Civ5, MBA vs 9400M MBP

[BeachChair]

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Which do you recon will run Civ5 faster. A new 1,8ghz MBA or a 2,26 ghz MBP with the slower 9400M gpu?

 

[gloss]

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Which do you recon will run Civ5 faster. A new 1,8ghz MBA or a 2,26 ghz MBP with the slower 9400M gpu?

Loading will be faster on the Air thanks to the SSD, and the Air's GPU is much, much better. Turns may take slightly longer due to the CPU difference, but I'd expect overall performance to be better on the Air.

 

[ippikiokami]

I'm not sure about the GPU being much much better.

The G210M is still an older chip tech wise. It falls between the 9400m and 9600m. + usually ULV chips are not as fast as the full laptop powered counterparts. I could be wrong about the cpu part though.

 

[gloss]

I'm not sure about the GPU being much much better.

The G210M is still an older chip tech wise. It falls between the 9400m and 9600m. + usually ULV chips are not as fast as the full laptop powered counterparts. I could be wrong about the cpu part though.

You're right, I'm sorry about that. The 320M clocks just below the 9600M in benchmarks. So you're looking at a better GPU but worse processor. Might be a wash, unless SSD makes a huge difference.

 

[whateverandever]

From my experience, Civilization 5 is very stressful on both the CPU and the GPU. If you turn graphics settings down, you'll get a better playing experience on the better CPU.

You can't really turn down anything to do with the CPU, though, so keep that in mind.

 

[aberrero]

Civ5 can destroy even my desktop towards the end of a game. You can get away with a slow graphics card by turning settings down, but there is nothing you can do about how long the turns take. The MBP is better, but neither is going to be all that great. In fact, it might be downright frustrating on both of them.