macbook pro 13" questions on gaming, ram and various

[salacious]

So first off hello to everyone secondly I have some questions iv googled but feel that people who own macs would be better off giving me advice.

1. I am going to purchase 13 inch mbp i5, I'll be using photoshop (not heavily just to learn make some logo's, logic studio for music and sims 3 maybe football manager. Will it be suitable? My budget is £1000 but I got the HE discount
2. The ram I believe is upto 16gb so does that mean I can get a max of two 8gb sticks? And will it improve my user experience?
3. I'm aware that the mac isn't made for gaming, so is there anything such as a external graphics card to boost the gaming?
4. I know the max resolution isn't 1080p so is there something I can use to boost the graphics like connect it to my hdtv?
Sorry for sounding like a idiot some questions may be obvious but any answers would be great thanks

 

[GGJstudios]

You may get better response to your thread with this tip.

 

[JackHobbs]

I can't help much with any gaming stuff but I can talk about Photoshop. I use photoshop for touching up photos on my MBP 13 Core 2 Duo and 4GB of ram. It's fine. Hopefully someone else will tell you about the graphics card etc. Enjoy!

 

[' r i S e n]

I can second the bit on Photoshop. I have a 13'' 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM and Photoshop CS5 runs like a champ. You should be more than okay with an i5. As for gaming, it certainly depends on the game. Although Mac doesn't have many titles, I would argue that an i5 would run whatever it is available quite well. That doesn't necessary mean maxing all of the graphical settings, but playable at solid graphics - I think so.

 

[snaky69]

So first off hello to everyone secondly I have some questions iv googled but feel that people who own macs would be better off giving me advice.

1. I am going to purchase 13 inch mbp i5, I'll be using photoshop (not heavily just to learn make some logo's, logic studio for music and sims 3 maybe football manager. Will it be suitable? My budget is £1000 but I got the HE discount
2. The ram I believe is upto 16gb so does that mean I can get a max of two 8gb sticks? And will it improve my user experience?
3. I'm aware that the mac isn't made for gaming, so is there anything such as a external graphics card to boost the gaming?
4. I know the max resolution isn't 1080p so is there something I can use to boost the graphics like connect it to my hdtv?
Sorry for sounding like a idiot some questions may be obvious but any answers would be great thanks

1. Yes, perfectly suitable
2.Not if you usage is as you described, especially since the upgrade to 16GB will run you $1500 dollars US. For what you mentino 4Gb should be plenty.
3. Nope, doesn't exist, and never will, external ports are nowhere near fast enough to run a graphics card.
4. If you turn off mirror mode, the MBP can drive displays up to 2560 by 1600 in resolution, you HDTV will be no problem.(this info is straight off the apple site, you could've done some reading).

 

[salacious]

1. Yes, perfectly suitable
2.Not if you usage is as you described, especially since the upgrade to 16GB will run you $1500 dollars US. For what you mentino 4Gb should be plenty.
3. Nope, doesn't exist, and never will, external ports are nowhere near fast enough to run a graphics card.
4. If you turn off mirror mode, the MBP can drive displays up to 2560 by 1600 in resolution, you HDTV will be no problem.(this info is straight off the apple site, you could've done some reading).

thanks for the info so the mbp will just add settings to change screen resolution once i connect it to my tv? and just to note i got dislexia even if sometimes things are obvious its like i have to be told by someone for me to understand it... yes i hate life..

 

[mac00l]

thanks for the info so the mbp will just add settings to change screen resolution once i connect it to my tv? and just to note i got dislexia even if sometimes things are obvious its like i have to be told by someone for me to understand it... yes i hate life..

I have the 13" i5 MBP, and I can tell you that it's more than enough for your needs.

I play Starcraft 2 in medium settings with steady ~60 FPS, Portal and Wow with high settings without issue. What I'm trying to tell you, is not to expect the mac to run the newest games in ultra settings, but sure, at least you'll be able to run em in low.

About external GPUs (video cards), we have been taking about the possibility of using the Thunderbolt IO to plug it. Not quite convinced that it could be possible due to transfer speeds, but still it is a possibility tho.

Cheers

 

[salacious]

I have the 13" i5 MBP, and I can tell you that it's more than enough for your needs.

I play Starcraft 2 in medium settings with steady ~60 FPS, Portal and Wow with high settings without issue. What I'm trying to tell you, is not to expect the mac to run the newest games in ultra settings, but sure, at least you'll be able to run em in low.

About external GPUs (video cards), we have been taking about the possibility of using the Thunderbolt IO to plug it. Not quite convinced that it could be possible due to transfer speeds, but still it is a possibility tho.

Cheers

I came to the conclusion that high end gaming is a no no, but its mainly my gf who will be on facebook and sims 3, I mostly need logic studio coz I'm making an album. Would it be better to run windows on the mac then play sims or just on da mac osx?

 

[tech324]

I have the 13" i5 MBP, and I can tell you that it's more than enough for your needs.

I play Starcraft 2 in medium settings with steady ~60 FPS, Portal and Wow with high settings without issue. What I'm trying to tell you, is not to expect the mac to run the newest games in ultra settings, but sure, at least you'll be able to run em in low.

About external GPUs (video cards), we have been taking about the possibility of using the Thunderbolt IO to plug it. Not quite convinced that it could be possible due to transfer speeds, but still it is a possibility tho.

Cheers

You are getting 60FPS on Starcraft 2 in medium settings? I have the 13inch and I tried playing Team Fortress 2 but it was laggy. Did you change any settings to make it run better? I am new to Macs so maybe I don't have something set right. I would love to get Team Fortress 2 or Star Craft 2 to run great on my laptop.