MacBook Pro For Gaming

[ginofresh]

so i have a razer 2015 and i love my laptop dont get me wrong but i have everything apple iphone,apple watch,tv ipad and just missing a mac computer. now i do game but the only game i do really play is wow and maybe heartstone and been looking at some games on steams and etc and i would plan on playing the sims. now i do understand that mac are not made for gaming but i am on the look for a new laptop and i am looking at the new razer blade or the macbook pro 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz 1TB PCIe-based SSD Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB memory witch is going to cost me $3,500
i dont want to use boothcamp but i do need to have palarell for some work programs, and i cant ask this questions anywhere else because a lot of people **** on apple and make me feel dumb. my questions is mac owner are you happy with your mac with gaming?

 

[leman]

A MBP is certainly not a gaming-oriented laptop, but it can play contemporary games more then adequately. Performance of the 460 pro is slightly better that that of a 960M, so that you know what to expect.

While I think its a total waste of money to buy a MBP as a gaming laptop, if you need a work machine that you can also do some occasional gaming on, its will be more than up to the task.

 

[KieranDotW]

I wouldn't use parallels for gaming, your frame rate is going to be throttled. If there's no native mac version of the game you want to play bootcamp is your only choice

 

[ginofresh]

I wouldn't use parallels for gaming, your frame rate is going to be throttled. If there's no native mac version of the game you want to play bootcamp is your only choice

i am not going to use parallels for gaming just for my work forums

 

[esaelias]

tbh its not gaming but i play skyrim on it not the special edition but normal one on native resoltuion looks nice at 40 fps this is ALL ultra

 

[ginofresh]

tbh its not gaming but i play skyrim on it not the special edition but normal one on native resoltuion looks nice at 40 fps this is ALL ultra

yes i know that and yet i want it i hate that i do, the new razer blade is only 2799 but this mac is 3499 and yet i still want this laptop i just never had an mac computer and always wanted one, do you regret your choice by buying your mac?

 

[RJ2010115]

Sure you can game. You can play Far Cry 4/Fallout 4/ GTA V, 1080p all on high settings with framerates above 50 fps.

And even those games that you have to get to medium settings you would be hard pressed to see the difference between Medium/high/ultra.

This with 460, 2,6 ghz processor.

EDIT: This is on Bootcamp, of course, the best way to game. Games on Mac Os are badly optimized, unfortunately.

 

[ginofresh]

Sure you can game. You can play Far Cry 4/Fallout 4/ GTA V, 1080p all on high settings with framerates above 50 fps.

And even those games that you have to get to medium settings you would be hard pressed to see the difference between Medium/high/ultra.

This with 460, 2,6 ghz processor.

EDIT: This is on Bootcamp, of course, the best way to game. Games on Mac Os are badly optimized, unfortunately.

the games that you even mention i dont even pllay or have any plans on playing

 

[esaelias]

yes i know that and yet i want it i hate that i do, the new razer blade is only 2799 but this mac is 3499 and yet i still want this laptop i just never had an mac computer and always wanted one, do you regret your choice by buying your mac?

i had a razer....maybe you had a better time with it i did not...quality wise not on par with macbook...they basically opied the design, it overheated alot, and thier customer service was crap.....screen had a lot of backlight bleed too... overall i personally think its not the most finished product....they might have improved this


mac ok....i regretted it initially however its beautiful, fast, well made, apple customer service is there...the screen is very nice....the 460 is not the most powerful but for the games you want to play it can..... after all this i like it....everything is linked...iphone...ipad..my messages appear..i can make phone calls...emails are synced...itunes....so i think it is a good choice it just doesnt have a powerful gpu if it had that..id be the happiest

 

