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Bad desicion to get a MacBook?

upsguy27

upsguy27

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 25, 2007
1,210
19
Utah
I've had my MacBook for a month now, and I like it and all, but I'm not sure if it's right for me in the long run. I really don't want to go through the hassle of selling it and getting a new mac, but I don't want to wait before it's too late to decide. Anyways, I recently started using my computer for the things I normally did on my old one, ripping DVDs, donwloading torrents, playing a game, listening to music, and browsing the internet. When I do all of this at the same time, the computer REALLY slows down. Right now as I'm typing this, the words are sometimes lagging behind what I type. What I'm asking is, since the game that I'm playing isn't nearly as graphics-intensive as the games I want to play, and my fans are already blowing constantly and every little thing I open takes ages to load, did I make the right choice in getting a macbook? I'm not even sure why I decided to get a MacBook in the first place over an iMac, it was only because I wanted it and it looked cool. (Bad thing to base it off of, I know.) So, should I have gotten an iMac? I want to decide whether or not I should keep it before the back-to-school sale ends, but at the same time I don't want to sell and buy like I've always done.

whoa wall of text
 
I would try upgrading the RAM of your MacBook before buying an entire new computer.
 
Would the RAM help the Graphics Chip?

Here, let me give you an idea of the games I want to play, that I already own, but haven't gotten around to playing on my macbook:
-Half-life 2
- Portal
- TF2
- Battlefield 2 and 2142
- GTA (San Andreas)
- Possibly other Valve games

Can my macbook handle all those?
 
Sorry...I got a case of lazy eye and skipped over the middle of the paragraph and missed the part about the game. After re-reading, yes you may be better off getting the iMac, especially if you are having trouble with the games that you are playing now and you plan on playing more graphics-intensive games. The MacBook just was not cut out to be able to handle graphics very well.
 
Yes, ram will help to a certain extent.

The fact of the matter is, the macbook's Graphics Card is no powerhouse, so if those more intensive games you are talking about are games like Crysis, Oblivion, Bioshock, etc...you will need to upgrade to play those games.
 
ross.32 said:
Sorry...I got a case of lazy eye and skipped over the middle of the paragraph and missed the part about the game.
Click to expand...

don't worry...so did I...

yeah, upgrade to the iMac and get the best GFX card you can afford for it. The basic 128 isn't bad, but 256 will be much better and you may possibly be able to play Crysis on it even :D
 
Okay, how much do you think I could get on eBay for a top-of-the-line BlackBook? I would like to get the cheaper 24", but if I have to, I will get the 2.66Ghz 20". Quick question, if I already used the student discount for the free iPod Touch, could I use it again to get another free iPod with the iMac?
 
The high-end 20" would be excellent for your needs, however, the low-end 24" with an upgrade to the 512MB GFX card would be the best in terms of bang for your buck...however at 2000$ it is quite expensive and I don't know if it falls into your price range.

so basically:

low-end 24" w/ upgrade to 512MB GFX card is best case scenario

but

High-end 20" with 256MB GFX card will suit your needs just fine

other than GFX card, playing games you might want a bigger screen, but that's your preference.
 
Jak3 said:
The high-end 20" would be excellent for your needs, however, the low-end 24" with an upgrade to the 512MB GFX card would be the best in terms of bang for your buck...however at 2000$ it is quite expensive and I don't know if it falls into your price range.

so basically:

low-end 24" w/ upgrade to 512MB GFX card is best case scenario

but

High-end 20" with 256MB GFX card will suit your needs just fine

other than GFX card, playing games you might want a bigger screen, but that's your preference.
Click to expand...

I could also get this refurb, but I really want the iPod Touch that I can get for free with the new ones. Is the refurb I linked to the latest model that's for sale now?
 
yeah, that one is good

as for your other questions, I really don't have any answers...
 
upsguy27 said:
Okay, how much do you think I could get on eBay for a top-of-the-line BlackBook? I would like to get the cheaper 24", but if I have to, I will get the 2.66Ghz 20". Quick question, if I already used the student discount for the free iPod Touch, could I use it again to get another free iPod with the iMac?
Click to expand...

I've got a MacBook and an iMac - both bought under the Mac student discount. The iMac 20 inch with the 256MB video card is definitely worth while; and personally, I'd keep the laptop too. For me I find that I use the laptop at university whilst when I am at home, I prefer to use my desktop for long periods of typing.

I take my laptop to university because firstly I can't stand PC's, secondly, I can't stand being around other people for long periods of time - hence, I don't like being the 'Mac room'. The laptop allows me hours of being solitary and not have to deal with the campus mouth breathers.
 
MacBook = not great for games. Why not keep the MacBook (you will lose money on a sale) and buy a dedicated games machine with the money you save on not selling (creative accounting - I think it's called).

Good luck.
 
Chappers said:
MacBook = not great for games. Why not keep the MacBook (you will lose money on a sale) and buy a dedicated games machine with the money you save on not selling (creative accounting - I think it's called).

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Well, right now, I just don't have the money to buy two $1,500 computers.
 
