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Best macbook pro 13" for gaming?

I

iHazbadmac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 22, 2011
13
0
What is the best macbook pro 13" for gaming. Should I wait for newer versions.
I really dont want 15" and 17". Please dont tell me to buy them. i just want to know which macbook 13" has the best gaming preformance.
 
Without giving us any information to go on, I will say no 13" MBP is good at being any sort of serious gaming machine.
 
motoracer1486 said:
Without giving us any information to go on, I will say no 13" MBP is good at being any sort of serious gaming machine.
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This is exactly what im talking about. I dont want those replies. I just want to know which mbp 13 is the best for gaming.
 
MBP 13"'s intel graphic is pretty bad for gaming and even 2010 13" mbp's 320m is about as same as intel's. So unless you are looking for casual gaming, 13" MBP is not good for gaming.

If you can live with low to medium graphic setting for not so demanding game, any of 13" mbp will do fine.
 
iHazbadmac said:
This is exactly what im talking about. I dont want those replies. I just want to know which mbp 13 is the best for gaming.
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"Best" is a relative term - the best MBP 13 for gaming is (fairly obviously) the fastest one but they all have the less than stellar integrated Intel Graphics processor so none of them could be described as good for gaming compared to the 15", 17" or dedicated Windows gaming laptop.

Don't get me wrong, the 13" MBP is a fine machine (I have an i7 one myself) but it's not really suitable for hardcore gaming. I don't play games at all or do any heavy graphics work on my Macs so it's not something that bothers me, but you really need to be aware of the limitations before buying
 
None are good for gaming. Yes for £1000 you'd expect more graphic power I know!!

The 2010 model is actually better than 2011 for gaming. I think it has the 320m with 256mb ? You might have to check that though...

For gaming, get a PC or the 15". The new base 15" is actually really good at playing most modern games.
 
Obviously no 13" is really decent at gaming but they can run some games.
And if you don't want to hear such remarks than post what games you intend to play. For CSS they will do fine but if you want to play BF3 forget it.
For older games in medium or high (for really old games) quality the 320M models have the edge. At low settings the 320M is no faster and with the slow CPU it can yield worse performance. At medium settings and higher the Intel GPU takes a bigger hit and thus the 320M still is the better GPU.
Newer games that only run on low settings anyway the Intel HD 3000 is better.

Intels GPU is an incredibly efficient GPU but it was never designed to play highend games and only sort of supports those higher settings. It does very well on low settings sometimes even in new games but you switch to medium and there is nothing left in performance.

I personally think that old games on higher settings look worlds better than the newest in low details and low res. If you want to play some CSS the 13" will do fine any 13" but for BF3 forget it.

I would take the newest Intel over the 320M. Because at least it always performs somewhat even if it is low settings. The CPU side can handle big battles in any RTS and for anything but gaming it is the better platform by a huge margin.
 
Wow mac overpriced?

Doesnt all this show that mac is kinda overpriced? I mean look at alienware 11x. An 11 inch laptop which is stronger and smaller and cheaper. Im having second thoughts about buying a mac at all.
 
iHazbadmac said:
Doesnt all this show that mac is kinda overpriced? I mean look at alienware 11x. An 11 inch laptop which is stronger and smaller and cheaper. Im having second thoughts about buying a mac at all.
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You could say that, but the MacBook's are just amazing quality. They last years and feel solid, they have a nice weight to them and the OS is very intuitive and fast.

In my opinion they are worth every penny. It just depends on your needs. For me quality and beauty outruns faster performance in games and software.
 
iHazbadmac said:
Doesnt all this show that mac is kinda overpriced? I mean look at alienware 11x. An 11 inch laptop which is stronger and smaller and cheaper. Im having second thoughts about buying a mac at all.
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If all you care about is hardware, then yes they are overpriced. If you want the whole experience, Macs are a great deal. The things that set Macs apart are software and build quality.

If you really want to game, you'll be installing Windows on your Mac anyway.
 
theSeb said:
The correct answer is none unless you are playing solitaire.
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I do not get this kind of attitude.

I have not tried gaming all that much on mine but from what I have tried, it is pretty apparent that it is capable of playing older games that are still popular, such as WoW and Source engine games at the very least. SC2 seems to work judging by Youtube vids. So it really is not as bad as is made out in terms of GPU capabilities.

The main things that put me off using it as a gaming machine though is the relatively noisy fan, as well as the temperature and much reduced battery life for such intensive tasks. But if you can live with the fan noise and have it on AC power, you can have some fun with it. And it is no worse in this respect than for such as Handbrake (the obvious difference being that I usually run that whilst I am not sitting with it the whole time,doing other stuff).
 
dusk007 said:
Obviously no 13" is really decent at gaming but they can run some games.
And if you don't want to hear such remarks than post what games you intend to play. For CSS they will do fine but if you want to play BF3 forget it.
For older games in medium or high (for really old games) quality the 320M models have the edge. At low settings the 320M is no faster and with the slow CPU it can yield worse performance. At medium settings and higher the Intel GPU takes a bigger hit and thus the 320M still is the better GPU.
Newer games that only run on low settings anyway the Intel HD 3000 is better.

