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First Mac - Gaming and General Questions

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Barugaara

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 1, 2010
4
0
So I am thinking of buying a Macbook Pro. I have never owned a Mac before, and I am looking for a solid (but not necessarily top-of-the-line) gaming machine. My price range is $1,200-$1,800. I am aware there are better gaming computers for the price (I have been considering a Alienware M15x),but I wanted a fresh experience of a Mac. I like the cosmetic look of the Macbooks, so that was a big draw-in for me.

The set-up I am looking at now is:
15-inch: 2.4GHz
Intel core i5
4GB memory
320 GB hard drive
Intel HD Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 256MB

The cost of this rig is $1,799, so I am not willing to upgrade to the higher Macbook models.

Here are my gaming questions:
Can this machine run World of Warcraft at high settings?
Team Fortress 2?
Dragon Age: Origins?
Starcraft 2?

If not, what computer (in my price range) would you recommend?

Now my general Mac questions (From a PC user):
Everyone I have seen gaming on Macbooks loads Windows via Bootcamp. Why? Do I have to? Is this a better gaming experience?
I hear Macs are very virus-resistant. Is this true?
My friends hate me for wanting a Mac. Am I a bad person? (Semi-serious question;))


At this point, I REALLY want a Macbook, but not at the compromise of gaming. Thank you very much for your help.
 
If you're looking for a gaming laptop, a Mac isn't the right place to look.

MSI GX640-098US - $1,099

This contains both a significantly faster ATI Mobility 5850 and a larger, faster HDD. At stock, it also contains a 1680x1050 screen.

So, unless you want OS X for a specific reason, I wouldn't recommend a MacBook Pro for you.
 
No need to make duplicate threads, even if posted in the wrong sub-forum.
You can use the REPORT button (
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Barugaara said:
Now my general Mac questions (From a PC user):
Everyone I have seen gaming on Macbooks loads Windows via Bootcamp. Why? Do I have to? Is this a better gaming experience?
I hear Macs are very virus-resistant. Is this true?
My friends hate me for wanting a Mac. Am I a bad person? (Semi-serious question;))
Click to expand...

1. No, it's just because there are some games for windows than there aren't for mac, it's not better

2. No, Mac's just are more secure, so they very hardly get virus

3. No, they are just envious.
 
Jack Flash said:
If you're looking for a gaming laptop, a Mac isn't the right place to look.

MSI GX640-098US - $1,099

This contains both a significantly faster ATI Mobility 5850 and a larger, faster HDD. At stock, it also contains a 1680x1050 screen.

So, unless you want OS X for a specific reason, I wouldn't recommend a MacBook Pro for you.
Click to expand...

Like I said, I don't need an absolutely amazing gaming laptop. I just want one that can play the games I listed well. If this laptop can't play them, thats when I will start looking for another.
 
Tanegashima said:
2. No, Mac's just are more secure, so they very hardly get virus
Click to expand...

There are currently NO Mac OS X viruses in the wild, maybe in the future*.
There is some malware though (two dozen programs maybe), but YOU (the user of the computer) has to MANUALLY install it and ENTER the PASSWORD YOURSELF.


* for people who confuse ARE (simple present) with WILL (simple future)
 
Well I wanted a Mac because it seemed something 'new' to someone who was never had one. One buddy of mine has one (the only friend I know with a Mac) and he runs games fine, but he has the 2.66GHz model.
 
People run bootcamp because OSX is not capable of running the vast vast majority of games. Those it can run (Like WOW) perform better in Windows.

The games you listed will run ok, Dragon Age you might have to turn some settings down.
 
i saw a youtube video of one guy playing TF2 on max settings very smoothly with the model you want
 
You might not be able to run Starcraft at high settings but the others should be fine

Your other questions:
For WoW and SC2, you will not need to run bootcamp, Dragon Age I dont know about. As far as TF2, you will have to use bootcamp for now but when Steam comes to mac you probably will be able to run it in OSX

There are NO viruses for Mac OSX AT ALL

And no you are not a bad person for buying a mac because in 5 years when your laptop still works like a charm and theirs is infested with DDLs and registry logs you can laugh at them.
 
ARF900 said:
You might not be able to run Starcraft at high settings but the others should be fine

Your other questions:
For WoW and SC2, you will not need to run bootcamp, Dragon Age I dont know about. As far as TF2, you will have to use bootcamp for now but when Steam comes to mac you probably will be able to run it in OSX

There are NO viruses for Mac OSX AT ALL

And no you are not a bad person for buying a mac because in 5 years when your laptop still works like a charm and theirs is infested with DDLs and registry logs you can laugh at them.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to know how one becomes "infested" with "DDLs" and "registry logs"
 
The Sager NP8690 will absolutely destroy the MBP in gaming performance, for less money. Of course, it's thicker and a clunkier. The choice is yours.
 
Tanegashima said:
1. No, it's just because there are some games for windows than there aren't for mac, it's not better
Click to expand...

actually they do run better around a 10-20fsp more in windows plus u get all the downloadables for pc while mac games almost ncever get expantion packs( Dragon Age Origins)

the reason being most of the games where made for PC.
thats why they run bootcamp.
 
As long as you aren't going into this STRICTLY for a gaming machine, then you are headed in the right direction and can ignore the links to gaming laptops. I assume you want a mac for other reasons that just gaming but want to still be able to run your favorite games well.

My advice to you, get the i7 because you will get the 512mb graphics card (the faster processor dosent hurt either) which is a must for current games.

Go this route and there are very few games that you will not be able to play on medium-high settings.
 
Well, you're going to be booting into windows for gaming right? Even for games that are ported to OSX, the fps are much lower than in windows. As far as that card is concerned, yeah it'll run all those games just fine in windows. For reference, I have an old macbook pro with a 8600GTm, which is about half as fast as the one you want to get. I can already run DA:O on medium, sc2 beta on medium, and team fortress 2 on medium/high..so you def can run those games just fine.
 
ozreth said:
As long as you aren't going into this STRICTLY for a gaming machine, then you are headed in the right direction and can ignore the links to gaming laptops. I assume you want a mac for other reasons that just gaming but want to still be able to run your favorite games well.

My advice to you, get the i7 because you will get the 512mb graphics card (the faster processor dosent hurt either) which is a must for current games.

Go this route and there are very few games that you will not be able to play on medium-high settings.
Click to expand...

waste of money. Thst'll bump your fps up maybe ~5 on each game in bootcamp/windows...not worth the extra expense
 
Freyqq said:
waste of money. Thst'll bump your fps up maybe ~5 on each game in bootcamp/windows...not worth the extra expense
Click to expand...

Definitely more than that. 256mb is a thing of the past for gaming.

Also OP, exact numbers haven't been prove yet, but the general concensus is that the standard resolution screen will give you better game performance. This makes sense, as obivoulsy the more pixels on the screen the harder the gpu has to work.
 
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