Late 2013 MBP 15" full upgrade - Need Help with battlefield 4!!

Hi, I have a MacBook Pro also and all I can say is that Apple computers regrettably suck at decent 3D gamming, it's not what Mac owners like myself want to hear but sadly it's the undeniable truth. I know that doesn't help nor answer your post therefore all I can suggest is that you maybe download the latest Apple BootCamp Support Software (currently version 5.0.5033) from the Apple Support Website if you don't have the latest version installed already, but as you appear to have one of the latest machines as of this threads post it's probably a case that you've got the latest version already when you had set up BootCamp. If unsure you could always download it and run it as you should get an option to repair the BootCamp installation if the latest version is already installed, if not then it should automatically install it. Secondly, Battlefield 4 has only just been released and it is too early for it to run smoothly as many users are experiencing poor performance and issue including myself. New high-end/big game releases normally require several updates or patches 'after release' before they perform better and become more stable, however it must be said that there's no detracting from the frustrating reality and truth that Apple computers are sadly letting Mac owners down in the gaming and simulation department and that GPU's are a very serious bottleneck in virtually most all Mac's to date except the upcoming late 2013 Mac Pro in which the latter would only require suitable GPU drivers as the GPU's are potentially very capable indeed especially if they are pre-configured with upgraded options.

It has frustrated me for years and years (since switching from PC only to a Mac with BootCamp capability) and also for the majority of the people I know that have Macs who are in the same boat. Don't get me wrong, Mac's are beautiful machines and GPU bottleneck aside, the build quality, design and OS are second to none and they will run more simplistic gaming fine. But for the latest high-end decent realistic games they sadly fall flat on there face. My MacBook Pro i7 is a much older model then the one you've mentioned here, however again and I know this sounds repetitive but the painful fact is that any premium expensive Mac/MacBook Pro model version from any time period will not perform well with most all decent games & simulation titles released equally at around the same time that the Mac's were released. In addition it does not help that as a MacBook Pro owner you aren't free to easily and painlessly install the very latest Graphics card updates from the graphics card manufacturer, instead you are committed to rely on Apple releasing regular graphics driver updates which they very rarely ever do, in fact I would find it more accurate to say that they don't once a certain model MacBook Pro is released; in all fairness even if they did so regularly it probably wouldn't give much of a performance boost as the main criteria is the GPU hardware itself.

Unfortunately you will always come across some begruntled Apple brown tongue or PC fanboy that will tell you that Macs are not a gaming computer and not meant to be. However people should not begrudge what others desire to do with their Macs whether it be gaming, video editing, browsing, programming, whatever their required use; I myself use it for just about everything, although my maximum enjoyment and quality time from my Mac is when I fire it up to play Battlefield 3 and the new Battlefied 4 which I cannot fully enjoy because of unrealistic and unacceptable frame rates and poor below average graphics for what was a premium £2,500 approx flagship Mac machine and I believe they 'should' have the pre-configuration and capability to be very competent with most all 3D simulation and gaming software, or at the very least have a few high end model variations that are. After all, you can change and upgrade the internal Drive and/or the internal RAM and even choose from an abundance of various high-end external sound units or sound cards via thunderbolt/USB3/optical or firewire for 5.1 systems or DAW use - BUT once the GPU card is set for the model and installed at the factory then it can never be upgraded nor changed after and therefore for a better word 'doomed' to it's set configuration, so it's imperative for Apple designers to incorporate a version that's both very capable (not a bottle neck) and possesses headroom to spare to make it cope with most 3D software innovations and for some future-proofing capabilities to boot.

Also Apple must realise that we are not all possessed by battery performance as my MacBook Pro is mostly plugged in whether it be at my desk, or if I go from room to room, or when taking it to friends and colleagues places, it's always plugged in to their power sources so that I have best performance and only use the battery when absolutely completely necessary. Therefore the GPU being sacrificed for battery performance can be quite an insulting poor excuse, besides the graphics power performance switching technology is there to address that phenomenon anyway.

Lets hope that Apple start to see the light before people like me can only take so much before having to abandon the Apple train.

Apologies if reply post was a bit lengthy, but this is the truth

I think DIESEL-X bring some good points, but the new MacBook Pro, especially the 15" with the 2GB 750M, 16GB of ram, and that amazing 2.3Ghz Haswell, should run Battlefield 4 at eleast MEDIUM at a solid 40-60fps. But heres why it doesn't:

The nVidia drivers optimized for Battlefield 4 are newer than the ones Apple supplies with bootcamp.

Once apple updates the bootcamp drivers (likely 10.9.1) we'll see optimizations for Battlefield 4 and other newer games and you'll likely see a double or triple fold performance boost in Battlefield 4.

It isn't that macs suck for gaming, they just suck at NEW games because they lag behind very important driver updates.

Be patient! Or if you can't wait, you can trick your mac into upgrading using the process here:

http://sleep.dontexist.com/2013/11/...idia-drivers-on-late-2013-retina-macbook-pro/

I'm happy to report that Battlefield 4 runs fantastic with medium-high settings on the 15" rMBP (750M/16GB/2.3Ghz) with those updated drivers.

