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Gaming on the new MBPs

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XYZed

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
14
0
Long time reader, first time poster.
Anyway, I've been holding out on buying a new Macbook Pro ever since my old Macbook broke, and finally I think I'll buy one of the new models that have just been released. However, I'll be playing a lot of games on the computer (TF2, L4D, COH, possibly Crysis?) and I'm wondering which of the ridiculous amount of new models would do best for me.

I was thinking the higher end 15", I don't really want to delve into the 17", with 2.8GHz processor, a 350gb Hard Drive and 4GB of RAM, will it do the job? Or should I be spending even more money and go with 500GB of memory and the 3.06 GHz Processor?

Or would the 13" work for what I want to do?

Thanks for the help.
 
just dont get on here and cry if it does not play like you would like it to. Apples arent gaming rigs.
 
bbadalucco said:
Probably could have found that out on his own, right Schtumple? I mean, stop being lazy and just google it.

Nothing against you OP
Click to expand...

It's a forum. A forum where people reply. If you don't like to reply to a thread, go on to the next one.

Let's replace the whole forum with a big search engine and if a user wants to create a new thread, make sure the forum allows it by sending numerous alerts. :rolleyes:

Anyway... back to topic: If you want to game, get the 9600. :)
 
I specifically just bought a new MacBook Pro for programming and the occasional game (I don't do any graphics work). Any models with the 9600M GT should do well with most games. It ranks 52 on Notebookcheck's benchmark list (the only cards above it are in boutique PCs or monstrously huge models from Dell/Toshiba/etc). If you're looking for graphics power, portability and decent battery life, the new MBPs are good choices.

By the way, a tip: buy under an EPP (employee purchase plan) program. I just did using my former company's link. Apple doesn't check and you can save hundreds. This is my old company's and it works fine: http://store.apple.com/us_epp_140669/ Ended up saving $200 (enough to pay for tax).
 
Go for the high end 15". I have a 2.66GHz uMBP with the 512MB 9600mGT. I can play CoD4 in Windows with almost everything up. The Mac version runs great too. I prefer the Mac version because I don't like rebooting everytime I want to play it. L4D runs with no lag with everything up and AA at 4x. If you get the 3.06GHz, you'll probably experience a few more frames than me.... so... go for the 15" high end.
 
I have the 2.13ghz White Macbook, my first test was to bootcamp xp and run Crysis. It only runs smoothly on min graphics, which is fine for me, I play games for fun not to have lifelike appearance. Hope that helps
 
bb714 said:
Go for the high end 15". I have a 2.66GHz uMBP with the 512MB 9600mGT. I can play CoD4 in Windows with almost everything up. The Mac version runs great too. I prefer the Mac version because I don't like rebooting everytime I want to play it. L4D runs with no lag with everything up and AA at 4x. If you get the 3.06GHz, you'll probably experience a few more frames than me.... so... go for the 15" high end.
Click to expand...

the top spec CPU wont give that much more, its hardly important for games. your looking at 3-5fps max.
 
bb714 said:
Go for the high end 15". I have a 2.66GHz uMBP with the 512MB 9600mGT. I can play CoD4 in Windows with almost everything up. The Mac version runs great too. I prefer the Mac version because I don't like rebooting everytime I want to play it. L4D runs with no lag with everything up and AA at 4x. If you get the 3.06GHz, you'll probably experience a few more frames than me.... so... go for the 15" high end.
Click to expand...

Ok I am coming over to the possibility of my mac being buggered.
I have the mac you can see in my sig and playing at 1650x1050 it is useless... even with aa off and most things turned down the second it gets to 80 c my framerate dies... this is on cod4 not the most demanding game o nthe planet...

@the op
if it is gaming you want nothing will beat a proper *gulp* windows gaming rig.. sad but true :(
 
okatidubi said:
It's a forum. A forum where people reply. If you don't like to reply to a thread, go on to the next one.

Let's replace the whole forum with a big search engine and if a user wants to create a new thread, make sure the forum allows it by sending numerous alerts. :rolleyes:

Anyway... back to topic: If you want to game, get the 9600. :)
Click to expand...

Sigh, what bbadalucco is referencing something I said in another thread, a user asked about a feature being in snow leopard, I told them to go look, as both the snow leopard features page, and the keynote stream were up, they just obviously couldn't be bothered to check.