[ginofresh]

i had a razer....maybe you had a better time with it i did not...quality wise not on par with macbook...they basically opied the design, it overheated alot, and thier customer service was crap.....screen had a lot of backlight bleed too... overall i personally think its not the most finished product....they might have improved this


mac ok....i regretted it initially however its beautiful, fast, well made, apple customer service is there...the screen is very nice....the 460 is not the most powerful but for the games you want to play it can..... after all this i like it....everything is linked...iphone...ipad..my messages appear..i can make phone calls...emails are synced...itunes....so i think it is a good choice it just doesnt have a powerful gpu if it had that..id be the happiest

with my razer i have the same problems my screen does have bleeding into the screen i can only see it when i am on a white page and my track pad left click doesnt work anymore

 

[Zadillo]

If you search on YouTube there are some very good videos running through various games (on boot camp) to give you an idea of what it's capable of.

WoW and Hearthstone should be fine. Frankly WoW and Hearthstone would be fine even with the Radeon 450 or 455.

One question for you, what will you be doing that you're choosing the 2.9 GHz CPU? You could save yourself quite a bit by choosing the 2.6 GHz CPU and upgrading to the Radeon 460.

 

[ginofresh]

If you search on YouTube there are some very good videos running through various games (on boot camp) to give you an idea of what it's capable of.

WoW and Hearthstone should be fine. Frankly WoW and Hearthstone would be fine even with the Radeon 450 or 455.

One question for you, what will you be doing that you're choosing the 2.9 GHz CPU? You could save yourself quite a bit by choosing the 2.6 GHz CPU and upgrading to the Radeon 460.

ya i seen what it can do witch is not bad it is pretty good and i just thought that having 2.9GHZ CPU would make playing games on it work better?

 

[esaelias]

with my razer i have the same problems my screen does have bleeding into the screen i can only see it when i am on a white page and my track pad left click doesnt work anymore

your macbook will last you 4-5 without any problems like that guranteed
[doublepost=1487593525][/doublepost]

ya i seen what it can do witch is not bad it is pretty good and i just thought that having 2.9GHZ CPU would make playing games on it work better?

some games are cpu like skyim and i think wow so better cpu better gameplay

 

[Zadillo]

ya i seen what it can do witch is not bad it is pretty good and i just thought that having 2.9GHZ CPU would make playing games on it work better?

There aren't many games where the slightly faster CPU is going to make that much difference. I'd go with 2.6+460.

 

[ginofresh]

There aren't many games where the slightly faster CPU is going to make that much difference. I'd go with 2.6+460.

okay thanks for the info that does save $200
[doublepost=1487593865][/doublepost]

your macbook will last you 4-5 without any problems like that guranteed
[doublepost=1487593525][/doublepost]

some games are cpu like skyim and i think wow so better cpu better gameplay

see that what thing i do like the fact that the computer wont have any problems

 

[esaelias]

okay thanks for the info that does save $200
[doublepost=1487593865][/doublepost]
see that what thing i do like the fact that the computer wont have any problems

thats why i got it too

 

[fokmik]

both Hearthstone and WOW are for mac also(so no need for bootcamp or anything) I play from time to time HS,but this game is not demanding so...no problems

 

[ZapNZs]

This is just my personal opinion...

If you need a computer for gaming purposes, and a computer for work purposes, and can live with having two computers, I would recommend not making the gaming machine a Mac. Most of the gamers I know that also love Macs eventually settle on two computers: a Mac for everything and resource-light games, and a gaming laptop/desktop for gaming (it sounds like you already have one you can use, but not sure if you plan to keep it or not?) Even the fully specced out MacBook Pro 15 has some major limitations in this department, presumably less so hardware than certain support aspects, but also in a sense that Macs have never used GPUs oriented toward gaming. This review is rather harsh, but demonstrates some limitations over some Windows-oriented gaming laptops...