Oh! I remember what I was going to ask. There are two 24" refurbs in the Apple Store right now - this one and this one. The only difference between the two is the processor, one being 2.4Ghz and one 2.8Ghz. Is there a noticeable difference between 2.4 and 2.8? I'd like to save some money to get a Touch off ebay.
 
RAM will be so much helpful as the letter type lag will vanish. As for games FORGET IT! Normal notebook makers allow for scalable graphics memories eg: you buy a laptop with IGP, 1GB ram, 64MB vRAM. You upgrade the memory to 2GB, the vRAM doubles to 128MB. You upgrade to 4GB, vRAM increases to256MB. This is just of course an example to explain 'Unlocked' IGP vRAM.


But my point: sadly Apple locks it. So even if you buy more RAM, wont be much help in gaming.

P.S.: I use a PC for gaming, my only computer which is a PC. Rest all Macs. So if you have some extra bucks, you might consider a setup similar to mine!:D
 
To be honest, your not really using your MacBook for what it's designed for especially all at the same time.

You could upgrade your RAM, but if your doing all these intensive tasks at once I would suggest replacing your MacBook with maybe a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro! :p
 
upsguy27 said:
Would the RAM help the Graphics Chip?

Here, let me give you an idea of the games I want to play, that I already own, but haven't gotten around to playing on my macbook:
-Half-life 2
- Portal
- TF2
- Battlefield 2 and 2142
- GTA (San Andreas)
- Possibly other Valve games

Can my macbook handle all those?
Click to expand...

Ok, funnily enough, I was in the exact same situation as you.

After I upgraded my ram on my Macbook to 4gb, games saw a SLIGHT increase. But I'll let you know how these games run after I tweaked with their graphics settings, upgraded the drivers to the latest ones and even used steam commands to get these games to run as best as they could. This is how the games ran.

TF2- Will Run like CRAP and pretty much be unplayable, or will freeze/be choppy a lot. Can only run "decently" if you put everything down to bare minimum, rez at the lowest possible setting and forcing the game to run on -dxlevel 81

BF2 2142- will look like a movie out of the 70's but will run

PORTAL- will virtually die every single time you LOOK at a portal, you will have to turn the settings WAY down and possibly force it to run at -dxlevel81 or 80

Half Life 2- will pretty much run on all high but when there are many enemies on screen it will slow down, so turn settings down a bit.

Half Life 2: Episode 1- Lost Coast: Performance will start to degrade as you get to the newer episodes, but will run, just be sure to turn the settings down.

CSSource: Runs perfectly fine, but you will find a lot of artifacts and render issues (e.g purple glass or walls) but this game will pretty much run on all high.

GTA: I haven't tried it, but I'm confident it will run

Blizzard Games: Will run all Blizzard games currently released as far as I know, but with newer games like WoW it will need some settings to be turned down.

Steam Mods: Most of the mods I tried like Zombie Master, Hidden, Dip Rip, etc ran fine, but you had to tweak with graphics settings a lot of the time.

Keep in mind, never to really put on any anti-aliasing and to keep filtering to tri-linear in steam games. Also be sure to keep the macbook off you lap, It will literally burn your family jewels off :eek:!

I honestly couldn't stand how much I had to tweak settings and stuff so I went and sold my MacBook to buy myself an iMac again, and have been happy since. Popular to contrary belief the BASE iMac will run all of those games at high just fine, people just love to underestimate the 2400xt a lot (whether it is due to a superiority complex issue with their own machines, they've been looking at too many synthetic benchmark results, or are just FPS whores:p) , but in reality it is a decent card. I play games like TF2 on high and it runs like a champ! Just don't expect to run crysis on high :p

All-in-all your Macbook will run most of the games you want, with a little tweaking and as long as you up the ram. If you really can't stand it, I suggest selling it and buying a new iMac, or waiting it out for a new Macbook or possibly a refurb Pro.

Hope this helped.
 
airjuggernaut said:
Ok, funnily enough, I was in the exact same situation as you.

After I upgraded my ram on my Macbook to 4gb, games saw a SLIGHT increase. But I'll let you know how these games run after I tweaked with their graphics settings, upgraded the drivers to the latest ones and even used steam commands to get these games to run as best as they could. This is how the games ran.

TF2- Will Run like CRAP and pretty much be unplayable, or will freeze/be choppy a lot. Can only run "decently" if you put everything down to bare minimum, rez at the lowest possible setting and forcing the game to run on -dxlevel 81

BF2 2142- will look like a movie out of the 70's but will run

PORTAL- will virtually die every single time you LOOK at a portal, you will have to turn the settings WAY down and possibly force it to run at -dxlevel81 or 80

Half Life 2- will pretty much run on all high but when there are many enemies on screen it will slow down, so turn settings down a bit.

Half Life 2: Episode 1- Lost Coast: Performance will start to degrade as you get to the newer episodes, but will run, just be sure to turn the settings down.

CSSource: Runs perfectly fine, but you will find a lot of artifacts and render issues (e.g purple glass or walls) but this game will pretty much run on all high.

