to its integrated graphics and mediocre gaming performance.But according to Macworld (magazine)'s Peter Cohen, MacBooks don't necessarily need to be bad gaming notebooks, since there are a few small steps Apple could take to beef up the machines.
The first thing on the upgrade list is, of course, the MacBook'sintegrated graphics processor. As Cohen points out, the fact that theGPU shares memory with the rest of the system means that the MacBookjust doesn't have the chops when it comes to a lot of 3D games.Although the MacBook will obviously never get the same graphicsprocessor found in the MacBook Pro, Cohen believes that even the use ofa low-end discrete GPU would offer a big performance boost over thecurrent integrated graphics processor.
The second MacBook gaming problem has more to do with Intel's GMAline of graphics hardware (the X3100 is currently used in the MacBook),particularly the drivers. The developer opinion is that the OS Xdrivers for the hardware perform worse than the Windows drivers for thesame hardware, which is a problem when you're already dealing with thelower-performance integrated graphics. If Apple were to improve thedrivers, developers might be a bit more willing to support the GMAhardware.
Both of these items would improve the MacBook's gaming performance,and would probably also lead to a wider library of games beingavailable. The first suggestion is probably out, given Apple's desireto differentiate its products, but improved drivers are certainly apossibility somewhere down the road.