13'' mbp graphics card upgrades???

You cannot upgrade graphics chips in Apple portables.

adventhp1 said:

so is there any way i can play top teir games without a graphics card??

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If a game requires hardware you don't have, you cannot play it on that particular machine. This should be obvious.

You can't upgrade the graphics in nearly all laptops, and even those that support it, they are marginal upgrades at best.

It depends on how serious you are about the games, if you're fine with running new titles at medium you can get by cheaper. It also depends on how much you want to spend, set an annual budget. It that's $3000 a year, then buy a 17" Macbook Pro every year. It's is $300 a year, you're in trouble. You'll have to buy for two years and then go back to running new titles at medium that second year. So yeah, the most cost effective way is buy/build a PC.

Or the alternative is give up this race to play the latest game on the PC. I did that years ago.
I still play only a few games on PC with any regularity; Rome Total War (2004), with mods. Medieval 2 Total War also to a limited degree. I did buy Starcraft II when it came out but I don't really play it. I also play Battlefield 2 w/ the Project Reality mod. For everything else there are game consoles. My 13" Macbook Pro runs all of these at Medium-High and I just don't care about new stuff coming out.

When the external TB driven cards come out then you will be able to upgrade.

squeakr said:

When the external TB driven cards come out then you will be able to upgrade.

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I already got notification from Magma. $979 for the cage, plus video card, plus monitor and peripherals. It's a spruce goose. $979 buys a whole lot of PC desktop computer...

Your best option would be wait until the 2012s come out and then sell yours and get a new one if you want to play games. The new Intel Ivy bridge processors are going to be one hell of a chip.

Risasi said:

I already got notification from Magma. $979 for the cage, plus video card, plus monitor and peripherals. It's a spruce goose. $979 buys a whole lot of PC desktop computer...

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Agreed, but if someone wanted a PC desktop, they wouldn't have been here asking this is the first places. As long as Apple keeps the current TB connector, it will be useable for future generations of computers and then you can just upgrade the card at hopefully a lot less of an expense (but then pricing is what drives the market).

Risasi said:

I already got notification from Magma. $979 for the cage, plus video card, plus monitor and peripherals. It's a spruce goose. $979 buys a whole lot of PC desktop computer...

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Ouch. I originally thought the external graphics card through TB would be a viable solution, not at that price...

At $200 plus video card, I'd be okay with it. But I doubt that'll happen.

At $200 plus video card, I'd be okay with it. But I doubt that'll happen.

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Not before the technology is outdated, anyway.

squeakr said:

When the external TB driven cards come out then you will be able to upgrade.

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Not with a 2009 MBP. They have DisplayPort, not Thunderbolt.