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iMac vs rMBP for year 8 student

Merode said:
Maybe I'm getting really old, but your original post made me grin. :)

None of your needs require such a machine (especially that amount of RAM, ouch). For the games you specified and school usage, almost any MacBook will suffice. There are better ways to spend that money than on computer you won't be able to utilize in 20% (except for GPU).

In general, for playing games, you would do really well to buy a PC or preferably build it yourself. I also love Macs but the GPUs are simply underpowered for heavy games. Remember, that if you get top-end iMac, your GPU is still worse than any 200$-250$ GPU on the market and it also has to drive higher resolution display than usual Full HD (27" Macs are 2560x1440).

As much as I hate Windows, you really can't say that versions 7 and 8 are unstable. UI and usability is bad but they won't hang up unless you put bloatware on them or break them yourself on purpose (aka playing with registry). Besides, if you build PC yourself:
1) you learn something new
2) you get OS without bloatware
3) you get better gaming machine

I wish Apple made machine strictly for gaming purposes but this day hasn't come yet.

PS.: Desktop i7 processors benefit literally nothing to gaming except for maybe one title - Crysis 3. The difference between i5 is just Hyper Threading technology which is simply not used in gaming industry.
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^ This post. 100%. Except I have an i7 for video rendering but that's besides the point. If you want to game properly, get a PC. It gives you experience and while Mac graphics do get better, they're still not great at PC games.

At Uni I'm bringing my Desktop PC and either a Surface Pro 3 or rMBP 13". PC will *probably* just gather dust, but yeah :)
 
Merode said:
Maybe I'm getting really old, but your original post made me grin. :)

None of your needs require such a machine (especially that amount of RAM, ouch). For the games you specified and school usage, almost any MacBook will suffice. There are better ways to spend that money than on computer you won't be able to utilize in 20% (except for GPU).

In general, for playing games, you would do really well to buy a PC or preferably build it yourself. I also love Macs but the GPUs are simply underpowered for heavy games. Remember, that if you get top-end iMac, your GPU is still worse than any 200$-250$ GPU on the market and it also has to drive higher resolution display than usual Full HD (27" Macs are 2560x1440).

As much as I hate Windows, you really can't say that versions 7 and 8 are unstable. UI and usability is bad but they won't hang up unless you put bloatware on them or break them yourself on purpose (aka playing with registry). Besides, if you build PC yourself:
1) you learn something new
2) you get OS without bloatware
3) you get better gaming machine

I wish Apple made machine strictly for gaming purposes but this day hasn't come yet.

PS.: Desktop i7 processors benefit literally nothing to gaming except for maybe one title - Crysis 3. The difference between i5 is just Hyper Threading technology which is simply not used in gaming industry.
Click to expand...

Please don't hate on me but I don't know how to build a pc:eek:

----------

Do you know any forums that teach you how to build a PC
 
Ravesh said:
Please don't hate on me but I don't know how to build a pc:eek:

----------

Do you know any forums that teach you how to build a PC
Click to expand...

There's no reason for hating. :)

Please check links below. I hope they'll give you the idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bUghCx9iso
http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Computer

For gaming purposes I'd value:
  1. GPU which is the most important part of gaming machine. (nVidia GTX770 -GTX780 are really good - please keep in mind these are desktop GPUs, not mobile versions from Macs)
  2. SSD which is extremely useful for any purposes. If you value storage, don't buy the big one. 256GB SSD + 1TB normal HDD go nicely together. Just put operating system and programs you use at the moment on SSD and treat HDD as archive drive.
  3. Almost any i5 CPU is enough and too much for gaming purposes (i5-4570 for example is very good).
  4. 8GB of RAM is more than enough and also makes you pretty much future-proof. Kingston comes with lifetime warranty.

If you have any more questions, please PM me. ;-)
 
I'm telling you, for your needs the 2586GB, 8GB RAM model will completely suffice. Get that if you wanna do gaming on the go because the iris is surprisingly capable. I play borderlands 2 with around 30-40 fps which I know isn't amazing but its playable.
 
Ravesh said:
will an alienware x51 cut it
Click to expand...
No, overpriced and poor graphics.

If you don't feel up to building your own PC, you can get a system builder website to build it for you using specified parts.
 
Sheza said:
No, overpriced and poor graphics.

If you don't feel up to building your own PC, you can get a system builder website to build it for you using specified parts.
Click to expand...



hmm but i saw a test online since all I do is play minecraft search on youtube alienware x51 minecraft mods and select the crazycraft version the i3 model handles 55 mods like a boss
 
Ravesh said:
hmm but i saw a test online since all I do is play minecraft search on youtube alienware x51 minecraft mods and select the crazycraft version the i3 model handles 55 mods like a boss
Click to expand...
I.... but it's such a waste of money.... Alienware machines are low spec gaming machines put into a flashy case with a flashy name. You could build your own Alienware X51 if you wanted, that would save you so much money.

But you will move away from Minecraft and into more demanding games one day.
 
Sheza said:
I.... but it's such a waste of money.... Alienware machines are low spec gaming machines put into a flashy case with a flashy name. You could build your own Alienware X51 if you wanted, that would save you so much money.

But you will move away from Minecraft and into more demanding games one day.
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You don't seem to get it, Minecraft in certain ways IS demanding. I get 20-30fps with an HD 3000.
 
cosmicjoke said:
i know that, he was asking if he should get an iMac or a retina macbook pro, and I suggested the idea of getting the imac to play games without compromises, and then a cheap chromebook to use the net on the couch, take to his friends' homes, etc.
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Sorry, I just saw Chromebook haha, that's actually a really good idea right there :)
 
Here's what I suggest:
Get a mid range MacBook Pro 13", and build a gaming PC.
The MacBook will run minecraft fine at high settings, and will run most other games at low or medium settings.
You can build a Gaming PC easily and it will run as well as a maxed out iMac at a fraction of the price. Throw in a 1440p monitor for 400 and all this will cost about as much as a maxed out MacBook Pro 15.
You could also build a Hackintosh if you really don't like windows 8
 
AlexxRyzhkov said:
Here's what I suggest:
Get a mid range MacBook Pro 13", and build a gaming PC.
The MacBook will run minecraft fine at high settings, and will run most other games at low or medium settings.
You can build a Gaming PC easily and it will run as well as a maxed out iMac at a fraction of the price. Throw in a 1440p monitor for 400 and all this will cost about as much as a maxed out MacBook Pro 15.
You could also build a Hackintosh if you really don't like windows 8
Click to expand...

He said light gaming...


And anyway, what would be the point even if it was more than light gaming, both a 15" retina MBP and a iMac can handles games great.
 
MartinAppleGuy said:
He said light gaming...


And anyway, what would be the point even if it was more than light gaming, both a 15" retina MBP and a iMac can handles games great.
Click to expand...

He also said he's going to keep this computer for 6 years, and if he's gonna play Cod and GTA, he will have to have issues in the future
 
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