I use VMs constantly and the MacBook Pro might be the best virtualization laptop out there...so for work usage it is great - reliable, refined, reasonably powerful, consistent, and usually with a long service life. So I'm not saying to not get a Mac. I like OS X more than Windows 10 (and I like Windows 10 quite a lot,) and I love the wide range of free and paid Mac Apps that offer premium services/support, such as OmniFocus & OmniGraffle, two Apps that played a decisive role in me organizing and eventually completing my Thesis. Those Apps have no Windows equivalents. Heck, I have a VM on my Mac of Windows (ONE...as in the command line premiere) that runs flawlessly as if I were teleported back into the 1980s when Bill Gates had his hippie haircut and was getting arrested for driving 3x the speed limit.

One exception might be if you are willing to spend the money on an external GPU, as you can currently use them with Windows via Bootcamp. You would kill two birds with one stone here, with what is often earlier/better developer support via Win 8/10, and a more capable GPU that is better suited to push those high frame rates on such an insanely high resolution screen. Even more so if you are driving one or two hi-res externals, something like a GTX 1080 is what will make high-res, high-detail, high-framerate gaming viable. If going this route, I would recommend the 2.9 CPU to get every ounce of processing power you can get, as the CPU would likely then become the bottleneck given the specs of the other components. While an external GPU would be expensive, it still might be less than buying a second rig just for gaming?

 

[kbk75]

Right, so I agree with a lot of what has been said already, I'll just paraphrase and add my thoughts.

Please do not buy a MacBook Pro to play games on. It is just not meant for this. It can play most games at medium details and medium resolutions fairly well, but it's no gaming machine. You will be far better served building yourself a $1200-$1500 gaming PC than wasting $500 on an external gpu dock and then dropping another $600 or more to get a high end (GTX 1080) graphics card to run with a MacBook Pro.

Having said that, it is a very nice, high end notebook and a very desirable piece of kit. It is capable of handling most tasks with ease. I have the 15" 2016 model with all the options maxed. My 2.9 CPU will not turbo over 3.45 GHz no matter what I do, so I would say definitely don't waste money on the 2.9 CPU. I'd have gone with the 2.7, personally, if I had known the 2.9 wouldn't turbo over 3.45.

Since you already have Apple everything, the MBP seems like the logical choice, if money permits. I've had several MBPs since 2007 and they are great systems. Not particularly good value for money, but very stable, reasonably powerful, well made and supported devices.

I'll leave you with this thought - before I bought my 2016 I was quite upset with some of the choices Apple had made for the latest MBP and I actively contemplated getting a different brand of notebook for the first time since 2007. I'd been waiting for a new MBP design to upgrade from my 2012 rMBP but I felt that they had compromised the 2016 model too much. I took a long, hard look at the Razer Blade Pro and was very tempted by all the specs on that thing. Then I reminded myself of why I have an iPhone and iPad and not a competing Android device; specs alone don't tell the tale.

Ultimately the horror stories I read about Razer's support put me off very badly because, being in India, I'd have a major hassle if I had to return the thing to Razer in the US and deal with shoddy customer service. I bought the 2016 MBP and I haven't regretted it for a moment.

P.S. The guy who made the YouTube video Zap has linked to above made a second video afterwards, which portrayed the 2016 MBP in a far more favourable light than the first one did, wrt being a gaming notebook. Just FYI.

 

[leman]

This review is rather harsh, but demonstrates some limitations over some Windows-oriented gaming laptops...

Oh come on, this video has been taken apart multipel times already. The guy uses games and settings that require a desktop 1080 to run properly and complains that a thin and light laptop has difficulties with it...

 

[caramelpolice]

My personal experience with the Radeon Pro 460 pegs it around GTX 750 Ti levels of performance or a little better, if we're talking desktop GPUs. It's not going to be a VR machine, but it'll run most games respectably in Boot Camp if you're willing to drop a few settings to medium and settle for 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 rather than native res (and the scaler on the MBP display does a damn good job making non-native resolutions look acceptable and not too blurry). Simpler games like Overwatch or Valve's games will run fantastic, at highish settings at 1080pish resolutions at 60fps. (Valve's games in particular I've found run run great at full native res.) If you're trying to play DOOM maxed out, though, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[ginofresh]

A lot of this have game me a lot to think about, I am still confused but I been on steam and look up a lot of the games or Mac vs windows and all these high end games that everyone talks about I don't play or even have any plans on playing but yet the option of not having it bug me. I am still confused between a Razer or a Mac. I don't want a desktop as i just don't have the room for it in my room my desk is just prefect for a laptop

 

[apolloa]

This is just my personal opinion...

