Bootcamp: Does WoW run better in WinXP or OSX?

[David the Gnome]

I'm getting ready to purchase a new 15" MacBook Pro and I'm planning on using Bootcamp to install Windows XP. It seems to me that the best way to possibly answer the question of which OS WoW runs better in would be to do it on the exact same hardware via dual-booting (as opposed to two different computers with "identical" hardware, which can still leave a lot of unexplained variables). So, for those of you WoW players out there dual-booting on your MacBook's, have you tried WoW in both OS's, and if so which runs better?

Thanks for your help, I'll be getting the MacBook Pro either way, I just want to know if it would be better to install WoW in XP or OS X.

 

[FinalCutJay]

i haven't tried dual booting, but i can tell you on the new 15" MBP as a wow player, i don't see any reason to spend the time to install wow and patch it for windows when it runs perfectly fine on the Mac OS.

Personally i really enjoy the built in quicktime recorder for capturing game playing that i think only works in the Mac OS.

My guess would be that you probably wont see a marginal difference in either choice.

 

[SoybeanStasher]

Yeah, I can't provide definitive proof either, but WoW doesn't seem to push the hardware enough that you'd see a difference either way. The MBP should handle it easily either way. Plus Blizzard does their own Mac development, and hopefully that results in closer performance between the two versions.

 

[nikhsub1]

Runs far better in windows... no doubt.

 

[Nate025]

My framerates were about the same in both, to the point that I couldn't tell you which was faster on average.

I prefer OSX for the simple reasons that it runs slightly cooler and the battery life stays longer, if needed.

EDIT: I guess I should mention I'm running a unibody MBP 2.8ghz.

 

[mknawabi]

I'd say it would run fast enough in both OS's to the point where you shouldn't restart to play it.

 

[Perk]

Off topic: would playing A lot of WoW hurt my MBP?

 

[mknawabi]

No, but it could hurt your social life and wrists (It might also cause atrophy of your muscles)

 

[Perk]

No, but it could hurt your social life and wrists (It might also cause atrophy of your muscles)

Meh. I couldn't care less, lol. So it doesn't? Or by time does gaming/WoWing hurt my MBP? I would really like to know.

 

[CaffeMacchiato]

Some mbp reviews highlighted that the Vista/XP drivers for mbp should be improved. A software written for a particular laptop and os, should run better than some ad hoc job.

For example, some IBM laptops with low voltage chip could not run in the low voltage mode when they run Linux.