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Macbook World of Warcraft Performance Thread?

A

Akita

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 16, 2006
4
0
I've been scanning the forums here ALL DAY in hopes someone would post gameplay impressions for WoW on the new Macbooks.

Now, before you say, "IT WILL RUN LIEK CRAPXORZ!!1", please hear me out:

I bought a white 2 GHz Macbook today, but I haven't opened it yet. I have 2 gigs of RAM ready to go in. If someone can confirm playable framerates (20-30?), EVEN AT LOW SETTINGS, I'll be more than content.

In contrast, my desktop has a Radeon X800 XL. The card blew out randomly a few weeks ago, and I sent it to ATI for repair. In the interim, I was playing WoW on the integrated card that came with my desktop. Coincidentally, it's an Intel GMA 900 chipset. At medium/low-ish settings, it ran just fine. 20-30 frames per second in most areas. Very playable.

Logic would dictate that the Intel GMA 950 in the Macbook would provide similar performance.

If you have the game, please do me this huge favor: Run the game at native resolution (1280x800) with Terrain Distance at 50%. Turn all other settings to Medium or Low, and turn shader effects OFF. That's pretty much how I had it set on my desktop.

How does it run? That's really all I want to know. I'm DYING to open my Macbook to test it out, but I don't want to have to pay the Apple Store the 10% restocking fee if it turns out that it is not up to snuff.

Help a guy out. Pretty please? :eek:
 
I don't have time to check now, but you might want to try searching the forums for WoW performance on Intel mini core duo systems. The MB will perform as well as or better than that.
 
*cry* I can't believe nobody has tried to play WoW on their Macbooks yet. :(
 
jsw said:
I don't have time to check now, but you might want to try searching the forums for WoW performance on Intel mini core duo systems. The MB will perform as well as or better than that.
Click to expand...

There is information on the WoW forums about this:

A Blue said it would have the same graphics performance as the Mac Mini because it uses the same video card.

Frame rates will improve as Apple improves the drivers because the same graphics card has better performance on Windows.

Here is a players response:
I run a 1.66 core duo mini. In Orgrimmar i get between 5-10 fps with all settings at min, except terrain distance at 3rd notch from bottom. resolution set to 1024/768.

Outside town however is a different story. Running on open plains i will get a strong 13-17fps (+3-5fps if there are trees). Dungoens and caves i usually get anywhere from 25-30fps.


This is much better than the old iBook that many people played on.
 
I too was very tempted by the mac Mini but when i found out that the GPU had no pixel/vertex shaders nor polygon pushing power i decided it would not be a wise purchase as i would want to be playing at 1920 X 1200 res.

On the Mini the shaders effects are blanked out on WOW.
 
Akita said:
I've been scanning the forums here ALL DAY in hopes someone would post gameplay impressions for WoW on the new Macbooks.

Now, before you say, "IT WILL RUN LIEK CRAPXORZ!!1", please hear me out:

I bought a white 2 GHz Macbook today, but I haven't opened it yet. I have 2 gigs of RAM ready to go in. If someone can confirm playable framerates (20-30?), EVEN AT LOW SETTINGS, I'll be more than content.

In contrast, my desktop has a Radeon X800 XL. The card blew out randomly a few weeks ago, and I sent it to ATI for repair. In the interim, I was playing WoW on the integrated card that came with my desktop. Coincidentally, it's an Intel GMA 900 chipset. At medium/low-ish settings, it ran just fine. 20-30 frames per second in most areas. Very playable.

Logic would dictate that the Intel GMA 950 in the Macbook would provide similar performance.

If you have the game, please do me this huge favor: Run the game at native resolution (1280x800) with Terrain Distance at 50%. Turn all other settings to Medium or Low, and turn shader effects OFF. That's pretty much how I had it set on my desktop.

How does it run? That's really all I want to know. I'm DYING to open my Macbook to test it out, but I don't want to have to pay the Apple Store the 10% restocking fee if it turns out that it is not up to snuff.

Help a guy out. Pretty please? :eek:
Click to expand...

