Laptop for starcraft 2?

[ivlian]

My old pro died on the weekend and I can't wait for the new pro refresh; I need a new laptop asap. This would be for general browsing etc, however I would love to be able to play Starcraft 2 (on the lowest settings).

I am not sure whether to choose the 13' Air, or 13' Pro. Alas, I cannot afford a 15' Pro.

I have read many reports of Starcraft 2 running fine (on the lowest settings) on the 2011 Airs. However, (and this is why I am confused) I have also read several reports of the 2011 13' Pro "barely" running SC2 (again, on the lowest settings), but I thought they both have the same graphics processor?

My question is this: if i buy the Macbook Pro 13' with the SS drive, will it definitely run SC2 better than the Macbook Air 13' (or 11' with the i7)? Is it the flash storage that makes the Air so good? Or does it have other superpowers I am not aware of.

Thank you

 

[jbyun04]

My old pro died on the weekend and I can't wait for the new pro refresh; I need a new laptop asap. This would be for general browsing etc, however I would love to be able to play Starcraft 2 (on the lowest settings).

I am not sure whether to choose the 13' Air, or 13' Pro. Alas, I cannot afford a 15' Pro.

I have read many reports of Starcraft 2 running fine (on the lowest settings) on the 2011 Airs. However, (and this is why I am confused) I have also read several reports of the 2011 13' Pro "barely" running SC2 (again, on the lowest settings), but I thought they both have the same graphics processor?

My question is this: if i buy the Macbook Pro 13' with the SS drive, will it definitely run SC2 better than the Macbook Air 13' (or 11' with the i7)? Is it the flash storage that makes the Air so good? Or does it have other superpowers I am not aware of.

Thank you

SSD's don't make as huge of a difference when you're gaming from what I understand (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) and I certainly haven't noticed any from having games on my SSD.

Looking at specs you should actually see better performance with the 13" Pro.. The 13" Air has a 1440x900 native though, whereas the Pro only has 1280x800 which is dumb for a "pro".

If it's just general use you're after and you're not planning on using up lots of space, get an external drive for storage and go for the 13" Air.

 

[Young Spade]

Well, for one, you're getting different opinions from different people because, ultimately, some people just don't know what they're talking about. Unless they state specific settings at which the game ran AND the frame rates, their statements shouldn't hold much weight.

I can say it ran fine on a 11 MBA and mean it ran at 25 fps at the lowest settings.
I can also say it ran bad on a 13 inch MBP when it ran at 12fps on the highest; see what I mean?

But the Air uses a ULV processor, so when overclocked, it still isn't as good as a stock, non turbo'd i5 in the MBP.

Performance wise, the MBP is what you need; for the prices themselves, you can easily get the pro and put your own 128gb SSD in there and come out spending 100 more which is, IMO, worth it when you get expandability in RAM, the option for 2 hard drives, and/or the ability to increase the size of the hard drive itself.