Macbook Pro Gaming upgrades

[josh22691]

So I recently bought a new game for my computer from steam. The game is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (pretty impressive game). I already have a windows 7 partition created that I began playing the game on and even with the lowest settings I was still experiancing a good amount of lag. I figured that maybe the lag was caused because I was running the game on my windows partition so I changed my game plan. I went to great lengths to figure out how to run the game through an unofficial port on my normal Mac OS (Snow Leopard). To my surprise when loading the game I found that I was still experiancing a great deal of lag.

My question is, what is my best option to increase the performance of my macbook pro so I can properly enjoy this great game?

The specs of my Macbook pro:
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
More information: Macbook pro was purchased mid year in 2009 straight from the factory

I have done a good deal of research and found that there is a Ram upgrade that I could install that would replace my 4GB of ram (2x2GB) to 8GB (2x4GB). The upgrade is fairly cheap with prices ranging from $40-$65.

Im not exactly the most tech-savy person and was wondering if anyone could help me out by providing some information with the best upgrades for my situation that wont break my bank.

Any help would be great, and thanks for your time

 

[foxyfabio]

So I recently bought a new game for my computer from steam. The game is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (pretty impressive game). I already have a windows 7 partition created that I began playing the game on and even with the lowest settings I was still experiancing a good amount of lag. I figured that maybe the lag was caused because I was running the game on my windows partition so I changed my game plan. I went to great lengths to figure out how to run the game through an unofficial port on my normal Mac OS (Snow Leopard). To my surprise when loading the game I found that I was still experiancing a great deal of lag.

My question is, what is my best option to increase the performance of my macbook pro so I can properly enjoy this great game?

The specs of my Macbook pro:
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
More information: Macbook pro was purchased mid year in 2009 straight from the factory

I have done a good deal of research and found that there is a Ram upgrade that I could install that would replace my 4GB of ram (2x2GB) to 8GB (2x4GB). The upgrade is fairly cheap with prices ranging from $40-$65.

Im not exactly the most tech-savy person and was wondering if anyone could help me out by providing some information with the best upgrades for my situation that wont break my bank.

Any help would be great, and thanks for your time

I would run it through Win7 with lowest settings possible. You are right about the 8GB of RAM. That will definitely help the performance a lot. But Core 2 Duo is pretty laggy compared to i7, especially for a graphically intense game like Skyrim. Not to mention the lack of an independent graphics card. It runs fine on my 17 inch, but that is i7 with an AMD graphics card.

Happy Gaming my Friend

 

[alust2013]

I would run it through Win7 with lowest settings possible. You are right about the 8GB of RAM. That will definitely help the performance a lot. But Core 2 Duo is pretty laggy compared to i7, especially for a graphically intense game like Skyrim. Not to mention the lack of an independent graphics card. It runs fine on my 17 inch, but that is i7 with an AMD graphics card.

Happy Gaming my Friend

Eh, a RAM upgrade probably wouldn't do too much, unless the game actually uses more than 3GB.

The core 2 duo isn't really the issue there either, although it's not the ideal CPU for the newest games. The biggest problem is the graphics card, which is a 9400m. That will not play recent games well no matter what you do to your computer.

 

[thundersteele]

buy a desktop PC for gaming. There are no upgrades that you can apply to your MBP that will help with performance. The problem is the graphics card, and it can't be upgraded.

 

[foxyfabio]

buy a desktop PC for gaming. There are no upgrades that you can apply to your MBP that will help with performance. The problem is the graphics card, and it can't be upgraded.

Alienware

 

[ljonesj]

well right now the game is buggy and laggy on all 360,3,pc so that can be the problem. i would wait for a patch and such for the game on the pc end

 

[odinsride]

Upgrading RAM probably won't help at all, I believe Skyrim is limited to using only 2gb of memory unless you apply the memory hack which will break whenever the game gets updated.

Your video card is the biggest factor when it comes to gaming performance

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well right now the game is buggy and laggy on all 360,3,pc so that can be the problem. i would wait for a patch and such for the game on the pc end

I run it on my Mac Pro in Bootcamp (ATI 5870) and have not encountered any lag whatsoever...

Bugs? Yes
Lag? No