Get a MBP of some sort and build your own PC; a gaming quality PC can be built for less then $1000 - could even Hackintosh it if you so pleased.
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Macbook pro i5 gaming for the next 3-4 years
- Thread starter jdhatt
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Since you intend on keeping the macbook pro for at least 3-4 years I'd say get the i7.
If you like to constantly upgrade with new models then I would say get a low spec i5 and upgrade with every refresh.
Dude I'm in the exact same boat as you. I have enough to buy a $2000 15" (possibly an i7) but I also like playing games on the go, and I usually like playing on high settings, unfortunately...
I don't like the 13" + desktop option because the 13" is crap to me. So my decision is to buy a 15" for going through college and deal with the low/med graphical settings. Then when I get out of college I'll buy a gaming desktop rig. And there's probably gonna be many new things coming out in the next 4 years so I'll enjoy the benefits of waiting and saving money.
good luck with your decision!
Dude I'm in the exact same boat as you. I have enough to buy a $2000 15" (possibly an i7) but I also like playing games on the go, and I usually like playing on high settings, unfortunately...
I don't like the 13" + desktop option because the 13" is crap to me. So my decision is to buy a 15" for going through college and deal with the low/med graphical settings. Then when I get out of college I'll buy a gaming desktop rig. And there's probably gonna be many new things coming out in the next 4 years so I'll enjoy the benefits of waiting and saving money.
good luck with your decision!
haha duuudddeee!!! sssaaammmeeee exact thing lol! yea the 13 inch is just not appealing i need a 15"....and i realize if im getting the 15 inch, i might aswell get one thats going to last me the 4 years without getting severely outdated...and atleast the 512mb will suffice BETTER than the 256mb in the long run which means a few years....so if im keeping it 4 years the i7 seems like the better option, honestly upgrading after a year or two just ends up costing u an extra $500 after you sell and its really not worth it, so i might aswell shell out $300 now and get the stupid i7 lol. and just like you i plan on getting a gaming pc after college, although im a hardcore laptop guy, not a desktop fan at all but i might consider one too
The m11x just had a refresh. It has Nvidia Optimus technology, and is suppose to be a solid gaming laptop (or i guess netbook). The battery should be good with the ulv processor and switchable graphics. If your open to a non mac, maybe this is worth checking out.
the problem with that is that, its got a 12" screen for one thing, which is freaking TINY! and its only got a nvidia geforce gt 335m graphics card which i dont htink is thhaaattttt much better, its still considered a middle class graphics card (according to notebookcheck.net).....the mac OS just seems sweet especially the whole no virus deal lol.....not to mention alienware doesnt seem like a very university student friendly laptop....sure theyre gaming powerhouses but for everything else....meh....
So the get the 15" MacBook Pro with the i7 processor; from the sounds of things you can afford it and since you'll be using it for the next 5 years, you'll want the best you can get.
8600M GT was pretty good 3 years ago, a shame the 330M is only a few percent faster.
3 years of GPU evolution and Apple haven't increased the GPU performance in the MBP a bit..
You know jdhatt... There's always overclocking haha I was told in a thread that if you oc the gpu there's good chance you'll get better (but not too great) performance. Plus the higher clock speeds will make the gpu more powerful, so it will use more (not all) of it's VRam, therefore justifying getting the 512mb 330m.
However, overclocking might damage internal parts, so do it at your own risk. As of now it's only possible to do it in bootcamp. Jumping back to OSX will bring the gpu back to it's underclocked default settings.
I also found out that damage from oc-ing is not common in mac problems so the geniuses might fix it if you act like you don't know much about computers and just say it's defective or something.
I've never OCed before, but it really interests me. If I'm not satisfied with the performance I'm probably gonna try it lol. People said they've ran crysis on high with okay fps with a pretty stable OCed gpu and temperatures as well at stable levels (fan controlling software).
Note, if you ever try to overclock, that some gpu OC better than others. So be careful and increase clock speeds by a minimal amount if you haven't known already
Do it at your own risk =X
haha I was told in a thread that if you oc the gpu there's good chance you'll get better (but not too great) performance. Plus the higher clock speeds will make the gpu more powerful, so it will use more (not all) of it's VRam, therefore justifying getting the 512mb 330m. However, overclocking might damage internal parts, so do it at your own risk. As of now it's only possible to do it in bootcamp. Jumping back to OSX will bring the gpu back to it's underclocked default settings.
