Are MBPs For Gaming?

[superspiffy]

Hi, I'm another PC user switching to Macs. I'm also a not-so-rich college student and a heavy gamer so I'm in a bit of a dilemma: MB for $1199 or MBP for $1799??? (student discount)

That's a $600 difference in price! I'm thinking it's only worth buying the MBP if they make great PC substitutes when it comes to gaming. If they do, I'll just sell my PC towards the purchase of a MPB. The only reason I'd keep my PC (AMD 64 2800+, Geforce 6600GT) is to play Steam games (lots of fps). But with a MBP, I'll just install Windows and run BootCamp and I imagine it'll play games just as well if not better than my current machine. (Intel Core 2 Duo, Radeon X1600 already smokes my machine...) Opinions?

 

[iLoveMyMBP]

I own a macbookpro and i game on here. I play counterstrike, FEAR, WoW, and it does fine for me. I have bootcamp and XP but if you want something strickly for gaming then stick with a PC

 

[BarryW]

I asked the same questionhttps://forums.macrumors.com/threads/272101/
Maybe some of the replies will help you.

I was going to buy now but I am going to wait till April( I don't need it right now, but I would love to have it now). Hopefully a new MBP will be released with a better graphics card.

But I agree with iLoveMyMBP if you just want to play games stick with a pc, and maybe buy a MB for college its smaller and cheaper.

Barry

 

[hollerz]

I own a macbookpro and i game on here. I play counterstrike, FEAR, WoW, and it does fine for me. I have bootcamp and XP but if you want something strickly for gaming then stick with a PC

What FPS and settings do you get on counterstrike source? I'm getting a MBP soon and only really play CSS

 

[cyrax83]

the x1400 is pretty outdated by todays standards, even in laptop graphics...

 

[superspiffy]

I have bootcamp and XP but if you want something strickly for gaming then stick with a PC

I agree with iLoveMyMBP if you just want to play games stick with a pc, and maybe buy a MB for college its smaller and cheaper.

Barry

But if the MBP already has better specs than my PC, why keep the PC? If you mean keep the PC because it's more upgradable, well at this point I'd have to upgrade the entire thing anyway to keep up with a MBP. I have an AMD 64 2800+ running at 1.83 Ghz, Asus K8N MB without PCI/e support, and GeForce 6600GT. I'd have to haul out the entire system and probably only keep the two 512MB RAM chips out of everything. I don't know if that upgrade will cost more than $600 (which is the price difference between a MB and MBP) but I think it sure as hell's around there.

One of the reasons why I was also switching to Mac, is because of Final Cut Studios. I'm a Premiere Pro and After Effects user, and I think I want to move on with something better. I know an iMac would be cheaper and it has the same performance as an MBP, but I desperately need portability too.

 

[NickFury]

The only game I've really played on mine is WoW. I have most of the settings on high expect for antistophic filtering and weather (they are on low); I'm also running 2x AA.

I'm netting around 40-50+fps outside on avg. My gaming PC, with 7800GTX gets about 50-60+ outside on avg with the same settings, except I have antistrophic high as well as weather, so I would say the MBP does pretty well!

I haven't put HL2 on yet, but I would say it would run even better than WoW, I've heard usually 90+fps no problem.

From what I've read about the MBP, Apple clocks down the GPU a bit in OS-X to keep things running cool. But if you throw Boot Camp on, and boot into XP, you can actually overclock the GPU and get some decent performance.

But, even though the MBP can play some games pretty well, its still no 'gaming rig' replacement. I would say, if you are that hardcore into gaming, and have to play the latest and greatest, I would get a macbook and then build a new midrange gaming rig down the road.

But, if you're into playing CS-S, WoW, UT2k4, and even Battlefield 2, then the MBP should be fine.

BTW, I have the 'low-end' MBP with the 128mb graphics card; but I did upgrade my ram to 2gb .

 

[iW00t]

Hi, I'm another PC user switching to Macs. I'm also a not-so-rich college student and a heavy gamer so I'm in a bit of a dilemma: MB for $1199 or MBP for $1799??? (student discount)

That's a $600 difference in price! I'm thinking it's only worth buying the MBP if they make great PC substitutes when it comes to gaming. If they do, I'll just sell my PC towards the purchase of a MPB. The only reason I'd keep my PC (AMD 64 2800+, Geforce 6600GT) is to play Steam games (lots of fps). But with a MBP, I'll just install Windows and run BootCamp and I imagine it'll play games just as well if not better than my current machine. (Intel Core 2 Duo, Radeon X1600 already smokes my machine...) Opinions?

No offense but do you need a laptop?

