Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Retina MacBook Pro Gaming Benchmarks

C

Chippyjohn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Im trying to decide on a new mac to buy and I have been looking at the 2013 15inch Retina Macbook Pro.

Specs I am Looking at:
2.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
8GB RAM 1600MHz memory
256GB flash storage1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory

This laptop will defiantly suit most of my needs from a laptop. My only question is if you can play games on the native resolution, specially Team Fortress 2, and Minecraft. (2880x1800)

I like to play games while I travel but I need a laptop that still looks professional (Mac imo) Let me know if you have ever played those two games on max-med settings with the native resolution and what kind of FPS you are getting.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this on the forums as I am new here.

Thanks for your Help
 
Most games won't play at the highest resolution of the screen. It's just not possible for a mobile gpu.

To play games at 2880 you need powerful desktop graphics.

You can play those games great at a lower resolution however, and they still look good. You don't NEED 2880 x 1800.
 
if you're getting an MBPR to play native res games you're just stupid. (sorry)


The MBPR handles games well on 1680x1050, and no, it will not look as good as 2880x1800.


do _NOT_ buy a mac to play games, yes, it handles games fine.. but seriously, you have to get windows on it to play most games, and if you're already on windows, why not get an alienware or ASUS or MSI if you want to game.

Get a mac because you like the OS, you like the reliability.. install windows on it for some casual gaming on the go... but do not expect 2880x1800 on a mac.. hell you cant even expect to run BF 3 100% playable on low setting with 1680x1050.
 
Zeov said:
if you're getting an MBPR to play native res games you're just stupid. (sorry)


The MBPR handles games well on 1680x1050, and no, it will not look as good as 2880x1800.


do _NOT_ buy a mac to play games, yes, it handles games fine.. but seriously, you have to get windows on it to play most games, and if you're already on windows, why not get an alienware or ASUS or MSI if you want to game.

Get a mac because you like the OS, you like the reliability.. install windows on it for some casual gaming on the go... but do not expect 2880x1800 on a mac.. hell you cant even expect to run BF 3 100% playable on low setting with 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

False. Benchmarks have been great with the rMBP. Graphics used to be a weak point for Macs, but they've greatly increased their gaming prowess over the last couple iterations, and the current video card handles many of the popular games with ease, all while running them in OS X. You will have to scale down of course to 1080, but you can usually keep settings at med/high (depending upon the game) and it'll look great. Just make sure you have AA off (AA really doesn't do much anyway). When the rMBP was released, it had the best video card on the market. I haven't checked what other laptops offer now, but rest assured, the rMBP can handle games just fine. AC III, Borderlands I & II, Diablo III– yup.

ASUS and MSI are ugly, all plastic, generally have marginal battery life, and don't run OS X. The reason I buy a Mac though, is because I'm addicted to OS X. Can't stand Windows– just my opinion. And the rMBP is just damn sexy! I don't do the coffee shop BS, wanting people to see my MBP tho– I just like using a great piece of kit, which the MBP definitely is.
 
Last edited:
I don't see the logic of people saying here that they are Apple users only to encourage others when they want to play games not to instead buy a Windows pc.
 
I play TF2 at 2880*1800 with no problems, frame rate is perfectly fine for me. Turn off AA and you'll have a great experience!
 
Zeov said:
Get a mac because you like the OS, you like the reliability.. install windows on it for some casual gaming on the go... but do not expect 2880x1800 on a mac.. hell you cant even expect to run BF 3 100% playable on low setting with 1680x1050.
Click to expand...

thats a very valid advice.

however one doesnt say get asus for gaming.

though the g750 that is to be launched may come with a 780m, which should be a first for them in several years
BigBeast said:
False. Benchmarks have been great with the rMBP. Graphics used to be a weak point for Macs, but they've greatly increased their gaming prowess over the last couple iterations, and the current video card handles many of the popular games with ease, all while running them in OS X. You will have to scale down of course to 1080, but you can usually keep settings at med/high (depending upon the game) and it'll look great. Just make sure you have AA off (AA really doesn't do much anyway). When the rMBP was released, it had the best video card on the market. I haven't checked what other laptops offer now, but rest assured, the rMBP can handle games just fine. AC III, Borderlands I & II, Diablo III– yup.

