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Anyone with the new Macbook tried any games yet?

mknawabi said:
I'm somehow skeptical that the new chip will make games like CS:S or TF:2 playable at relatively higher framerates. The relative 'newness' of the chip doesnt matter...what does matter is the number of pixel pipelines, shader pipelines, and GPU clock. These variables are extremely handicapped on lower-end GPUs, and the performance of the 9400M is probably very similar to the last-generation nVidia integrated mobile graphics chip.
Click to expand...

CS:S (which predates HL2) is a very old game compared with TF2. CS:S should play very well on the new Macbook. TF2 will give a new Macbook fits, I'm betting, as it is considered a demanding game. Even if you dial back the game settings, you're still more than likely to run into issues. I'm saying this because I have both games and TF2 gives my desktop fits. CS:S is a breeze. I've an older card in my desktop (GF 7200) but that card is a dedicated card that I can play COD4 (and TF2) on. I do have to dial back the graphics settings within COD4 and TF2 to get livable framerates, but my system runs hot even then...and this is a desktop with a dedicated (yet older) vidcard.

My suggestion is to borrow CS:S or TF2 and see for yourself, since that's the only way to find out...but I doubt it'll be much different with a Macbook.
 
well i was surfing the net and found this look in the bottom right hand side of the page for a screen shot of call of duty 4. it looks to be playing fine and notice the no. of fps in the top right hand corner of the pic. it says 33 fps.:):D
well then is someone off to go get a copy of CoD 4 for the macbook?:D if someone does have the game and the macbook, then post up a vid of it.
 
I know it's an old game but I tried Far Cry last night on my 2.0 MacBook and it ran flawlessly on Very High settings. I'm going to try some other games today but I was very impressed with Far Cry!
 
I just tried Unreal Tournament III and Team Fortress 2 on my 2.0GHz MacBook.

Unreal Tournament was playable at "3" in the texture and world detail settings but it was a lower framerate than I really like in a game. When I put both down to the minimum it became much more playable and dare I say it - the game actually had a pretty smooth framerate.

Team Fortress 2 was a different kettle of fish - I tried that at High for everything (except texture resolution, which I chose Very High for) and it was 100% playable, smooth framerates. No AA or AF. I'm impressed.

I'd definitely recommend this system as an occasional gaming rig. I myself do most of my gaming on consoles but there are still a couple of titles I like playing on PC. Seems that this is perfect for me.
 
neiltc13 said:
I just tried Unreal Tournament III and Team Fortress 2 on my 2.0GHz MacBook.

Unreal Tournament was playable at "3" in the texture and world detail settings but it was a lower framerate than I really like in a game. When I put both down to the minimum it became much more playable and dare I say it - the game actually had a pretty smooth framerate.

Team Fortress 2 was a different kettle of fish - I tried that at High for everything (except texture resolution, which I chose Very High for) and it was 100% playable, smooth framerates. No AA or AF. I'm impressed.

I'd definitely recommend this system as an occasional gaming rig. I myself do most of my gaming on consoles but there are still a couple of titles I like playing on PC. Seems that this is perfect for me.
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That's a deal-maker for me. Thanks for the info! (My desktop has FW :p )
 
I'm a desktop PC user looking at getting my first notebook, and so the new Macbooks look very good to me - partly for OS X but also partly because I can run Windows on them. I am only a casual gamer on my PC (I find I'm gaming more on consoles these days) but it would be nice if I could play a few of my games on the go.

So with that in mind, could anyone make a guess how the following games would play on the new aluminum Macbook, under XP under Bootcamp?

1. Battlefield 2
2. Battlefield 2142
3. Civilization 4
4. Team Fortress
5. GTA:SA
6: how about GTA4 or Bully for the PC? :D

I've been reading about how well it plays games like Spore and WoW, but I don't play either of those and I'd like to know how they compare to the games I've listed above.

Thanks for your help!
 
neiltc13 said:
I just tried Unreal Tournament III and Team Fortress 2 on my 2.0GHz MacBook.

Unreal Tournament was playable at "3" in the texture and world detail settings but it was a lower framerate than I really like in a game. When I put both down to the minimum it became much more playable and dare I say it - the game actually had a pretty smooth framerate.

Team Fortress 2 was a different kettle of fish - I tried that at High for everything (except texture resolution, which I chose Very High for) and it was 100% playable, smooth framerates. No AA or AF. I'm impressed.

I'd definitely recommend this system as an occasional gaming rig. I myself do most of my gaming on consoles but there are still a couple of titles I like playing on PC. Seems that this is perfect for me.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info man but can you give some frame rates because smooth for you can mean lower/higher than what I expect.

Thanks,
ChrisN
 
neiltc13 said:
Team Fortress 2 was a different kettle of fish - I tried that at High for everything (except texture resolution, which I chose Very High for) and it was 100% playable, smooth framerates. No AA or AF. I'm impressed.
Click to expand...