The kids I see around college with laptops in lectures aren't exactly in the running for the spot of being the Valedictorian of the cohort so to speak... if you are on a tight budget you can actually buy an iMac instead (ala a MBP in desktop body) and save a bit of pennies for other things.

 

[dmw007]

The MacBook Pro should give you better gaming performance than your current PC does. I play games occasionally on my MacBook Pro (Quake 4, Doom 3, Civ 4, Sim CIty 4, etc...) and it handles them all really well.

No offense but do you need a laptop?

The kids I see around college with laptops in lectures aren't exactly in the running for the spot of being the Valedictorian of the cohort so to speak... if you are on a tight budget you can actually buy an iMac instead (ala a MBP in desktop body) and save a bit of pennies for other things.

iW00t has a point, if you don't need a laptop and simply want to replace your desktop with a Mac, an iMac would be a great choice.

 

[clevin]

Hi, I'm another PC user switching to Macs. I'm also a not-so-rich college student and a heavy gamer so I'm in a bit of a dilemma: MB for $1199 or MBP for $1799??? (student discount)

That's a $600 difference in price! I'm thinking it's only worth buying the MBP if they make great PC substitutes when it comes to gaming. If they do, I'll just sell my PC towards the purchase of a MPB. The only reason I'd keep my PC (AMD 64 2800+, Geforce 6600GT) is to play Steam games (lots of fps). But with a MBP, I'll just install Windows and run BootCamp and I imagine it'll play games just as well if not better than my current machine. (Intel Core 2 Duo, Radeon X1600 already smokes my machine...) Opinions?

agree with others, for a good game machine, go get a pc desktop. MBP is much better than MB in gaming, but if u are a heavy pc gamer, i doubt MBP can support u good enough.

 

[Freyqq]

No offense but do you need a laptop?

The kids I see around college with laptops in lectures aren't exactly in the running for the spot of being the Valedictorian of the cohort so to speak... if you are on a tight budget you can actually buy an iMac instead (ala a MBP in desktop body) and save a bit of pennies for other things.

wha?..i literally don't know a person at my college who doesn't own a laptop.

 

[superspiffy]

iW00t has a point, if you don't need a laptop and simply want to replace your desktop with a Mac, an iMac would be a great choice.

Good advice, but I really do need a portable to bring with me to lectures and coffee shops. And I need a decent machine not necessarily for just gaming, but that can run FCS too. I'm tired of Premiere Pro and video editing is a pain with my hardware. Plus they don't make FCS for PCs, so I hear, so upgrading my PC isn't an option... If the price difference of an iMac + MB is not that far from the price of a baseline MBP, I'd buy them both. But I guess I want the power of an iMac and the portability of a MB...so...

 

[theWholeTruth]

Get the MBP

It will be OK for gaming, although your machine will get hot.

And if you are definitely intent on using FCS, don't get the MB. Yeah, yeah, people use it for FCS, but you'll run into rendering and timeline issues and much more if you use a MB.

 

[deputy_doofy]

the x1400 is pretty outdated by todays standards, even in laptop graphics...

The MBP comes with an X1600, not an X1400 (and there is a difference). According to this page, it's considered a Performance Card.

 

[superspiffy]

Yeah, yeah, people use it for FCS, but you'll run into rendering and timeline issues and much more if you use a MB.

I thought you wouldn't even be able to install FCS in a MB because it requires a gpu? And even if you are able to install it, I'm sure FCP will probably work, but could Motion actually render stuff?

 

[e12a]

the x1400 is pretty outdated by todays standards, even in laptop graphics...

The x1600 is really not that outdated as you might think. It is comparable to the Nvidia 7600. IBMs also use this in their top of the line T series.

This gpu is better than the one in the 12" Dell XPS laptop.

 

[dmw007]

Good advice, but I really do need a portable to bring with me to lectures and coffee shops. And I need a decent machine not necessarily for just gaming, but that can run FCS too. I'm tired of Premiere Pro and video editing is a pain with my hardware. Plus they don't make FCS for PCs, so I hear, so upgrading my PC isn't an option... If the price difference of an iMac + MB is not that far from the price of a baseline MBP, I'd buy them both. But I guess I want the power of an iMac and the portability of a MB...so...

Sounds like a MacBook Pro would work great for you then superspiffy!

 

[elcapo]

I only could tell you my experience...

Macbook Pro 2,16Ghz, 1GB Ram, 120GB HD.

I play counter strike with CrossOver Mac 6.

The Counter Strike : Source Hardware Video test say it goes with an average of ... 72,3 FPS, I think it's really good for gaming.

The video specs were 1280x800 and all the setting at medium/high.

Well, hope this could be usefull.

Bye!