Hey guys its me again, and I was wondering how to make gaming on my macbook pro 13" i5 4gb ram run games better, I am getting a samsung ssd in the future, and I will want to play some games, like team fortress 2 and left for dead 2. What will I need to get to play them well with good graphics? Thanks.
Hope is not all lost... http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html Soon, there will be better Thunderbolt external GPU solutions. MSI GUS II is one of them and is suppose to be out next month ~ course, this only applies if you have a Thunderbolt equipped machine. --edit: whoops, I was late, lol
Wow this is great too! Also saves me from messiing with teh internals of this machine. Thanks, look forward to getting it!
You won't be able to mess with the internals anyways. You cannot upgrade the CPU or GPU from your system.
More RAM could be a help. Team Fortress 2 runs just fine on my 2009 13" MBP, so you should be fine. Other than RAM, wait for external GPUs (if they're supported). Your MBP has an integrated GPU, so it's not very good for gaming to begin with. If you want to do some real gaming, you'll need a different computer or an external GPU.
I don't see how an external Thunderbolt graphics card is a feasible option. The price of one of those things will be close to $1000. For that money you might as well buy a better laptop, such as a 15" MacBook Pro which actually has a GPU.
If you upgrade you 13" to 8GB of RAM your Integrated Graphics will go from 384MB of VRAM to 512MB of VRAM.
Your computer can definitively play tf2. It worked on my 2008 macbook. Graphics weren't too goo though. There are tweaks for tf2 mainly http://clugu.com/tf2mate/ that will allow you to have even ******** graphics in order to get better FPS. Sure shinny hats are nice at first but having decent fps helps you get frags. Though there are intermediate settings that give you decent eye candy but still give you a better frame rate. Also, quite a few people find that running games in bootcamp improves the fps (I haven't tried it, and I'm not sure if it's because they over clock the cpu/gpu).
Apple is not a gaming computer. The "Thunderbolt" option will cost more than a new custom PC. Your choices are: Stop Playing Games Deal with Low Frame-rate Purchase a Gaming PC That is all.
Im sorry to disappoint everyone who has been telling him the Egpu's won't work or that they are too expensive... I talked with a MSI representative and the MSI GUS II (which is only an adapter in which you put a gpu ( bought separately)) will cost around 150$ and will come out next week this means that people with mbp's will finnaly be able to enjoy some high quality gaming ( and no, a mbp fully upgraded doesn't deliver high quality gaming, i have one and while its good, its not awesome). And all this will go for about 250$/350$ depending on what gpu you want to put in there...
Not sure if I should be happy my MBP while be able to have upgraded GPU... ... or disappointed that I will spend >$1500 on an average laptop. I wish I won MegaMillions this weekend. Then this wouldn't really be an issue.
The machines still uses the shared memory as Video RAM so yeah. Discrete or Shared it is a true statement.
That sounds interesting, is there any info hanging around you could link me? I have a late 2011 mbp 15" and I hate playing any intensive games on it due to the gpu temp hovering around the 90c mark right under the wsad keys.....