What was the FPS?

If that's all real, then I'm SO happy that I waited for these new Macbooks. :D 'Gonna spent some bucks in steam when I get my beauty :D
 
Just tried it all again with Fraps running. UT3 is about 40fps dropping to 30fps in high action scenes. This is at 1280x800 with minimum world and texture detail but with that odd "amount to render" thing turned up full.

Team Fortress 2 is about 40fps in high action or outdoor scenes and is about 50-60fps indoors.
 
Benchmarks from 3DMark 06 of some of the Macs I've had over the years:

Aluminium MacBook
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M
2183

iMac
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, ATi Radeon X2600 XT 256MB
3853

Black MacBook
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, Intel X3100
295

iMac
1.83GHz Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, ATi Radeon X1600 128MB
1205
 
With an emulator, you can play pretty much any Sega Genesis game on any Macbook. Sonic the Hedgehog looks beautiful on a 13" screen.
 
PeterQC said:
I'm pretty sure it totally can. was able to play this game on a 5 year old PC with a Nvidia GForce 400/400 MX which was low end card, 10 years ago xD
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but it [Project64] failed miserably (10fps) on a 1.6GHz C2D, 2MB L2/2GB/GMA950 (ThinkPad X61s)…

btw i'm looking for ~60fps (max fps the eye can see before it doesn't matter), which is what my MBP (2.0GHz Core Duo, 2MB L2/2GB/256MB X1600) gets
 
i went out the other day and picked up a copy of Call of Duty 4. I also have a brand new 2.4ghz 2gb Macbook.

well the game played fairly well, i haven't played a computer game since Counter-Strike way back when, but the graphics are amazing.

i have the settings on "optimal" though i can tell if i increase them it will slow the game down, even now, sometimes in heavy fire action the fps slows down.

again, it runs fine on optimal settings and looks like its going to be a great game:)
 
Can someone please run the aluminium macbook on an external display and post results when playing games? Also post the resolutions you tried and difference in frame rate, settings etc.

I'm trying to decide if playing starcraft 2 on a 24" monitor at full-screen will work, and what resolution I'd have to use or if I have to play in a window.

cheers.
 
neiltc13 said:
Benchmarks from 3DMark 06 of some of the Macs I've had over the years:

Aluminium MacBook
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M
2183

iMac
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, ATi Radeon X2600 XT 256MB
3853

Black MacBook
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, Intel X3100
295

iMac
1.83GHz Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, ATi Radeon X1600 128MB
1205
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I too have 2.2 MB. 295, what a dagger. I thoguht you missed 1 in front of it at first. :eek: However, I'm getting a new MB 2.4. Can't wait!
 
I bootcamped and loaded up Steam. Checked out TF2 and it looked great in an empty server. i'm going to test it out with a full tilt 32 man pl server tonight and will report back
 
Just another happy game player here. (well not totally happy). I bought my MacBook 2.0ghz on Sunday and rushed over to BestBuy and bought Spore.

Spore runs great on my machine with high settings. Every once in a while there will be a hiccup but in general I am extremely pleased..... with the new MacBook.

On another note, I hate Electronic Arts. I cannot register my game online to use the online Spore content. I then call EA to resolve the issue and the tech support person doesn't even understand how Spore works. (never used) After getting nowhere he eventually puts me on hold for 10 minutes. I hang up and try to call back and they are CLOSED! The jerk put me on hold and then left for the day.
</End Rant>
 
neiltc13 said:
I just tried Unreal Tournament III and Team Fortress 2 on my 2.0GHz MacBook.

Unreal Tournament was playable at "3" in the texture and world detail settings but it was a lower framerate than I really like in a game. When I put both down to the minimum it became much more playable and dare I say it - the game actually had a pretty smooth framerate.

Team Fortress 2 was a different kettle of fish - I tried that at High for everything (except texture resolution, which I chose Very High for) and it was 100% playable, smooth framerates. No AA or AF. I'm impressed.

I'd definitely recommend this system as an occasional gaming rig. I myself do most of my gaming on consoles but there are still a couple of titles I like playing on PC. Seems that this is perfect for me.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks for the quick tests :) I'm very much like you; I play most games on my Xbox 360 but there are a few PC titles that I would like to play as well. The new MacBook will be perfect for me as well :rolleyes: I'm glad I waited.
 
neiltc13 said:
Benchmarks from 3DMark 06 of some of the Macs I've had over the years:

Aluminium MacBook
2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M
2183

iMac
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, ATi Radeon X2600 XT 256MB
3853

Black MacBook
2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, Intel X3100
295

iMac
1.83GHz Core Duo, 1.5GB RAM, ATi Radeon X1600 128MB
1205
Click to expand...

Wow the 9400M's score is higher than the X1600's score :eek: I guess my MBP is getting old after all
 
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