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MPB entry-13" for gaming?

A

Arraay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 9, 2011
3
0
Hey you all!
I'm going to buy my FIRST Mac, ever.
I've tried my friends Mac and i'm definently sure i'm gonna buy one!

I was gonna start out with just buying the 13inch entry model of the new models.

I must admit. I'm not good with gfx settings needed to play which games.
But would it be better to wait some months and then buy the 15inch entry, compared to the entry 13inch.

I play games such as WoW, HoN, the new Rift and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

/Discuss
 
If you aren't too fussed about the graphics, then low-end 13" should be fine. Base 15" isn't that much better so for optimal gaming, you should be looking at the high-end 15" but that is quite a lot more $. You can always consider a dedicated Windows gaming rig if you are not pleased with the performance.
 
The 15 inch will quite a bit faster. The 13 inch is simply not a good option for gaming.

It will run HoN and WoW at medium settings, some might claim they run well at high, but you'll sacrifice quite a bit FPS by doing that.

I have no experience with Black Ops and Rift, so I don't know.
 
If money is a concern and gaming a priority, try looking at a refurbished 2010 15" MBP, they dropped in price quite a lot recently.
 
The ORly owl said:
If money is a concern and gaming a priority, try looking at a refurbished 2010 15" MBP, they dropped in price quite a lot recently.
Click to expand...


Well i was looking forward to tryout the new Thunderbolt!
I know there is no equipment for it yet, but they will come. And at that time i'm convinced i will regret not having it :p
 
Personally, I would buy an xbox or ps3 for gaming.

Mac does'nt have a fantastic selection of games avaliable, and if you bootcamp windows does not take full advantage of the video card as their drivers arn't as optimised.

The intel 3000 would be ok for light gaming etc but it wouldn't be usable for gaming marathons lol

Save the money and buy an SSD
 
If you buy the 13" you will be severely disappointed, also any games that run crappy on it now are only going to get worse as they are updated and begin to require more power. Don't waste your money
 
The 13" is not good for gaming and the low end 15" isnt much better.

If you want to game at decent resolution and fps then go with the high end 15"
 
You can do very basic gaming on the 13". I know, I've got one and I'm glad I didn't buy it for gaming. If you can afford to you should wait for the 15" since even the low end one has substantially better performance than the 13".
 
I own the base model 2011 13" MBP (Before that, the base 13" 2009 MBP which is now boxed up and waiting for payment to clear).

I upgraded because the 9400m in the 2009 couldn't handle ANY gaming at all (L4D on steam only worked on all the lowest settings and if I walked slowly and didn't turn my head; Starcraft 2 amazingly worked on all low settings, but not at a high frame rate).

The new model is much, much better. No, it's not a gaming powerhouse, but it's fine for light casual gaming. If you intend to play black ops competitively online, you're definitely barking up the wrong tree....but a little casual starcraft once in a while is just fine.
 
Thank you all for your replies :)
Helped me alot!

I've chosen the 15inch entry for this time!
 
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