I can't answer your question for sure, but I can pretty much tell you how it's going to play. It's gonna play amazingly. With 2GB of ram, you'll get frame rates well above 30, constantly. Trust me. My brother just got a PC laptop with Integrated Graphics and 1GB of ram, 1.66 Core duo and he playes the game on all highest settings. Your laptop has much higher specs than that.

Enjoy.
 
I've got a Core Duo Mini with 1GB RAM and I play WoW on it all the time now. I haven't used my PC for games in ages now, that thing's just too much hassle.

However, frame rates often drop to a snails pace, during peak hours (when i don't normally play) places with lots of people drops to a coupe of frames per second. I play with all the graphics on as low as they go and in an 800x600 window. I tried it full screen (my screen has a 1280x768 resolution) at native res and it was quite painful. Dropping down to 800x600 and switching to window mode made all the difference.
 
The faster CPU should help but don't expect killer gains. You'll be limited to low video and resolutions too.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/games/mac_wow_performance.html

MacMini Core Duo 1.66GHz
1GB RAM (paired 2x512MB SO-DIMM)
WoW 1.9.4 Universal build 5086 (identified as "Intel GCC" on the login screen)
Resolution 1024 x 768 (Toshiba HDTV connected with a DVI to HDMI cable)

Running through Duskwood from Raven Hill to Darkshire, my FPS was consistent at between 16-20 FPS for the whole run. Entering the Darkshire village, frame rate initially dropped to 6 FPS and then climbed back to around 15 - there were at least 6 other players present at the time, since Stitches was on the loose. Entering the Scarlet Raven Tavern, it jumped to over 30 FPS, even with several other players present.

Even with all the graphic options turned down, the game still looks good, and the framerate is solidly playable, if not spectacular. As always with WoW, Terrain Distance seems to be critical - raising the slider above about halfway kills the framerate, dropping it below 10 in some areas. Indoor areas are consistently better than outdoor.
Click to expand...
 
A tip here,

WOW on integrated runs better on Windows XP than Mac OSX

As both versions are on the same disc, give bootcamp ago, just for WOW. You will get more playable experience than on the osX version.
 
To anyone with World of Warcraft: there are a lot of people awaiting a report that includes FPS :)
 
I went out and got a 2GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB MacBook. With everything set to low and within Gadgetzan (average number of players in town) I got 10-15 FPS with frequent dips to about 6 when turning around. Outside of the city in the empty desert I saw about 20 FPS. In the inn I got somewhere in the mid 20s. More RAM might help, but I'm tempted to get the MacBook Pro even for casual playing.
 
wow, these numbers are horrible!! I'm a *huge* fan of the new MB, but this thread should serve as a warning to any integrated graphics defenders. With any half decent dedicated graphics card a core duo 2.0 Ghz would slaughter this game.
 
How is it that we test to see the FPS again? I play fine on my Mac Mini 1.25 GHZ with only 512 Mbs of ram. Course Orgrimmar at peak times is very slow.

But to somewhat answer the main question, Wow should run fine for the casual gamer that doesn't NEED the graphics set to the max. 1GB of ram+ is probably reccomended though.
 
Ctrl-R for FPS

Personally, from what I saw when briefly using it, I'd hesitate to recommend that base config for anyone who wants to play any significant amount. I get FPS close to that on my 1 GHz powerbook and it's almost unusable in instances.

I look forward to seeing more reports to verify my experience. RAM might make a difference and other people might find ways to get better performance.
 
Akita said:
I've been scanning the forums here ALL DAY in hopes someone would post gameplay impressions for WoW on the new Macbooks.

Now, before you say, "IT WILL RUN LIEK CRAPXORZ!!1", please hear me out:

I bought a white 2 GHz Macbook today, but I haven't opened it yet. I have 2 gigs of RAM ready to go in. If someone can confirm playable framerates (20-30?), EVEN AT LOW SETTINGS, I'll be more than content.

In contrast, my desktop has a Radeon X800 XL. The card blew out randomly a few weeks ago, and I sent it to ATI for repair. In the interim, I was playing WoW on the integrated card that came with my desktop. Coincidentally, it's an Intel GMA 900 chipset. At medium/low-ish settings, it ran just fine. 20-30 frames per second in most areas. Very playable.