ASUS and MSI are ugly, all plastic, generally have marginal battery life, and don't run OS X. The reason I buy a Mac though, is because I'm addicted to OS X. Can't stand Windows– just my opinion. And the rMBP is just damn sexy! I don't do the coffee shop BS, wanting people to see my MBP tho– I just like using a great piece of kit, which the MBP definitely is.
Click to expand...

GPUs are still a weak point for macs and will continue to be. They go for midrange parts, that gives you some gaming. It doesnt nearly give you what a dedicated gaming notebook can provide

Plastic aint generally bad, and can be made a lot harder than aluminum.

Dedicated gaming you go for alienware m17x and m18x, you go for clevo/sager np9150, np9170, np9370 and np9570, you go for msi gt60 and gt70

best gaming machine is the m18x, its just about 6x more powerful than the 650m, for example the 650m usually scores p2800 on the rmbp, the m18x with 680m scores p14000 in 3dmark11

Point of all this is, gaming can be done on a rmbp, dont expect retina gaming on all games. if you really want a true gaming machine, go for other notebook.
 
Last edited:
TF2 will run without problems on native resolution, its not a very demanding game. In Minecraft it is not possible to set the resolution and it also has a pretty ****** engine, but the rMBP won't have any problems playing it, even heavily modded. Also, the rMBP is capable of playing ANY modern game on decent resolution and good quality settings. I just finished Bioshock Infinite, which looked stunning at 1680x1050@high settings.
 
leman said:
TF2 will run without problems on native resolution, its not a very demanding game. In Minecraft it is not possible to set the resolution and it also has a pretty ****** engine, but the rMBP won't have any problems playing it, even heavily modded. Also, the rMBP is capable of playing ANY modern game on decent resolution and good quality settings. I just finished Bioshock Infinite, which looked stunning at 1680x1050@high settings.
Click to expand...
I finished bioshock last week crazy ending I cant belive I didnt see it coming
 
Ricanlegend said:
I finished bioshock last week crazy ending I cant belive I didnt see it coming
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't see what all the fuzz is about... I found it rather predictable, contradictory and lazily written at points. Don't get me wrong, the story was not bad at all, compared to what we have in modern movies/games. But for me it somehow lacked depth and motive. As you say, it was crazy, but also somehow incoherent.

Then again, I was raised on classic literature ^^
 
Mr MM said:
thats a very valid advice.

however one doesnt say get asus for gaming.

though the g750 that is to be launched may come with a 780m, which should be a first for them in several years


GPUs are still a weak point for macs and will continue to be. They go for midrange parts, that gives you some gaming. It doesnt nearly give you what a dedicated gaming notebook can provide

Plastic aint generally bad, and can be made a lot harder than aluminum.

Dedicated gaming you go for alienware m17x and m18x, you go for clevo/sager np9150, np9170, np9370 and np9570, you go for msi gt60 and gt70

best gaming machine is the m18x, its just about 6x more powerful than the 650m, for example the 650m usually scores p2800 on the rmbp, the m18x with 680m scores p14000 in 3dmark11

Point of all this is, gaming can be done on a rmbp, dont expect retina gaming on all games. if you really want a true gaming machine, go for other notebook.
Click to expand...


ASUS sells gaming laptops with 670MX cards.
 
Sorry for hijacking your thread. Does WoW run on native resolution with max settings in OS X after the 10.8.3 update?
 
Mr MM said:
thats a very valid advice.

Plastic aint generally bad, and can be made a lot harder than aluminum.

Dedicated gaming you go for alienware m17x and m18x, you go for clevo/sager np9150, np9170, np9370 and np9570, you go for msi gt60 and gt70

best gaming machine is the m18x, its just about 6x more powerful than the 650m, for example the 650m usually scores p2800 on the rmbp, the m18x with 680m scores p14000 in 3dmark11

Point of all this is, gaming can be done on a rmbp, dont expect retina gaming on all games. if you really want a true gaming machine, go for other notebook.
Click to expand...

a. Plastic can be made harder than aluminum. Is it in this case? No. So why bring it up? A computer could also be made in diamond and have much higher thermal conductivity, but since it's not an option, I'll just stick to what's available.

b. The M18X also has dual graphics cards, weighs 13 pounds, has a monstrous 18.4" screen with only 1080p resolution, and comes with disc drives @ 7200 rpm vs. the rMBP with a 512GB SSD, and the M18X that rig starts at $3300. During gaming with the M18X, you can expect under an hour of battery life as well. My point is that you're comparing Apples to oranges. 😉

If you want a 18.4" "portable" gaming laptop, by all means, the M18X awaits. I'd pick up a desktop for that amount of money, and would have much better performance.
 