If you need a computer for gaming purposes, and a computer for work purposes, and can live with having two computers, I would recommend not making the gaming machine a Mac. Most of the gamers I know that also love Macs eventually settle on two computers: a Mac for everything and resource-light games, and a gaming laptop/desktop for gaming (it sounds like you already have one you can use, but not sure if you plan to keep it or not?) Even the fully specced out MacBook Pro 15 has some major limitations in this department, presumably less so hardware than certain support aspects, but also in a sense that Macs have never used GPUs oriented toward gaming. This review is rather harsh, but demonstrates some limitations over some Windows-oriented gaming laptops...

I use VMs constantly and the MacBook Pro might be the best virtualization laptop out there...so for work usage it is great - reliable, refined, reasonably powerful, consistent, and usually with a long service life. So I'm not saying to not get a Mac. I like OS X more than Windows 10 (and I like Windows 10 quite a lot,) and I love the wide range of free and paid Mac Apps that offer premium services/support, such as OmniFocus & OmniGraffle, two Apps that played a decisive role in me organizing and eventually completing my Thesis. Those Apps have no Windows equivalents. Heck, I have a VM on my Mac of Windows (ONE...as in the command line premiere) that runs flawlessly as if I were teleported back into the 1980s when Bill Gates had his hippie haircut and was getting arrested for driving 3x the speed limit.

One exception might be if you are willing to spend the money on an external GPU, as you can currently use them with Windows via Bootcamp. You would kill two birds with one stone here, with what is often earlier/better developer support via Win 8/10, and a more capable GPU that is better suited to push those high frame rates on such an insanely high resolution screen. Even more so if you are driving one or two hi-res externals, something like a GTX 1080 is what will make high-res, high-detail, high-framerate gaming viable. If going this route, I would recommend the 2.9 CPU to get every ounce of processing power you can get, as the CPU would likely then become the bottleneck given the specs of the other components. While an external GPU would be expensive, it still might be less than buying a second rig just for gaming?

This is part 2 to the video you posted where he shows how the new MacBook Pro can game...

From what people say, Razer laptops can have a lot of faults. If it's that much money I would probably buy a Mac based on that.

 

[zarathu]

Nobody makes a graphic card thin and energy efficient and powerful enough to fit in the wafer thin 2016 MBP. Its simple as that. In order for apple to make a gaming laptop they would have to give up THIN.

 

[Mindinversion]

Razer does, but the quality control is horrible.

If you're looking to do light to moderate gaming the MbP is just fine [especially the 15" with the 460]. It'll handle more casual competitive games like HoTS at 2880 x 1800 at medium shaders and high everything else [minus w/e medium shaders knocks out. . like shadows]

I have Windows setup on a Samsung T3, and Overwatch plays at 1920 x 1200 at medium to high settings over 60 FPS. if you lower your settings to 1920 x 1200 and keep it medium it should be just fine (which, honestly, is REALLY impressive when you consider the 460 only draws 35w)

Granted, if you're looking at AAA titles maxed out you're barking up the wrong tree. There are MANY more Windows based systems out there that will give you a bigger bang for the buck. What you sacrifice, however, is a lot of craftsmanship, flex keyboards and mediocre [I'm looking @ YOU, Syntellic] trackpads, and other lower end component concessions to reduce cost.

I'm by no means saying that the MbP can't game, but that's REALLY not what it was designed for. Yes, in a pinch you can use a heavy screwdriver for a hammer, but you're not gonna have quite the same results as if you'd used the correct tool for the job.