2009 MBP 13" running Doom 3, COD4, or L4D??

[castingshade]

I have the MBP 13" version before the most recent update in April of this year. My specs are:

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (processor 1, Core 2)
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Nvidia Geforce 9400m
256 Mb VRAM

My question is can I run games such as Doom3, Quake, Left for Dead, or CoD4 on this system without too much choppiness or lag?? How playable will it be? -and is it better to run games FOR Mac (such as COD4), or do they run better through Win Boot Camp (whatever that is).

Thank you for any and all input on this subject.

 

[kernkraft]

You shouldn't have issues with any of these games and there is no need for you to run them on Windows - unless you own the Windows versions that might be cheaper than the Mac ones.

 

[OpenLaszlo]

From what I have read, most of the games you listed would run much better in boot camp. As far as I know, all of them were simply ported over (and not very well, mind you), and were not rebuilt natively for OSX. Its not a big hassle to install Windows, plus I'm pretty sure you would have better performance with the various drivers you'll be using. Also...I'm pretty sure most mods are for the Windows version. COD: Zombies is super fun and it would be a shame if you couldn't play it because you didn't have boot camp installed!

 

[buklau]

Just to let you know, DOOM 3 shouldn't be anywhere near the graphical complexity of the other two games. Your laptop should be able to run that game fine. COD4 is the next most graphically intensive game, but it also should run fine due to the fact that it is not much more demanding than UT2004. The most graphically intensive game you listed is L4D; Source games are very CPU dependent and the later ones are scalable to multiple cores, so that could help you. If any of the three games will have trouble running it will most likely be L4D (but surely medium or lower settings will be playable).

I am also assuming you will run them using Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a utility in OS X that helps you dual boot between OS X (Mac operating system) and Windows. It creates a partition (uses a chunk of your hard drive) to install Windows on (you need a Windows installation disc) so you can choose to boot into OS X or Windows when your computer starts. Games that are on both OS X and Windows almost always run better (by quite a margin) on Windows do to Apple's sloppy focus on gaming in general.

 

[bobnugget]

Left4Dead works very nicely indeed on my 2 Ghz Aluminium Macbook & my fiancee's 2 Ghz NVidia MacBook (the ones before yours). It should work very nicely on yours too. If you opt for bootcamp, download the GeForce 9 Mobile series drivers from NVidia after applying the latest apple boot camp updates - they improved the performance for me. I get the odd bit of lag or chop.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare plays very well in OS X on medium settings, it looks great either way. CoD 4 in OS X was very choppy on high settings - but I haven't tried them for a while, drivers might have been improved since. Performance may be better in Windows - I haven't tried it.

Also, for me, Doom 3 plays with very high settings in Windows.

 

[Salacion]

I can speak to you from experience here.

What I own is a black Macbook (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 144 MB GMA X3100 Graphics). You'll be happy to know that the handful of games I played ran acceptably on this computer, so I can only assume they'll run exponentially better on your system.

The games I played were:
Call of Duty 4
Call of Duty 2
Quake 4
Torchlight
Civilization 4
Unreal Tournament 2

So, here's how each ran:

(Call of Duty 4)
This one was playable to my surprise. Of course, I had to use minimum settings and intensive scenes did produce lag, but besides that, completely workable. Remember too that my graphics card is very poor. 1024x768

(Call of Duty 2)
I still play that. It works very well, and I see lag maybe 3-5 times throughout the game. All settings on low though. 800x600

(Quake 4)
Played through the campaign several times. Runs well, almost never lags. Settings on low. 1024x768 (A lower resolution grants me even more fluid gameplay, but I do need some sharpness)

(Torchlight)
Best game on this thing. Works perfectly. Settings on high. 1024x768 (Games don't let me run them in 1200x800)

(Civilization 4)
Impossible to play even with all settings on low. It works okay when you first start to build your empire, but when you expand, it lags like a mofo.

(Unreal Tournament 2)
Perfect gameplay. Almost no lag. High to medium to low settings. 1200x800 (I think)

That should give you a good idea. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to play all these games on medium settings, some high, but definitely on low. Also so you know, I tried Quake 4 on a friend's Macbook Pro (9600m + 9400m Nvidia Graphics) with all settings on high to medium; worked perfectly. Mind you, I only played the first level, but that was always the level with the most lag for me (at least the very first part).

If I'm guessing right, youll be able to play Bioshock on low settings. That game is really intensive graphic wise.

 

[waltervt]

...can I run games such as Doom3, Quake, Left for Dead, or CoD4 on this system without too much choppiness or lag??

Hi, I have the exact-same MacBook Pro and very happily play CoD4, Doom 3 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, they work great! It hasn't come out yet, but according to the Minimum and Recommended Requirements we should be able to play Diablo III!

Cheers

 

[Killery96]

I have the MBP 13" version before the most recent update in April of this year. My specs are:

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (processor 1, Core 2)
4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Nvidia Geforce 9400m
256 Mb VRAM

My question is can I run games such as Doom3, Quake, Left for Dead, or CoD4 on this system without too much choppiness or lag?? How playable will it be? -and is it better to run games FOR Mac (such as COD4), or do they run better through Win Boot Camp (whatever that is).

Thank you for any and all input on this subject.

Got the exact same computer and I used to play CoD4 on it, and it played fine. Not extremely well, however on Mac OSX it pulled itself pretty well on low at native res, and at high on lower resolutions.

 

[dylin]

For the most part, i think that the games may run decently at native res, but you would probably have to turn down the settings to low-med. Framerate may be at about 30 consistently. I had torchlight on my macbook (late 09) and i had settings maxxed out, with roughly 30 fps during lots of stuff happening on screen. the 9400m isnt very powerfull but does enough to make games playable.

Since that game is a little more recent, but definitely not as graphic intense as some others, i think would be alright trying to run those games, especially in bootcamp as others have mentioned.