Gaming laptop just died - Whats the best Mac replacement?

[Krazy Bill]

And why shouldn't I play games on the best all-purpose computer I have ever owned?

Well, therein lies the rub. A general "all purpose" device while capable of doing many things at an "ok" level, usually never excels at a just one.

Know yourself out man.

 

[Asuriyan]

Well, therein lies the rub. A general "all purpose" device while capable of doing many things at an "ok" level, usually never excels at a just one.

Know yourself out man.

A portable computer is, by necessity, defined by compromise. You are balancing thermal capacity, power requirements, airflow and such against weight, size, battery life and aesthetics.

If a computer excels in general computational ability and ease and enjoyability of use, and is more than adequate for specific purposes (gaming) while maintaining a high degree of portability, then it succeeds as a 'compromised' machine. To increase the gaming performance would mean making tradeoffs that (for my use) defeat the purpose of having a portable computer.

 

[tillsbury]

ROFL



Now you're getting into an issue where for the same or less money you could simply buy a far more powerful gaming notebook while keeping the OP's existing MBP 13. An SLI (2x GT 750M) Lenovo Y510 with 1920x1080 screen, 16 GB RAM, and 1 TB HDD+24 GB SSD cache is less than $1300 and blows the rMBP out of the water in nearly every conceivable way.

Since the OP has no issue with having two notebooks, maintaining said arrangement is the best option.

OP said Macbook Pros only...

 

[sonicrobby]

Or just get a couple of gaming consoles, a big-assed flat screen and call it good.

These topics of MBP's and gaming have always puzzled me.

Gaming consoles?! They could never compare to any computer.

I think it's a really bad idea to buy a Mac for gaming purposes. You will pay $2k or more for a graphics card that is barely on par with what your three years old gaming PC had.

The Nvidia 765M that e.g. will be used in the new Razer gaming laptops is almost twice as fast as the 650M in the 2012 MBPs. The 6770M is roughly 30% slower, it is even slightly slower than the 5870M in your current gaming laptop.

At least, I would wait for the next generation retina MBPs. With a bit of luck they will at least feature 2 GB of video RAM.

Its a preference, I had both a gaming laptop (Asus G73) and the Macbook Pro. I honestly hated having 2 separate laptops, but I loved OSX and the look and feel of the macbook itself. So the best thing for me is something that looks and feels like a macbook, can run OSX and has a good enough graphics card to play games. So I pay more, but I will be happiest with this choice.
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But anyway Im announcing that I went ahead and bough the 15" retina MBP with 512GB. Its used, but at least I paid less than 1800 for it :3

 

[Asuriyan]

Gaming consoles?! They could never compare to any computer.



Its a preference, I had both a gaming laptop (Asus G73) and the Macbook Pro. I honestly hated having 2 separate laptops, but I loved OSX and the look and feel of the macbook itself. So the best thing for me is something that looks and feels like a macbook, can run OSX and has a good enough graphics card to play games. So I pay more, but I will be happiest with this choice.
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But anyway Im announcing that I went ahead and bough the 15" retina MBP with 512GB. Its used, but at least I paid less than 1800 for it :3

Considering I paid, all told, almost $1000 more than that half a year ago- I think you did fine.