As far as I know Apple has no inkling of changing the graphics card in their Macbook Pro. So its set to be an ATI X1600 Mobility with 256mb of ram (is that dedicated?). Anyone heard anything else?
I realize they JUST came out a couple of months ago, but I'm unfamiliar with Apples hardware history regarding laptops. Considering how fast laptop GPUs are evolving, do you think Apple will keep the pace? How often do they update hardware, (specifically graphics card?) in their portables?

Apple is forced to choose between whatever ATI and NVidia offers them. So the ball is really in their court, not Apple's

Replacing the GPU would require a significant redesign of the internal logic board so this certainly wont happen in minor revision updates. I wouldn't expect to see any change as significant as the GPU until they update the macbook pro line - so end of this year, beginning of next maybe?

Why is that???

It's because ATI and NVIDIA "make" the hardware (they don't manufacture it, they just design it; it takes months to get a new product out for them, so making new mobile offerings takes even longer than making new desktop offerings for them). Unless someone else sells performance consumer graphics chips like ATI and NVIDIA do, Apple (as well as all portable manufacturers) really doesn't have a choice, and neither do you.

The problem is that graphics have always been an issue with laptops. You can stick a bigger drive and more memory in your laptop (of any make) and with some models you can even try to upgrade the processor, though the BIOS probably won't like it. But when you're talking about a collection of chips surface-mount soldered onto the motherboard, you aren't going to change that in a hurry. When the graphics are inadequate for your needs, it's time to buy another laptop.

Matrox make a dual-head and triple head external video card device which takes its input from whatever video chipset you currently have Matrox ToGo - it won't give you better performance but it will give you multiple monitors from an aging video subsystem. Pick-your-own external video is possible with several laptop docking stations through bus connectors, but gamer graphics aren't going to happen just yet while you're limited to USB and Firewire for your expansion. Who knows, though, bi-directional optical technology may change all of that.

As for Apple's current range, they will probably improve the graphics as the model matures but what you've got now is what you're stuck with.

Alienware laptops have removable graphics cards don't they?