Extremely surprised by gaming performance

[Blondie :)]

today I acquired a new 2011 MacBook Pro from Best Buy. Someone spilled water on my 2009 MacBook and totally killed it. Thankfully I had the geeksquad warranty with accidental damage protection. So they refunded me the full price of my last MacBook, and I got the new MBP today.

So, when I opened it up and got it running, I decided to try the gaming performance. I first opened up Starcraft II and gave it a whirl. I was shocked by how decent the gaming performance is on this machine! It plays SCII way better than my last machine, and at a little bit higher of graphics options. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my decision to upgrade to the pro today.

 

[Macsavvytech]

today I acquired a new 2011 MacBook Pro from Best Buy. Someone spilled water on my 2009 MacBook and totally killed it. Thankfully I had the geeksquad warranty with accidental damage protection. So they refunded me the full price of my last MacBook, and I got the new MBP today.

So, when I opened it up and got it running, I decided to try the gaming performance. I first opened up Starcraft II and gave it a whirl. I was shocked by how decent the gaming performance is on this machine! It plays SCII way better than my last machine, and at a little bit higher of graphics options. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my decision to upgrade to the pro today.

Not to put down your achievements, but Starcraft II isn't exactly the most demanding game on resources. Not putting the machine down though it is great! Including for gaming.

 

[ranviper]

Very glad to hear it! Apple is slowly making their way towards being gamer friendly. And that makes me very happy.

But, the fact is custom built gaming rigs are still, and probably will be for most of time, the better gaming machines. Upgradeable one part at a time, without fuss. Now if only I could get all the games I love to play on mac os, and then build a hackintosh beast...

 

[OptyCT]

Very glad to hear it! Apple is slowly making their way towards being gamer friendly. And that makes me very happy.

But, the fact is custom built gaming rigs are still, and probably will be for most of time, the better gaming machines. Upgradeable one part at a time, without fuss. Now if only I could get all the games I love to play on mac os, and then build a hackintosh beast...

Disagree about the "without fuss" part. Throw in a new video card, replace power supply to meet the demands of the new GPU, add new fans to the case to help with temperature, update drivers, customize game settings, etc. I've built many gaming rigs throughout the years and not one build has been "without fuss".

Nonetheless, it's not about Apple becoming more gamer friendly, it's about the developers doing more with less. Call it the "console-ization of gaming". The vast majority of gaming developers now create games for consoles (i.e. Xbox 360, PS3, etc.), and adapt to PC. Since the major consoles haven't been updated from a hardware standpoint in years, developers are forced to produce games that run on modest spec'd machines, like consoles. Because of this, the MacBook Pro line can now run many current games, and run them well. Apple's entrance into the gaming realm is very similar to it's current problem with Flash. Instead of boosting the specs of a computer every 6 months to meet the demand of a piece(s) of software contained within a game, why not have the developers build a better mouse trap. Have them develop gaming engines that can run on middle-of-the-pack CPU's, GPU's, etc. This is something that Valve has done for years. Many other developers have now followed suit (i.e. Blizzard, Epic with their Unreal Engine, etc.).

 

[Blondie :)]

Nonetheless, it's not about Apple becoming more gamer friendly, it's about the developers doing more with less. Call it the "console-ization of gaming". The vast majority of gaming developers now create games for consoles (i.e. Xbox 360, PS3, etc.), and adapt to PC. Since the major consoles haven't been updated from a hardware standpoint in years, developers are forced to produce games that run on modest spec'd machines, like consoles. Because of this, the MacBook Pro line can now run many current games, and run them well. Apple's entrance into the gaming realm is very similar to it's current problem with Flash. Instead of boosting the specs of a computer every 6 months to meet the demand of a piece(s) of software contained within a game, why not have the developers build a better mouse trap. Have them develop gaming engines that can run on middle-of-the-pack CPU's, GPU's, etc. This is something that Valve has done for years. Many other developers have now followed suit (i.e. Blizzard, Epic with their Unreal Engine, etc.).

That's very interesting. I suppose it makes sense though. And it the end it saves on cost for everyone by keeping all the specs the same for a while. I don't have any sort of a console platform, so I wouldn't really know how long it's been since it's been upgraded haha.

Also, I know that SCII isn't the most demanding game by any means, but just seeing it play more smoothly gave me hope that one day apple might be good at gaming haha

 

[retrorichie]

I first opened up Starcraft II and gave it a whirl. I was shocked by how decent the gaming performance is on this machine! It plays SCII way better than my last machine, and at a little bit higher of graphics options. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my decision to upgrade to the pro today.

Is this a 13" or 15" machine?

 

[FluJunkie]

etc. This is something that Valve has done for years. Many other developers have now followed suit (i.e. Blizzard, Epic with their Unreal Engine, etc.).

I'd argue that Blizzard has been doing this for years as well. WoW plays quite well on very modest hardware.

 

[MH01]

Disagree about the "without fuss" part. Throw in a new video card, replace power supply to meet the demands of the new GPU, add new fans to the case to help with temperature, update drivers, customize game settings, etc. I've built many gaming rigs throughout the years and not one build has been "without fuss".

I would suggest getting a decent PSU and case to start off with - if you plan on getting a system that will have some life in it. If you are upgrading the PSU and fans etc... you made some bad choices when you first built the system, user error. ill give you the updating of drivers, but you should do that anyway on a regular basis, game configuration etc... come on... that does not take long. On the mac side you have to get a new imac/mbp.... setting up a whole new system and installing the game etc is not quicker.

 

[MH01]

I'd argue that Blizzard has been doing this for years as well. WoW plays quite well on very modest hardware.

Except that the OS X support in wow is lacking compared to the PC side. I always got better game performance running boot camp on a MBP. I wish they would support mac better