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How much powerful is the PB?

A

Antony52

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2003
30
0
How much powerful is the PB 15"?Can it run for example a game like Neverwinter Nights with ease?Is it possible to install the new 10.3 and later upgrades?I know and I have read about the MHz myth but still I wonder.Any comparison charts apart from those found at the official site of Apple?
Also something else,the new Virtual Pc 6.1 supports the installation of 3d games and software?
 
Well, Mhz isn't exactly the myth... Mhz count for quite alot.
Apple resellers and fan boys want you to think they don't.
Pc however makes processors quite crappy. They market Mhz but after 266mhz, all computer cycles decreased. It's like sending a whole bunch of people running really fast thru a small door.
While apple's approach is to make a door wider but people not as fast.

For games, and any simple raw power, PCs will whoop any mac (except fr G5 I guess). Besides if you are looking for an ultimate PC GAMING machine, I'd suggest www.alienware.com not a mac.
There simply not many games for mac...
And most ones out there arent optimized for them well...
Macs have different purpose.. not gaming.
I have an xbox for games... that's exactly what i need..


P. S. Virtual PC is garbage for the purposes you want it to use. It's quite slow and don't count on it to hadle fast pace games...
Virtual PC is to launch some small program that you can't run on mac... not hardcore gaming or any other cpu intensive task.
 
I'm running Neverwinter Nights at good enough frame rates (typically 10-15 fps, dips as low as 5 in large areas) on a 700 MHz iBook--that's below minimum specifications. A 1 GHz G4 should do just fine for NWN, but don't expect it to be very future-proof if you're mostly interested in games. If you're serious about gaming, get a PC box. If you want to do mostly work and a little gaming on the side, you'll be fine with a Mac.
 
i reckon a current 1GHz TiBook should be able to handle most, probably all of the games that are out now.

don't bother trying to play games on VPC, you won't get very far.
 
well the fact that VPC only recognizes 16MB of total VRAM means that you wont get much farther, fps wise, on a 1 GHz pbook versus an ibook with 16MB or more of VRAM (did the 700MHz models have 8 or 16?).
 
I'm an occasional gamer.


By occasional, I do mean I've only had castle wolfenstein for about 2 months now (but bought WarCraft III immediately after release - because I still play WarCraft II).

The bottom line is that there are more games on the PCs than on the Macs.

I still miss the days of Duke Nukem 3D, RedNeck rampage and all of those other wonderful PC games of yesteryear you can't find anymore.

I refused to use Microsoft Windows as my desktop OS, however, so this was an even bigger dilemma when I was running Slackware 7.0 on my old Dell Inspiron 3800.

You wouldn't believe how stoked I was the day I got quake to work. Now thanks to Loki, Linux gaming is on the rise. The choices for the Mac, however, still surpass it 10-fold.

I'm very vintage, however. I own the NES, SNES and an Atari 2600
 
It is hard to leave some games behind. I would absolutely love for Half-life to run on OS X (no, not for Counter-strike) so I could play some Day of Defeat.
 
Originally posted by Rezet
Ahh crap... Not this **** again... :rolleyes:
It is one of the best for gaming.
Click to expand...

It's the performance that matters. For ugly PCs, god invented spray paint, contact paper, and various other materials. Add a racing stripe and a big exhaust tip.
 
Originally posted by Rezet
Kinda like that hot one in your avatar? :p


That G5 box when so small, looks like has eyes on the side, doesn't it?
Click to expand...

Not sure I follow you on that one since my avatar is of the box of a G5, not the case of one...And yes, I can make quite the nifty Lego box, too.
 
To get back on topic, the PowerBook will be powerful enough to play any Mac games you throw at it, but don't expect to play anything beyond Solitaire with VPC.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
To get back on topic, the PowerBook will be powerful enough to play any Mac games you throw at it, but don't expect to play anything beyond Solitaire with VPC.
Click to expand...

Don't lie to the boy. I've become re-addicted to leisure suit larry 1 (the Mac version won't play in OS 9 OR classic for me, unless someone knows how to make them work)
 
Originally posted by BrandonRP0123
Don't lie to the boy. I've become re-addicted to leisure suit larry 1 (the Mac version won't play in OS 9 OR classic for me, unless someone knows how to make them work)
Click to expand...
yeah, i have had some quirky experiences with both OS 9 games and REALLY BADLY PORTED games. for the latter, take bloodrayne for example. it has a memory leak, so after about 15 minutes (if you have a GB of RAM), your framerate goes all to hell... it really sucks, but would suck just as much (eventually) on any machine, because it's ported by drunk arses.

as for NWN on my GHz Tibook, antony, it runs smooth as butter (mmm, butter...). i haven't bought it yet, but i ran through the demo (i played most of the game on a PC like a year ago anyway), and it worked amazingly well. much better than on my P3 933 MHz with a 64mb Geforce3 card on it... which ran it without problem as well. i think that as apple gains reputation as a speed demon again, we will find more and better ports, sooner following the PC releases.
 
Originally posted by Powerbook G5
To get back on topic, the PowerBook will be powerful enough to play any Mac games you throw at it, but don't expect to play anything beyond Solitaire with VPC.
Click to expand...

Back OFF topic, someone HAS made a better case out of lego - take a look at this (appologies if it's a re-post).



ondesk2725x600.jpeg


<edit: sorry - site is here
 
Sorry for not replying sooner but when I created this thread it was 4 o'clock in the morning.
Anyway I am not saying that i am going to sell my desktop pc which is a P4 2.53 with an ATI 9800 Pro.Instead I am going to sell my Compaq laptop which is a P3 1.26 with ATI mobility Radeon.
However I like the Mac for my work which is 3d web design.Hey the interface is better.However I would like to play some games also.
One more questions for you people:The new revised PB are going to be equiped with Nvidia or Ati cards?If Nvidia, will it be the GeForece 4200Go?If not, then I will buy the old PB 15" with the Mobility 9000.Lets face it the GeForce 4xxGo series is no that good.
 
According to rumors, it will be a an nVidia card...but who knows, maybe a mobile FX 5600 or...dare I say mobile Quatro...maybe that would make up for lack of ATi 9600...
 
Originally posted by Rezet
Well, Mhz isn't exactly the myth... Mhz count for quite alot.
Apple resellers and fan boys want you to think they don't.
Pc however makes processors quite crappy. They market Mhz but after 266mhz, all computer cycles decreased. It's like sending a whole bunch of people running really fast thru a small door.
While apple's approach is to make a door wider but people not as fast.

For games, and any simple raw power, PCs will whoop any mac (except fr G5 I guess). Besides if you are looking for an ultimate PC GAMING machine, I'd suggest www.alienware.com not a mac.
There simply not many games for mac...
And most ones out there arent optimized for them well...
Macs have different purpose.. not gaming.
I have an xbox for games... that's exactly what i need..


P. S. Virtual PC is garbage for the purposes you want it to use. It's quite slow and don't count on it to hadle fast pace games...
Virtual PC is to launch some small program that you can't run on mac... not hardcore gaming or any other cpu intensive task.
Click to expand...

Alienware makes good computers, but their tech support is horrendous. I bought a machine from them, and the mother board died about every 7 months (grounding problem i think). and it would take about a month to 3 months to get it fixed, and during that time, they had no idea where it was. You want power? Build your own machine.
 
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