Logic would dictate that the Intel GMA 950 in the Macbook would provide similar performance.

If you have the game, please do me this huge favor: Run the game at native resolution (1280x800) with Terrain Distance at 50%. Turn all other settings to Medium or Low, and turn shader effects OFF. That's pretty much how I had it set on my desktop.

How does it run? That's really all I want to know. I'm DYING to open my Macbook to test it out, but I don't want to have to pay the Apple Store the 10% restocking fee if it turns out that it is not up to snuff.

Help a guy out. Pretty please? :eek:
Click to expand...


why did you do that? it seems like a waste of time to go out and buy a macbook but not even be ready to enjoy it. weird . . .
 
dialo said:
I went out and got a 2GHz, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB MacBook. With everything set to low and within Gadgetzan (average number of players in town) I got 10-15 FPS with frequent dips to about 6 when turning around. Outside of the city in the empty desert I saw about 20 FPS. In the inn I got somewhere in the mid 20s. More RAM might help, but I'm tempted to get the MacBook Pro even for casual playing.
Click to expand...

I'd say you can get a peak of 20 with 2GB of RAM in dual channel, but realistically probably 15FPS would be a good average IMO. Best thing to do is either play the thing in Windows to get the 20FPS or go with a MB PRO:)
 
Will my stock latest revision PowerBook G4 12" run WoW fairly well? I know more RAM would be very nice, but I don't have the money for it right now.
 
calebjohnston said:
Will my stock latest revision PowerBook G4 12" run WoW fairly well? I know more RAM would be very nice, but I don't have the money for it right now.
Click to expand...

Def get tyou 20+ FPS even with 512RAM no doubt:p
 
I played WOW on a vaio laptop with GMA950, Pentium M 2. somthing
It was played at 1024x768 and settings were medium and it was getting 20-25 fps

This was on the PC version where drivers are more advanced than on the OSX.

If you want to run WOW do it through Bootcamp on your macbook, there will be a noticeable difference.
 
MacRumorUser said:
A tip here,

WOW on integrated runs better on Windows XP than Mac OSX

As both versions are on the same disc, give bootcamp ago, just for WOW. You will get more playable experience than on the osX version.
Click to expand...
If anyone tries this, please let us know.
 
I'd like to put something here to alleviate some people's fears.

Right now I'm running WoW on a three year old, rev B 867mhz powerbook. It has a geforce go video card with 64 megs of vram, along with 640 megs of system memory.

I've levelled my main to 60 on a pvp server (not to mention working my way up through the pvp ranks [rank 6 now]) with this machine no sweat. I get an average of around 10 fps, sometimes spiking to 20 when I go inside tiny rooms or face walls. Running through ironforge is a challenge, but its pretty doable.

I'm purchasing a macbook soon, and I'm planning to replace the standard memory with two 1gig sticks of corsair ram.

Basically, I consider my system now to be the very baseline of playable. Heck, it doesn't even meet blizzards system requirements. I find it very hard to believe that increasing system memory by 1.5 gigs and increasing processor power by a factor of 5 to 6 (I'm unsure as the intel transition was in there) would only net a 5-10 fps increase.

Lets say you get 20fps average/10 raids with the new macbook (this is, in my opinion, a very low lowball). If you put xp on the thing, I'd expect that to jump framerates by 5-10fps across the board, just because the windows drivers are much better written. Then, you're looking at 25-30 fps average questing/grinding/farming fps, which would be a very enjoyable playing experience. And take MC. What do you have to do in MC? Stand in one place and spam spells, occasionally moving to another spot to spam spells. Easily accomplished with 10-15fps.

I played around with one of the new macbooks today, and that thing flew. I'm very excited about picking one of these things up, and I'll post up my WoW numbers as soon as I get it all set up.
 
Thanks john. If a 867 pb can do it, I'm sure mine will be able to. Now if only my mighty mouse would actually pick up right clicks like it's supposed to...
 
I recieved my black MacBook with 2.0 GHZ, 1 GB Ram today. After the installation and the many updates I can say that the game runs very, very smoothly. The frame rates are high up (if someone can tell me how to check the actual fps I can report), I don't know what people are talking about when they say that the game runs slow.
 
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