And whilst bbadalucco is trying to force some kind of irony onto my post in this thread, he/she fails to realise that OPs question is pretty much opinion based, there is no page on Apples sight that says:

MACBOOK NOT GOOD FOR GAMES
3423239222_a62492e64b.jpg

MACBOOK PRO PLAY GAMES GOOD
3422432227_722fdf1227.jpg


And although yes, OP could've trailed through every games page that he wanted play and found certain tech specs, it's still our opinion on wether those games actually play well on a MB/MBP...

/rant
 
magallanes said:
Because the graphics card
9600m gt is not the top of the list, in fact is almost a outdated graphics card.

A Alienware (ugly brick) cost around the same as a mbp but include 9800 gtx card.
Click to expand...

ahh cut it out. the 9600M GT will play games very nicely, albiet at "medium" settings (for the higher end games). nothing wrong with it.
 
DoFoT9 said:
ahh cut it out. the 9600M GT will play games very nicely, albiet at "medium" settings (for the higher end games). nothing wrong with it.
Click to expand...

I used to play Far Cry 2 with everything on Ultra and Very High settings at 1024x768 on a Vaio with 8600M GT 256MB (overclocked to 700Mhz to run as fast as a stock 9600M GT). As long as you use Windows for gaming then the 9600M GT is great.
 
Aron Peterson said:
I used to play Far Cry 2 with everything on Ultra and Very High settings at 1024x768 on a Vaio with 8600M GT 256MB (overclocked to 700Mhz to run as fast as a stock 9600M GT). As long as you use Windows for gaming then the 9600M GT is great.
Click to expand...

yea windows DX10 really is quite ok for the gaming, OpenGL and whatever arent as goodly "followed", im sure the 9600 would allow for a better resolution (1440x900 at a min).
 
SilentCrs said:
I specifically just bought a new MacBook Pro for programming and the occasional game (I don't do any graphics work). Any models with the 9600M GT should do well with most games. It ranks 52 on Notebookcheck's benchmark list (the only cards above it are in boutique PCs or monstrously huge models from Dell/Toshiba/etc). If you're looking for graphics power, portability and decent battery life, the new MBPs are good choices.

By the way, a tip: buy under an EPP (employee purchase plan) program. I just did using my former company's link. Apple doesn't check and you can save hundreds. This is my old company's and it works fine: http://store.apple.com/us_epp_140669/ Ended up saving $200 (enough to pay for tax).
Click to expand...

My Dad back at home is a Doctor and used to do some minor teaching at the local University so that gets him the discount of 200 dollars or so there. I'll definitely be getting him to order the computer for me :p

I think I'll be going for the high end 15" with the 2.8GHz processor, maybe the 3.06 GHz one, we'll see. 4GB of RAM will do fine for games I think, and it's easily upgradable. The computer will be serving as my desktop, and only computer.

While we're here I have another question. For gaming and when I'm in my house, I'd like to be able to hook the computer up to a monitor with its own keyboard and mouse for gaming and just general stuff where I want a bigger screen and not be using a trackpad. I don't want the mammoth sized 24" cinema display, so I've been looking around for cheap monitors and their are plenty of decent ones for under $200. So do all monitors work with Macs, what keyboards and mice are good for gaming but work on Mac, and what cordage will I need to connect the MBP do the monitor?

Yes angry forum poster, I could google this and spend a whole lot of time sifting through crap, or I could get the informed opinion of people who seem to know what they're talking about.

Thanks. :D
 
XYZed said:
The computer will be serving as my desktop, and only computer.D
Click to expand...
If you are going to be using this like a Desktop, get a Desktop as when I got my MacBook I thought I would need the portability but it turned out 3 weeks later I would no longer even need it lol

But yh if you are going to use this like a desktop get the base Mac Pro which is much better (IDK about the graphics on it though) as Lappys don't like being used as Desktops lol (experience).

Anyway whatever you decide, buying a Mac was the right choice :D
 
XYZed said:
While we're here I have another question. For gaming and when I'm in my house, I'd like to be able to hook the computer up to a monitor with its own keyboard and mouse for gaming and just general stuff where I want a bigger screen and not be using a trackpad. I don't want the mammoth sized 24" cinema display, so I've been looking around for cheap monitors and their are plenty of decent ones for under $200. So do all monitors work with Macs, what keyboards and mice are good for gaming but work on Mac, and what cordage will I need to connect the MBP do the monitor?

Yes angry forum poster, I could google this and spend a whole lot of time sifting through crap, or I could get the informed opinion of people who seem to know what they're talking about.

Thanks. :D
Click to expand...

if you have the LED display there will be no troubles, with just any old display you will need the Display Port -> DVI connector, that will allow you to connect to any display that supports DVI :)

anything logitech is normally great for gaming :)
 
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