Intels GPU is an incredibly efficient GPU but it was never designed to play highend games and only sort of supports those higher settings. It does very well on low settings sometimes even in new games but you switch to medium and there is nothing left in performance.

I personally think that old games on higher settings look worlds better than the newest in low details and low res. If you want to play some CSS the 13" will do fine any 13" but for BF3 forget it.

I would take the newest Intel over the 320M. Because at least it always performs somewhat even if it is low settings. The CPU side can handle big battles in any RTS and for anything but gaming it is the better platform by a huge margin.
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My sister's macbook air runs bf3 on the lowest setting around 30 frames but it sill looks as good as the console versions. :cool:
 
ViDock

It's not available yet but the ViDock will allow you to have desktop graphics by using the thunderbolt port to power a desktop graphics card.
 
macfan74318 said:
It's not available yet but the ViDock will allow you to have desktop graphics by using the thunderbolt port to power a desktop graphics card.
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Oh wow. This is just what I need. Im gonna go do some more reserch on this thing.
 
WarpSpawn said:
I do not get this kind of attitude.

I have not tried gaming all that much on mine but from what I have tried, it is pretty apparent that it is capable of playing older games that are still popular, such as WoW and Source engine games at the very least. SC2 seems to work judging by Youtube vids. So it really is not as bad as is made out in terms of GPU capabilities.

The main things that put me off using it as a gaming machine though is the relatively noisy fan, as well as the temperature and much reduced battery life for such intensive tasks. But if you can live with the fan noise and have it on AC power, you can have some fun with it. And it is no worse in this respect than for such as Handbrake (the obvious difference being that I usually run that whilst I am not sitting with it the whole time,doing other stuff).
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The OP fails to specify his gaming requirements in any great details. My response is on the same level. You get what you give.

The 13" MBP is clearly not a machine built for gaming with its integrated GPU. Certainly not for any games made in the last two years. I've tried playing Civ5 recently and it was terribly painful, even when I only had a small portion of the map visible. I would rather be painfully blunt and truthful than pretend this hardware can run games. My kind of advice will help to drive down the number of "Help, MY COMPUTER IS OVERHEATING BECAUSE THE FANS ARE ON WHEN I PLAY GAMES!" threads. That will be a blessing. Hell, some posters even have prepared responses for these threads.

You will not get away from fan noise in a laptop when playing games, no matter what manufacturer you buy your hardware from.

----------
iHazbadmac said:
My sisters macbook air can run crysis on lowest setting on 30fps+ and it still looks great. somebody should make hd solitaire
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I don't think playing first person shooters at around 30 FPS in this day and age (and I am sure that gets lower during fire fights) is acceptable.

Get the 13" MBP if you think it's fine (there aren't exactly many options to choose from).
 
iHazbadmac said:
My sister's macbook air runs bf3 on the lowest setting around 30 frames but it sill looks as good as the console versions. :cool:
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Obviously some people are okay with I just wouldn't recommend it.
I take Modern Warfare 1/2/3 graphics over BF3 on low settings all the time. On medium/high it just looks way better. Also 30fps avg is something I call an aweful experience. On a console it is 30fps capped(which is different) but on a PC 30fps average means it will dip down to 20 quite often. For SC2 that is fine for first person shooters 40+ avg is the min for fluent in my book. Also on a console the aim is very different much slower and the movement is not comparable to a mouse aim and neither as precise.

But still check out notebookcheck.com the Intel HD 3000 page. It can play almost everything on low settings if that is enough for one it may be enough. Yet I continue to take care not to recommend it because I think it is an aweful experience and not worth to spend the money on such expensive new games.
I put the facts out there what you make of it is your decision.

If you are fine with low details across the board and barely to somewhat playable framerates get the newest MBP 13". In the future you may be able to upgrade to some external thunderbolt GPU. Between an old 320M MBP and a new Sandy Bridge MBP I would definitely recommend the latter (or none).
 
If you want to play computer games then there are several other options that suit your needs and still have decent build quality.

Honestly, the 13" MBP is just not suited for any kind of real gaming. Someone mentioned the ViDock ... But that doesn't strike me as a very mobile solution. Might as well just get a 15" for the convenience.
 
I believe the confusion is caused by the OP thinking there is a difference between the two 13" MacBook Pro models in regards to gaming. There isn't because both utilize the same integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics. That is why you keep seeing responses that none of the 13" models are good. As far as gaming, there is no difference between the two.
 
You'll be able to play games like Crysis on the Intel HD 3000, but you will have to turn all the graphics settings on lowest for it to playable, I'm afraid.

The 15" MacBooks are better because of their dedicated graphics card, which I know you're not interested in but thought I'd mention it nevertheless.
 
the best mac for gaming would obviously be the mac i have listed below (higher end model). i have played some games like cod4 on the highest settings and there is no lag at all, but i dont think macs are designed for gaming as i mostly use my for photoshop. u should obviously wait for a newer model if it is not essential to get a new laptop.
 
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