GTA: I haven't tried it, but I'm confident it will run

Blizzard Games: Will run all Blizzard games currently released as far as I know, but with newer games like WoW it will need some settings to be turned down.

Steam Mods: Most of the mods I tried like Zombie Master, Hidden, Dip Rip, etc ran fine, but you had to tweak with graphics settings a lot of the time.

Keep in mind, never to really put on any anti-aliasing and to keep filtering to tri-linear in steam games. Also be sure to keep the macbook off you lap, It will literally burn your family jewels off :eek:!

I honestly couldn't stand how much I had to tweak settings and stuff so I went and sold my MacBook to buy myself an iMac again, and have been happy since. Popular to contrary belief the BASE iMac will run all of those games at high just fine, people just love to underestimate the 2400xt a lot (whether it is due to a superiority complex issue with their own machines, they've been looking at too many synthetic benchmark results, or are just FPS whores:p) , but in reality it is a decent card. I play games like TF2 on high and it runs like a champ! Just don't expect to run crysis on high :p

All-in-all your Macbook will run most of the games you want, with a little tweaking and as long as you up the ram. If you really can't stand it, I suggest selling it and buying a new iMac, or waiting it out for a new Macbook or possibly a refurb Pro.

Hope this helped.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will sell my MacBook, I found that you can sell them for $1600 if you include lots of software, which is amazing since I paid $1300 for the MacBook! :D Then I'll use the $250 I have in PayPal with the $1600, then get a refurb 2.8Ghz iMac, and an iPod Touch. :D
 
I would personally suggest keeping the Macbook and upgrading the ram, just to help with running multiple applications. Then buy either a 360 or PS3 for gaming. Both are inexpensive compared to a gaming computer and will give you a wider selection of games to choose from without having to worry about whether your computer can handle the game or not. Then you have the portability of your Macbook with which you can run your applications and the fun of a dedicated gaming system that you can go nuts on with games. Granted, you will have to rebuy the games you have that you might want to play on the systems, but still, that is just what I would suggest. I have two PS3s personally for gaming and blu-ray movies and then I have a Gateway tablet PC for med school, a Dell notebook that is about to set up as a linux box for various things and a Macbook on the way for my wife to use at her University. Its kinds of nice having things separated out, because if I want to do something that is going to take a while on my computer, I can let it churn while I play games or watch movies on the PS3. Just my 2 cents.
 
Jeegan said:
I would personally suggest keeping the Macbook and upgrading the ram, just to help with running multiple applications. Then buy either a 360 or PS3 for gaming. Both are inexpensive compared to a gaming computer and will give you a wider selection of games to choose from without having to worry about whether your computer can handle the game or not. Then you have the portability of your Macbook with which you can run your applications and the fun of a dedicated gaming system that you can go nuts on with games. Granted, you will have to rebuy the games you have that you might want to play on the systems, but still, that is just what I would suggest. I have two PS3s personally for gaming and blu-ray movies and then I have a Gateway tablet PC for med school, a Dell notebook that is about to set up as a linux box for various things and a Macbook on the way for my wife to use at her University. Its kinds of nice having things separated out, because if I want to do something that is going to take a while on my computer, I can let it churn while I play games or watch movies on the PS3. Just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking of doing when I first got my MacBook, I already have a 360. But I love modding games on PC, and that's something yu can only do on PC. Plus, FPS and shooter games are just sooo much better on PC with keyboard + mouse, IMHO. Also, I couldn't live without Valve games. I know their out on 360, but they are much better on PC.
 
upsguy27 said:
This is what I was thinking of doing when I first got my MacBook, I already have a 360. But I love modding games on PC, and that's something yu can only do on PC. Plus, FPS and shooter games are just sooo much better on PC with keyboard + mouse, IMHO. Also, I couldn't live without Valve games. I know their out on 360, but they are much better on PC.
Click to expand...

Ahh, well that is understandable. When it comes to FPS games with a keyboard and mouse, computers are still number 1. Though if you can get $1600 for your Macbook, I would seriously consider the Macbook Pro. At educational pricing, it is only $1800. And you would get the free iPod Touch, which you should be able to do, as the rules for the educational discount is you can't buy more than one of the same type of Mac once a year. That is if you still want portability too. Otherwise, obviously the iMac gives you a much larger screen. Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes.
 
Jeegan said:
Ahh, well that is understandable. When it comes to FPS games with a keyboard and mouse, computers are still number 1. Though if you can get $1600 for your Macbook, I would seriously consider the Macbook Pro. At educational pricing, it is only $1800. And you would get the free iPod Touch, which you should be able to do, as the rules for the educational discount is you can't buy more than one of the same type of Mac once a year. That is if you still want portability too. Otherwise, obviously the iMac gives you a much larger screen. Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I just listed the MacBook on eBay, we'll see how much it gets.
 
Well, someone already bought it! I listed it 30 minutes ago, and someone bought it for $1500! :D I'll order the iMac after I box it up and ship it off.
 
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