I also found out that damage from oc-ing is not common in mac problems so the geniuses might fix it if you act like you don't know much about computers and just say it's defective or something.
I've never OCed before, but it really interests me. If I'm not satisfied with the performance I'm probably gonna try it lol. People said they've ran crysis on high with okay fps with a pretty stable OCed gpu and temperatures as well at stable levels (fan controlling software).
Note, if you ever try to overclock, that some gpu OC better than others. So be careful and increase clock speeds by a minimal amount if you haven't known already
Do it at your own risk =X
I'm in the exact same situation as you TC. I'm looking for a laptop that will last me for the next 4-6 years, and am thinking about the MBP 15" but specced out to have the best upgrades possible. I mean the most gaming I'll get out of it is probably Starcraft II, Modern Warfare II, and Diablo III. Besides that I'll just be using it for the basics. I'm wondering if this is what I should be going for as I won't be using it for graphic heavy stuff, but I want to be able to play those games on high settings. Good luck with what you choose to do!
yea i wanna play hte same games as you then its just the basics too....you wont be able to play on high most likely....possiblely high textures or something but overall from what ive heard medium gets good framerates
You know jdhatt... There's always overclocking
However, overclocking might damage internal parts, so do it at your own risk. As of now it's only possible to do it in bootcamp. Jumping back to OSX will bring the gpu back to it's underclocked default settings.
I also found out that damage from oc-ing is not common in mac problems so the geniuses might fix it if you act like you don't know much about computers and just say it's defective or something.
I've never OCed before, but it really interests me. If I'm not satisfied with the performance I'm probably gonna try it lol. People said they've ran crysis on high with okay fps with a pretty stable OCed gpu and temperatures as well at stable levels (fan controlling software).
Note, if you ever try to overclock, that some gpu OC better than others. So be careful and increase clock speeds by a minimal amount if you haven't known already
Do it at your own risk =X
OC could be harmful to your MBP if you don't know what you're doing, so if you have never OCed a MBP before, I suggest not to do it.
if the mbp from 3 years ago, which I own, is any indication of future mbp performance of the current-gen model, you will be able to play new games on medium/low in 3 years. Then again, the 9600GT and the 330M get very similar fps in games, so it might be closer to 2 years that you can game comfortably on it with the newest games. It all depends on what games you want to play and how sensitive you are to quality settings and fps. Some people demand maxed out graphics and 60fps, others are able to handle low settings and 30 fps..essentially as long as it is playable. For reference, I can play team fortress 2 at max settings, which came out about 3 years ago i guess, and I can play starcraft 2 beta, a new game, at about 25-60fps on medium/low in bootcamp-vista 32bit.
yeah...i'd get a white macbook for $1000 and spend $1000 on a nice gaming rig if you want to game. Laptop for portability, desktop for games. If you know how to build computers also (not that hard, just put about 10 pieces together and you're done), you can save a lot of $ and get a much better computer. You can get an i5 750, ati 5850, 4 gigs of ram, and 1 tb hd and still be well within budget.
well, the 330M is 2x as fast as the 8600GT in 3dmark06, so there have been improvements. But, if apple had gone ati, they could have put in some much faster cards =\
I am an avid MMO'er myself. And here is my two cents.
You should get the i7 for two reasons. The obvious being the faster processor and the second being the 512mb graphics card. Sure in some cases the double memory dosen't make that big of a difference, but in others it really does. I feel like the 512 card will come in handy over time.
Get the i7/512mb set up and you will be golden for at least two years. After that throw another 4gb of RAM in that sucker (maybe an SSD just for fun, though it won't improve games) and you will be good for another two years, probably not running games at the highest by then, but most likely medium.
You say you play a lot of MMO's. This is good because these games don't get too big of graphic bumps. So what you see at release is typically what you get.
You should get the i7 for two reasons. The obvious being the faster processor and the second being the 512mb graphics card. Sure in some cases the double memory dosen't make that big of a difference, but in others it really does. I feel like the 512 card will come in handy over time.
Get the i7/512mb set up and you will be golden for at least two years. After that throw another 4gb of RAM in that sucker (maybe an SSD just for fun, though it won't improve games) and you will be good for another two years, probably not running games at the highest by then, but most likely medium.
You say you play a lot of MMO's. This is good because these games don't get too big of graphic bumps. So what you see at release is typically what you get.
If gaming is on top 5 list then any Mac isn't for you.
First their GPUs always suck. Even MacPros (Pro grade) is still using last gen's GPU.
