Macbook pro 17 inch or macbook pro retina

[miles400]

Hi I am deciding between buying the current macbook pro 17 inch 2.5 ghz, 750gb 7200 rpm hdd and antiglare screen or the base model 15 inch retina macbook pro. I am mainly interested in the one that would be best for high end gaming, which one do you think will be best for me.

 

[BigZ9]

Hi I am deciding between buying the current macbook pro 17 inch 2.5 ghz, 750gb 7200 rpm hdd and antiglare screen or the base model 15 inch retina macbook pro. I am mainly interested in the one that would be best for high end gaming, which one do you think will be best for me.

Neither really, if you want a gaming machine get a windows gaming laptop. If you insist on a mac, get the retina, it has a better graphics card.

 

[TheHound]

Neither really, if you want a gaming machine get a windows gaming laptop. If you insist on a mac, get the retina, it has a better graphics card.

A graphics card that yields little advantage due to the number of pixels it has to drive. Go 17".

 

[GoreVidal]

Go for the 17". Nice big screen, and negligible performance difference.

 

[gmanist1000]

Hi I am deciding between buying the current macbook pro 17 inch 2.5 ghz, 750gb 7200 rpm hdd and antiglare screen or the base model 15 inch retina macbook pro. I am mainly interested in the one that would be best for high end gaming, which one do you think will be best for me.

What does the GPU look like on the 17 inch?

The Retina model has a pretty decent card for a mobile computer.

 

[GoreVidal]

The Retina model has a pretty decent card for a mobile computer.

Sure it is, but it also has to drive a lot more pixels and scale them so it kind of takes away from any performance advantage.

 

[gmanist1000]

Sure it is, but it also has to drive a lot more pixels and scale them so it kind of takes away from any performance advantage.

True, but until we know the exact GPU in the 17 inch, I say go for the Retina because it's the newer machine.

 

[GoreVidal]

If the facts serve, the GPU in a 17" MBP of the latest generation is AMD Radeon HD 6770M. You could probably check barefeats.com for performance benchmarks between that card and the one in the Retina and see little difference. Besides, the GPU in the 17" has 1GB RAM vs. 512MB RAM in the base model Retina GPU.