Dell vs. Macbook

[branharrison6]

Here is the comparison:

Dell Inspiron 9300:
-Pentium M 1.60Ghz 3.99MHz processor
-1.25GB of RAM
-ATI Mobility Radeon X300(Graphics Card)

------vs.------

Macbook:
-Intel Dual Core 2.0GHz Processor
-2GB of RAM
-Whatever the graphics card is for Macbook


The dell is my old computer and the macbook is what I will get. What graphics card is in the current gen macbooks? Is it worse than my ATI Mobility Radeon X300??? I bought my Dell almost 3 years ago so I'd imagine that the macbooks are a little better equipped as far as graphics by now?? Another question I have is gaming. World of Warcraft runs SUPERBLY smooth on my current setup with the dell. Is WoW really THAT bad on Macbooks? I keep hearing and seeing in different threads that it works well or fine and then other threads say that it barely works? Could someone PLEASE clear the whole WoW question up for me.

 

[brutusvimes]

Of course technology has come a long way, but it's not about that. The ATI x300 is a dedicated graphics card - the Intel is on-board. It's not designed to do games. It's perfectly fine for everything else.

As to WoW, can't help you there, bro.

 

[princealfie]

That would be INtel GMA 950 graphics card for the MacBook.

 

[gauchogolfer]

What does a 1.6GHz 3.99MHz processor mean?

 

[Shaduu]

Unfortunately the MacBooks do NOT have a dedicated graphics card yet, they run on the integrated Intel graphics chip. It is possible to play WoW on a MacBook, just on lower settings.

 

[leonk]

You will notice a significant jump in performance. You dell is very similar to my work laptop (IBM T40 thinkpad .. 1.6ghz centrino with 1GB of RAM, 80GB HD running windows 2000).

My macbook is many folds faster.

As far as video, the intel onboard video card is not as good as current generation dedicated video cards, but it's better than last generation dedicated cards. Lots of videos on youtube showing the macbook is no slouch when it comes to gaming.

But you gotta remember, true gamers don't play on laptops! True gamers have a desktop with SLI and tons of RAM and HD space, hooked up to a 21"+ LCD screen.

 

[Shackler]

clearly the macbook. it slaps that dell anyday of the week
old piece of crap PC

sorry im VERY biased against PC's especially dells for some reason i just hate them

n a Macbook would be fine for WoW

 

[branharrison6]

But you gotta remember, true gamers don't play on laptops! True gamers have a desktop with SLI and tons of RAM and HD space, hooked up to a 21"+ LCD screen.

That's the Thing I'm not a TRUE gamer on computers. I just play WoW on computer. I have a Xbox 360 to handle my TRUE gaming needs!

So is the Integrated Graphics Card on the Macbook better than my older ATI Radeon X300? I thought I remembered someone saying in this thread earlier that the Integrated Macbook's Card is better than older gen dedicated graphics cards. If this is the case then I'll be fine.

Also I have seen the YouTube videos of WoW on macbooks but I just keep hearing how people have to "turn down" settings and how it doesn't work all that well on theirs so I just wanna REALLY get things straightened out. I mean regardless of how it performs I cannot afford a MBP so I am going to go with a MB. If I REALLY had to, my WoW need would have to suffer a bit. But I keep hearing good things about WoW on macbooks as well so I'm pulling out that I am also one of the success stories!

 

[iamsleepy]

You will notice a significant jump in performance. You
But you gotta remember, true gamers don't play on laptops! True gamers have a desktop with SLI and tons of RAM and HD space, hooked up to a 21"+ LCD screen.

No, true gamers play everywhere

 

[zioxide]

Everyone always says that the intel integrated graphics card is sooooo bad, but it will probably blow that graphics card in your dell away. Just make sure you max out the macbook's ram.

 

[iamsleepy]

Everyone always says that the intel integrated graphics card is sooooo bad, but it will probably blow that graphics card in your dell away. Just make sure you max out the macbook's ram.

Ooops, GMA950 can't beat 6200 or x300...
Like, you can play nfs9 at low quality smoothly with x300 but with gma950 you'll get your car crash

 

[PCtoMac-change]

Everyone always says that the intel integrated graphics card is sooooo bad, but it will probably blow that graphics card in your dell away. Just make sure you max out the macbook's ram.

Joke post?(sorry didn't know what to call it) Please say it is.

Anyway...here:

 

[NightFlight]

Everyone always says that the intel integrated graphics card is sooooo bad, but it will probably blow that graphics card in your dell away. Just make sure you max out the macbook's ram.

Not so much!

Anyway, I have seen people run WoW on their macbooks and it looks okay to me. With a dedicated VC it would be better though.

 

[KurtangleTN]

It's kinda my biggest turn-off with the Macbook. I'm not sure why Apple doesn't include an option for a decent dedicated graphics card for the Macbook. Even consumers wan't a decent gaming option when buying a $1,000+ notebook.

 

[Edwin the Elder]

It's kinda my biggest turn-off with the Macbook. I'm not sure why Apple doesn't include an option for a decent dedicated graphics card for the Macbook. Even consumers wan't a decent gaming option when buying a $1,000+ notebook.

Apple is likely worried that would eat into MBP sales. The dedicated video card is the biggest reason to buy the Pro over the MacBook.

Even with the integrated video, most reviews I have read (CNET, Macworld) claim the MacBook is a better buy than the MBP.

see below from CNET

---

The good: Cheaper than the MacBook Pro, with nearly comparable performance; great design; built-in Webcam and remote control; can run Windows XP via Boot Camp.

The bad: No ExpressCard slot or FireWire 800; lacks media card reader; only 90 days of toll-free technical support.

The bottom line: The new MacBook, updated to Intel's Core 2 Duo CPU, compares very favorably with Apple's high-end MacBook Pro line, offering premium performance at a reasonable price.

 

[PCtoMac-change]

Apple is likely worried that would eat into MBP sales. The dedicated video card is the biggest reason to buy the Pro over the MacBook.

Even with the integrated video, most reviews I have read (CNET, Macworld) claim the MacBook is a better buy than the MBP.

Next round put a Go 7950GTX in the MBP and a Go 7600GT in the MB. The MBP would still be a lot stronger, and by the next round the DX10's will be out and the GTX will be cheap, and able to run games like FEAR max @ 1680*1050(yes it gets ~45 FPS). While the 7600GT will be able to play games ~medium and some high at the MB's highest resolution, 1440X900 I think.

EDIT: Heck looking at some reviews it even gets 20-25FPS outside total maxed ES4 at that resolution. 20 may be a little choppy, but 100% playable on a game like ES4.