Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Should Spore run an an upper-level white Macbook?
- Thread starter tkiss
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I got a MBP when the new ones came out in March or April (ish) and am just playing the creature creator so far. It runs fine, even when all Settings are set to the Maximum. But applying the skin-paintings can take a few seconds (compared to instantly being applied on a high end desktop). I'm quite satisfied though and looking forward to Spore too 
So to sum it up, I'm thinking it will work on the Macbook, but don't count on being able to put the settings up to High, Not sure if Medium would even work across the board.
So to sum it up, I'm thinking it will work on the Macbook, but don't count on being able to put the settings up to High, Not sure if Medium would even work across the board.
I have a Macbook with 2GB and the Creature Creator runs great. I believe they said they are targeting being able to run on the x3100 chip in the Macbooks so while some things will probably be turned off it should run just fine. I might bump up to 4GB by that time though since it is so cheap.
I first got the creator on my 4 year old dell inspiron and it worked, but was a bit slow.I just got it on my blackbook and it runs very fast with all settings on maximum. It does take a few seconds to apply paints, but its on a macbook, i would expect worse.
Sure and yes it works great.
Kids love creating ceatures in it and thus far the creature creator runs just dandy!
Short answer: 3D games should never run on a MacBook. It will make you cry.
Long answer: Sort of. If you can get a free demo of a game with the game engine and most game features in tact, try it before you buy it. Running a full game takes a lot more out of a system than a minor feature set demo. Better safe than sorry.
Why my opinion doesn't count: I am running the GMA 950 MacBook. So my experience doesn't directly transfer to newer models.
Why you should think twice anyway: Intel is notorious for crappy integrated graphics solutions across the board. But at least the X3100 will give a shot at 3D; In EVE (which has the disadvantage of being Cider ported) my MacBook just sort of sits there laughing at me with random in-game icons, viewing windows, and misplaced textures strewn about the screen, all at a blazing .3FPS. It is very pretty to watch, but oh so painful. It's like a bad techno-acid trip of some sort.
Long answer: Sort of. If you can get a free demo of a game with the game engine and most game features in tact, try it before you buy it. Running a full game takes a lot more out of a system than a minor feature set demo. Better safe than sorry.
Why my opinion doesn't count: I am running the GMA 950 MacBook. So my experience doesn't directly transfer to newer models.
Why you should think twice anyway: Intel is notorious for crappy integrated graphics solutions across the board. But at least the X3100 will give a shot at 3D; In EVE (which has the disadvantage of being Cider ported) my MacBook just sort of sits there laughing at me with random in-game icons, viewing windows, and misplaced textures strewn about the screen, all at a blazing .3FPS. It is very pretty to watch, but oh so painful. It's like a bad techno-acid trip of some sort.
Actually we can know since the system reqs. were posted and you can download the Creature Creator trial for free, which requires the same hardware as the full game will.
Why would you say that? The current MB's meet the requirements.
I don't see why they wouldn't run just fine especially knowing the games I currently run on my wife's MB and since it does meet the requirements.
Curious why you say screwed about Spore but hey, to each his own.
I personally (and my kids) will be playing it on both an iMac and a MB and will be loving it.
Spore will run on the MacBook sporting the GMA X3100. It's not going to be fast or pretty but it'll run just like other 3D games.
waffle911's post hits the target dead on.
waffle911's post hits the target dead on.
The creature creator ain't the game.
System requirements always lie.
The rule of thumb for the newest Macbook is don't bother playing games that are were released in 2005 or later.
Well that's just stupid. His new MB will run the game just fine.
And the creature creator runs on the same engine. If he can run that (and he can on a new MB), then he can run the game fine.
I also don't get what you mean when you say "system reqs lie". No company would post false reqs for any game they release.
And the creature creator runs on the same engine. If he can run that (and he can on a new MB), then he can run the game fine.
I also don't get what you mean when you say "system reqs lie". No company would post false reqs for any game they release.
On what settings though? The basic specs say x1600, 7600GT or X3100. And the 'required' specs are to run the game on low, with low res at a hopefully reasonable framerate.
The creature creator may work fine, and so might the game but what happens when the game gets going and there are numerous creatures on screen? At different stages of evolution? Making the minimum specs hardly guarantees a good gaming experience. Crysis makes the min spec on an older Macbook Pro (with 128mb 8600GT as I used to have) but didn't run all that well.
Just be wary is all. Try the demo when it comes out to make sure before you drop the cash on the game.
Of course. I'd never suggest somebody buy a game without knowing how it will run on their machine. But to suggest that a game won't run at all on a machine that meets the minimum requirements of the game won't work at all is ridiculous and a lie.
There is a fine line between "won't run at all" and "won't run at a playable speed"; the minimum requirements tend to be the point where the game runs, but not at an enjoyable or even playable frame rate. Plus, as sikkinixx said, the creature creator has much less information to process than the full game despite using the same engine; as soon as you go from one or two creatures doing nothing to entire hordes of creatures doing many different things you end up with an exponential increase of information to be processed.