Zeov said:
oh, so it's not a gaming laptop unless it packs the best card available? got it.
Click to expand...
dont be childish, nobody in their right minds consider asus the oem for gaming notebooks, maybe best buy tards, but thats it.

if you actually knew that the 670mx is a crippled card, you wouldnt have even raised the point. To add more salt to that, the upcoming clevo w230st is packing at least a 765m, however we are uncertain, since the leaks said a 192bit, thus 770m, btw its a 13'' system, pitiful isnt it?

go big or go home
BigBeast said:
a. Plastic can be made harder than aluminum. Is it in this case? No. So why bring it up? A computer could also be made in diamond and have much higher thermal conductivity, but since it's not an option, I'll just stick to what's available.

b. The M18X also has dual graphics cards, weighs 13 pounds, has a monstrous 18.4" screen with only 1080p resolution, and comes with disc drives @ 7200 rpm vs. the rMBP with a 512GB SSD, and the M18X that rig starts at $3300. During gaming with the M18X, you can expect under an hour of battery life as well. My point is that you're comparing Apples to oranges. 😉

If you want a 18.4" "portable" gaming laptop, by all means, the M18X awaits. I'd pick up a desktop for that amount of money, and would have much better performance.
Click to expand...

A - are you for real? the m17x is plastic and wont lose to apple in durability nor fit and finish. get grip and learn the materials. and I dont want to enter the debate of bending vs cracking or other insignificant thing

And you missed the point of the post entirely. The point is still that gaming on rmbp is possible, more serious gaming should be done in other hardware, understand the difference and dont expect maxed settings in full res.

aside that the best gaming notebook is the m18x, best raw power, best service, best gpus, aside that it has 3 bays for drives in there aside the msata one
 
Ok. I bought the MacBook Pro retina 15" early 2013 w/ 2.7 Ghz 16Gb ram and 500GB SSD. And so far every game I run on it works perfectly fine on the highest resolution. Only issued I had was that it gets extremely hot but I found out thru Apple that is because of its aluminum body. It's absorbs the heat so the internals to deal with it.

It's the best gaming laptop I had, it looks professional when I'm at work and can handle games like a boss. At $2799 wasn't cheap but it was worth every penny. I have bootcamp it with windows 7 so i can run other programs and play windows games.
 
all i can say is if your solely into gaming then do assemble a gaming rig, if you need the mac to do work and game then use bootcamp into windows for gaming. The retina handles games well no issues good graphics but thats my point from playing a couple of mac games.
 
While you can't play at native resolution (2880* 1800) you can play games on the Mac at 1440*900 which is also called "native". Playing games at that resolution will give the best results and look better then other resolutions (doesn't apply too much on windows).
 
Native resolution might not be possible but generally they will run pretty good at 1680*1050. If that's to laggy then you can go down to 1440*900 but you need to add the resolution using nvidia control panel.
 
The asus g46 series has up to 8 hours of battery life and fantastic build quality.

It's also sporting a GTX 660M with 2gb GDDR5 Memory. 14.1" Screen with 1600x900

I know as I use it. There seems to be a lot of misinformation from some apple users, not trying to start a flame war as i use both machines, but if you don't fully understand what you are talking about maybe bite your tongue.

If you are buying a laptop solely for games, you can get more with less from Asus, Lenovo, Alienware, MSI.
 
collinmac said:
The asus g46 series has up to 8 hours of battery life and fantastic build quality.

It's also sporting a GTX 660M with 2gb GDDR5 Memory. 14.1" Screen with 1600x900
Click to expand...

Well, direct comparison of the two laptops shows that they are equal in performance, while the rMBP is 0.5 kg lighter, much thinner and has at least 50% longer battery life. Not mentioning the screen. So far, the only thing which goes for the Asus is the price. But given that the refurbished rMBP can be bought for $1,599.00 (a similarly configured g64 would be around $1400 or so), why not pay few bucks more and get the better machine? 😉
 
The GT 650M vs GTX 660 comparison?

the 660 runs circles around the 650 especially considering the 650 works with less and slower RAM. The clock speed is higher, memory bandwidth is almost 3x faster

Battery life is almost exactly the same. Edge going to the rMBP

The Asus is a much better gaming machine hands down, you are not comparing apples to apples.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back