Gaming on a Macbook via BootCamp

[Hebes]

I know this kind of question has been asked before, but I'm trying to get a more specific answer without bumping old threads.

I am thinking about buying a MacBook 2.4GHz with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB Hard drive, (everything else is standard config) and I was wondering what kinds of PC games would I be able to run via BootCamp with Windows XP pro.

For example, what about these?

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Star Wars: Battlefromt II
Portal
Left 4 Dead
GRID
Trackmania Nations: Forever
Crysis/Crysis Warhead (I doubt it)
Mirror's Edge (doubt it)

I'm not looking to run any of these games on high graphics settings (and I'm assuming I wont be able to with some/most of them). I just want to know if I can get a consistent, playable framerate out of them.

Thanks very much!

 

[eXan]

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Star Wars: Battlefromt II
Portal
Left 4 Dead
GRID
Trackmania Nations: Forever
Crysis/Crysis Warhead (I doubt it)
Mirror's Edge (doubt it)

These games will definitely run and run well. Mirror's edge uses Unreal Engine 3 and that thing is very optimized to run even on slower hardware (unlike Crysis engine)

As for the rest of the games, I don't know.

 

[aznguyen316]

I can say Crysis 1 does not run well and Warhead although better gets annoying at framerate drops.. check sig for specs.

L4D runs great though.

 

[0098386]

Portal
Left 4 Dead
Mirror's Edge (doubt it)

The Source Engine games will run perfectly, hell they run amazingly well on my old iMac! Mirrors Edge might work too. I play UT3 on my Macbook with mid settings at native res (and slightly overclocked), it runs well. Although in any online game on any of my systems I turn the settings down to get them running at 60fps+.

 

[ChaosAngel]

You will have no issues with any Source game:

Portal
Left 4 Dead

I have ran Crysis on my MacBook Pro "Rev E" (C2D 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR2, nVidia 8600M 512MB). To make it playable at the MBP native resolution I needed to drop it to medium settings . This kinda make Crysis loose its shine, but still playable.

 

[davwin]

Of the games you listed I have installed and played the following on my unibody MacBook 2.0 with 4GB DDR3 RAM and the WD 320GB HDD...

Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 & Jedi Academy
Portal
Left 4 Dead
Crysis/Crysis Warhead
Mirror's Edge

Of these titles (and as others have posted) All played very well at native screen res & with AA off with the exception of Crysis/Warhead. Crysis played below 20 fps and so unplayable IMO (for a FPS) on the uMB. The Source engine games though will be no problem at all on the uMB and most older titles will play beautifully. Anything more recent should be playable with exceptions based on graphical trade-offs. For instance: Mirror's Edge is U3 engine and plays fine at native screen res as long as PhysX is disabled. Mass Effect uses the same engine and although each utilizes a modified U3 engine they both play well on the uMB as long as you are not trying to run them in Ultra Quality with heavy AA.

Hope that helps give you an idea of playability on these machines I have been very happy with it myself.

 

[aznguyen316]

Glad to hear the Unreal 3 engine works well on the Unibody Macs.

 

[Hebes]

Thanks very much for the replies. I'm pleasantly surprised that Mirror's Edge can run, and I'm glad to hear that the source games run well. (especially since I'm addicted to Left 4 Dead at the moment. ) And I figured that the older games would run.

Anybody know about the racing games I listed? (or any others that would run well?)

 

[Huntn]

You will have no issues with any Source game:

Portal
Left 4 Dead

I have ran Crysis on my MacBook Pro "Rev E" (C2D 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR2, nVidia 8600M 512MB). To make it playable at the MBP native resolution I needed to drop it to medium settings . This kinda make Crysis loose its shine, but still playable.

When Crysis came out, even top of the line PCs couldn't run it very fast. It's a real good example of a developer getting too far ahead of themselves imo. It's also a reason that makes less demanding games more attractive as long as they deliver the gaming experience. WoW and Half Life 2 for example, simpler graphics that do not seem to hold those games back at all.

 

[Hebes]

Yeah, Crysis is extremely demanding. I didn't expect it to run. I'm very happy to hear what does run, though.