Yes absolutely if Apple could release GPU drivers more frequently to help keep up to date with more current releases of demanding 3D simulation apps and gaming titles, then this could help improve things slightly to a certain degree.

I'm interested Xeos in what you reported and ask if you could advise me on some further details of your findings. Could you possibly mention the model MacBook Pro you tested it on as I believe the current 2013 model 15" has an upgrade option for a 2GB GPU instead of 1GB? Also what resolution was you running it on and what average constant frame rate did you achieve. I'll understand if you can't reply back but my only need to know is that I was considering the latest retina MacBook Pro 15" myself with the 2GB graphics update option, but I'm naturally still very wary as I know deep down that Battlefield 4 would need at least a 3GB GPU with up to date drivers to run comfortably and be realistically playable for dominating within the game. My dilemma is that the need for a computer to be portable is important hence MacBook Pro (not battery performance, but portability), however the need for power and impressive high GPU performance is also paramount hence being attracted to the upcoming Mac Pro (but costly).

I myself have tried a few times to install the latest 'beta' version graphics driver updates from the graphics manufacturer themselves (AMD or NVIDEA depending on which type exists in your Mac) and the 'beta' version will install without being rejected because they don't have the final signatures or digital flag indicators that the final releases do have, which stop the final versions from being accepted and installed. However both in my experience and by others reported elsewhere on the internet, I found that I lost some frames per second on Battlefield 3 as well as to cause some glitches and complications with other functionality such as problems with the screen brightness hotkeys on the MacBook Pro keyboard when booted in Bootcamp, occasional sound glitches (don't know why) and other stuff. Other MacBook Pro owners whom tried the beta's found that they lost slight fps too in Battlefield 3 and it can be seen in some forums where they have mentioned reverting back to the standard Apple tailored drivers and is equally discussed of the importance of 'cleanly' removing all updated beta driver attempts thoroughly before reverting back and re-installing the standard supplied ones by Apple. That was admittedly with regards to Battlefield 3 therefore who knows it might be different with Battlefield 4, but I won't be trying it.

Naturally your preferred resolution of choice for gaming has a big impact and the lower it is then the slightly higher the fps, but if I'm being honest I could buy a Wii console if I wanted to play with low graphics.

Definitely give the Battlefield 4 game a chance though as it should most definitely improve by a certain amount after a number of updates and patches (both client and server side updates). The improvements may not be groundbreaking as you'll need impressive GPU's for that; but it should eventually be enough over time to make a noticeable difference.

Another thing worth noting is that for the first time the latest Battlefield (BF4) is now available as 64 bit, therefore once the developers have released several updates/patches the 64 bit processing capabilities should help make the game a bit punchier and faster. But the main advantage to be had here is that the game (including OS and possibly GPU if any share capability) will be able to access much more RAM over the previous limitations of 32bit where I believe 32 bit can only support up to 4GB RAM (actual 3.25GB) maximum, however 64 bit can make use of much more as it can theoretically support up to 16EB of RAM (approx 17 billion gigabytes). Therefore if you have 8GB or 16GB currently in your MacBook Pro then the 64bit version Battlefield 4 game and the OS (providing you have the 64bit version of Windows 7 or 8) should benefit from having much more accessible RAM available to them.

Macs may not fall flat on their face if your running graphics between Low to Medium settings and on much lower resolutions, but I still believe they do when attempting to run up to date major releases between the medium through high to ultra graphics settings coupled with high or full native pixel resolutions which is where it's at for decent comfortable 3D simulation and gaming. In particular it is especially important to have both pin-sharp tiny detail and a minimum of at least 60 frames per second to be able to make quick and fast accurate judgments and reflexes to survive in todays first person shooters, MMO's and even RPG's as games become more complex and realistic. Minute pixel detail is needed for identifying and targeting small far away targets (especially when in Jets) and high frame rates (ideally 60fps minimum) is needed for accurate tracking and ballistics.

I can only hope that one day very soon Macs will transform and dominate in the GPU phenomenon as well as that is when Apple Macs will suddenly cater for and cover all area's and be the most capable machines to own!

Guess what, the upcoming Mac Pro in December 2013 is probably the first Mac to break through the Apple GPU bottleneck legacy and Apple are doing this with vengeance and style; with the option of having up to an astonishing 12GB of dedicated GPU's (2x AMD Fire Pro 6GB cards pre configured as upgradeable options) and the ability to drive 4K display resolutions. One can only daydream of how incredible the graphics may look when outputted from this machine and there's no stopping dedicated and hardcore gamers from going for premium computer rig's if they can deliver. Wether or not though the supplied GPU drivers within the new 2013 Mac Pro from Apple will successfully communicate with the top gaming titles of today is of course anybodies guess and I fear if Apple ignore this.

Just an update for everyone. The latest nVidia drivers will automatically recognize our GT750s, no tweaks needed. Just go to http://www.nvidia.com and download the latest GeForce driver.