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Gaming on a macbook pro
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You can play them, but not as good as 15~17in.
Intel's integrated graphics are horrible compared to AMD and NVIDIA
Proper gaming starts on the 15"
The current 13" MBP has an Intel HD3000 GMA which robs 384mb of RAM from the CPU to run the screen. If you put 8GB of RAM in, it increases to 512mb.
This is nothing like as good at games as a discrete GFX card with dedicated GDDR memory like the AMD cards found in 15" and 17" MBPs.
I have managed 25 man raids in WoW with a 13" MBP but everything was set to minimum and it still struggled. Adding 8GB RAM made it better but still not a patch on a proper GFX card.
I hope Apple go for the Optimus Nvidia 600 series GPU solution next time, with reduced power consumption and increased performance.
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/03/geforce-600m-kicks-ultrabooks-high-gear/
The current 13" MBP has an Intel HD3000 GMA which robs 384mb of RAM from the CPU to run the screen. If you put 8GB of RAM in, it increases to 512mb.
This is nothing like as good at games as a discrete GFX card with dedicated GDDR memory like the AMD cards found in 15" and 17" MBPs.
I have managed 25 man raids in WoW with a 13" MBP but everything was set to minimum and it still struggled. Adding 8GB RAM made it better but still not a patch on a proper GFX card.
I hope Apple go for the Optimus Nvidia 600 series GPU solution next time, with reduced power consumption and increased performance.
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/03/geforce-600m-kicks-ultrabooks-high-gear/
My Macbook Alu 08 was a fantastic gaming companion (Along side with the best work companion I have ever used, and I have worked with loads of machines).
It has a 2.0 GHz CPU with 2 GB of ram and a brilliant 9400m.
Here are the games I used to play on it:
Garrys Mod (I used to love that game. Played it allot maxed out perfectly)
Minecraft (Maxed out perfectly, but now, my Macbooks Logic Board is failing I think so the performance on everything is going down.)
CSS (Same as Garrys Mod)
Terraria *Perfect*
GTA 4 (Very very playable on low settings @ 800 x 600)
A little bit of game dev (which it did fine)
WOW worked fine maxed (I think)
This was all under boot camp btw. I did try some of these games (Gmod, CSS and Terraria) but they only run very well under Bootcamp, so if I where you i would stick to bootcamp.
Anyway, thats that. I would wait for a MBP with a dedicated GPU.
Thats your best bet. Its sad really that Apple put the HD3000 in the new 13 Macbooks (I have heard they arent as bad as people make them out to be, but my freind had a Acer laptop with one in and it was pretty awful).
All this is my own opinion and experience.
Anyway, thats all.
It has a 2.0 GHz CPU with 2 GB of ram and a brilliant 9400m.
Here are the games I used to play on it:
Garrys Mod (I used to love that game. Played it allot maxed out perfectly)
Minecraft (Maxed out perfectly, but now, my Macbooks Logic Board is failing I think so the performance on everything is going down.)
CSS (Same as Garrys Mod)
Terraria *Perfect*
GTA 4 (Very very playable on low settings @ 800 x 600)
A little bit of game dev (which it did fine)
WOW worked fine maxed (I think)
This was all under boot camp btw. I did try some of these games (Gmod, CSS and Terraria) but they only run very well under Bootcamp, so if I where you i would stick to bootcamp.
Anyway, thats that. I would wait for a MBP with a dedicated GPU.
Thats your best bet. Its sad really that Apple put the HD3000 in the new 13 Macbooks
(I have heard they arent as bad as people make them out to be, but my freind had a Acer laptop with one in and it was pretty awful).All this is my own opinion and experience.
Anyway, thats all.
The future of fast graphics lies with NVIDIA. Fast processors lies with Intel. AMD is just a budget company now, and all serious gamers agree.
Anyway, the HD4000 integrated graphics that will come bundled with the Ivy Bridge line are capable of playing Crysis Warhead at 1600x900. That's damn good, and the Macbook Air/Pro 13" will finally get some better gaming performance.
I hope that Apple sticks a Kepler based 660M in the next Mac, at least. I hope they steer clear of AMD and the Fermi based GPUs.
Anyway, the HD4000 integrated graphics that will come bundled with the Ivy Bridge line are capable of playing Crysis Warhead at 1600x900. That's damn good, and the Macbook Air/Pro 13" will finally get some better gaming performance.
I hope that Apple sticks a Kepler based 660M in the next Mac, at least. I hope they steer clear of AMD and the Fermi based GPUs.