Couple Choices and would like your opinion

[ChrisN]

Hi, I am in a predicament right now and I need a bit of help deciding on a good computer. Usually I'm pretty good with deciding and I know a good amount about computers but since I really haven't seen many videos showing games I need some first hand help.

Some things that I do on my computer:
Web Browsing,
Listen to music
Check Email
Write papers
Go on iChat/Adium
All at the same time but I also do some gaming (I wouldn't consider myself a casual gamer but I can live with playable framerates at high settings). So I am wondering if the MacBook would work out for me, I am already considering the MBP and I was looking at refurbs but I am not interested. A concern of mine is the small 13" screen, I play all my games (COD UO, COD) on a 17" iMac and it is great but I want to play TF2,COD4, CSS and I don't know what it would be like to play on a 13".

I have read about the framerates for those games like 30-40 in TF2, 30-40 in COD4 and really high frame rates in CSS and I can live with those or just turn the settings down to medium. I also know that there is very little if any difference in frame rates between the 2.0 ghz and the 2.4 ghz (one fps or maybe .5)

So basically I am wondering is the MBP worth the extra 400, what would be a good configuration and is the 13" too small for games.


Thanks,
ChrisN

 

[PeterQC]

If you just want to play games life TF2, CSS or COD4, the Macbook 2.0GHz is the best choice for its price. The graphic card is good enough to support these game. If you want the .400 MHz and the Backlit Keyboard go for the 2.4GHz.

13' Screen should'nt be a problem for games. Put them on fullscreen and you're good to go. You should try to go to an Apple Shop and look at the Books if you're not sure.

If the screen is really too small for you and if you consider playing some next-gen gaming (aka BioShock, Crysis, or anything newer) you will NEED a Macbook Pro, even the baseline will do. Just think that 400$ is a lot of money to spend for something you ight not take full avantage of.

 

[ChrisN]

The people I play with usually stick with the game for maybe 3 to four years and it seems like COD4 and TF2 are the games along with battlefield and probably COD5 both of which are usually easy to run so I think I will go with the 2.0 Macbook with 4gb of RAM and a bumped up HDD which comes out to $1549.

Thanks,
ChrisN

 

[PeterQC]

Oh, and I just want to add that you can then invest the saved 400$ to update your Macbook in the next 2 to 3 years if you think it'll be too slow.