Secondly Apple sucks at GPU drivers. Look at both Valve and Blizzard. They wrote their games natively and it's taking a major beating compared to their Windows counterpart..... and these guys are friggen top tier companies.
Finally, to get the most out of your GPU you're going to have to bootcamp. Which not only makes the computer run hotter for longer, and has mediocre driver support.
Get a nice Asus dude, you'll be happier. You don't need to spend 2k to show that you're a cool hipster to your friends, just go buy some lenseless glasses or something.
And also going from i5 to i7 won't make a difference in gaming. Unless it's a very CPU driven game.... and even then the 330m would be the bottleneck over the i5.
First their GPUs always suck. Even MacPros (Pro grade) is still using last gen's GPU.
Secondly Apple sucks at GPU drivers. Look at both Valve and Blizzard. They wrote their games natively and it's taking a major beating compared to their Windows counterpart..... and these guys are friggen top tier companies.
Finally, to get the most out of your GPU you're going to have to bootcamp. Which not only makes the computer run hotter for longer, and has mediocre driver support.
Get a nice Asus dude, you'll be happier. You don't need to spend 2k to show that you're a cool hipster to your friends, just go buy some lenseless glasses or something.
And also going from i5 to i7 won't make a difference in gaming. Unless it's a very CPU driven game.... and even then the 330m would be the bottleneck over the i5.
hmmm.....this is all making me think....im defs not making a gaming rig i know that for sure....ill do that after uni is done....but i need a good uni laptop....thats why macbook seems good especially cause its built well, long lasting and does not get viruses...thats a HUGE leg up....i DUNNO :S
I tried for years to be satisfied with the mediocre GPUs in Mac laptops from the ati x1600 to the nvidia 8600/9600 updates and each time I was disappointed with the compromise in quality I had to accept. I finally gave up and moved two having separate Mac (work) and Windows (gaming) laptops. My ASUS G73 with mobile ATI 5870 is awesome! I can play anything almost always at highest settings. (I don't play any FPS).
Mac laptop just aren't good enough for a great gaming experience in Windows (or natively Mac) games. For the money $1499 for the ASUS and $999 (Microcenter on sale) for the Mac it's the best of both worlds. I just had to accept carrying 2 laptops.
Cheers,
yea i dunno i could never carry around 2 laptops its a pain in the ass...i can deal with medium settings i dont mind it....ill probably deal with the macbook for this year then i have a rig sitting at home, im just gonna take that when i move out of dorms and then upgrade it for like 500-600 and have a gaming pc then just use my macbook whenever im on the go.....i dont wanna have a just a mac laptop i still want a good solid macbook pro and the 13 inch just doesnt cut it lol
hi
finally joined macrumors after 3-4 years of reading lol
anyways, my two cents:
i was in the same boat a week ago- until i made my choice.
i had a slightly lower budget, just enough for the low end 15" with the 500GB drive. bought it. and its AWESOME!!! the price really justifies its build quality, a friend of mine got an asus for 1300 (around 1500$) with an i7 and 8gb of ram, 640GB drive and 17.3" screen, and all i can say is that my mbp screams compared to it. his lappy has a clean install of windows 7, while i have migrated my 250GB drive from my iMac, and my mbp boots up faster than the asus. hell he's still at the windows starting screen and i've started safari AND photoshop cs5.
As far as gaming is concerned, i play starcraft II betas fine on it, fallout, and portal, they're all playable and graphics dont really take a hit
i cant recommend a mbp enough!
buy the i7 i can only imagine MAC OSX on it!
finally joined macrumors after 3-4 years of reading lol
anyways, my two cents:
i was in the same boat a week ago- until i made my choice.
i had a slightly lower budget, just enough for the low end 15" with the 500GB drive. bought it. and its AWESOME!!! the price really justifies its build quality, a friend of mine got an asus for 1300 (around 1500$) with an i7 and 8gb of ram, 640GB drive and 17.3" screen, and all i can say is that my mbp screams compared to it. his lappy has a clean install of windows 7, while i have migrated my 250GB drive from my iMac, and my mbp boots up faster than the asus. hell he's still at the windows starting screen and i've started safari AND photoshop cs5.
As far as gaming is concerned, i play starcraft II betas fine on it, fallout, and portal, they're all playable and graphics dont really take a hit
i cant recommend a mbp enough!
buy the i7 i can only imagine MAC OSX on it!
13 really isn't much slower, and for the money you save you can get a ssd and more ram and it'll scream. Plus it has a more appealing form factor and better battery life.