i love mac, but still cant leave my gaming habbit. what is the best route (money is an issue) for do any stuff beside gaming on mac, and play latest game, i hope is on mac to, but if not possible, pc will be ok. my plan is : a base macbook air, and window gaming laptop like asus maybe. or should i buy retina mbp for all my needs. beside gaming, i use mac for browsing,download, itunes sync, numbers, excell, that's it.never edit video, picture, or anything.i also travel a lot, so desktop its not an option. hope you your suggestion, advice, or any comment will be apreciated, thanks.
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Need advice : cheap route for gaming
- Thread starter bili.d.kid
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If you want to game on a Mac, you'll likely want one with 1GB VRAM (which will have to be a 15").
The cheap route to Mac gaming is a PC. =(
The most graphics power for the least amount of money in the Apple family would be an iMac, starting at $1299. Integrated graphics (as you'll find on the Airs and the 13" Pros) will only make you hate your computer. If you can afford two laptops, just get a 15" MacBook Pro and install Windows.
The most graphics power for the least amount of money in the Apple family would be an iMac, starting at $1299. Integrated graphics (as you'll find on the Airs and the 13" Pros) will only make you hate your computer. If you can afford two laptops, just get a 15" MacBook Pro and install Windows.
To sum it up:
The OP can get a really powerful iMac, with even better specs than a MacBook Pro, for roughly the same price.
However, if portability is an issue, then you'll obviously have to stick with a MacBook Pro.
Second this. It sounds like an Ultrabook like the MBA would be absolutely sufficient for your computing needs (outside of gaming). So a MBA + gaming PC sounds like a way to go. Of course, a proper gaming laptop costs over $1200 in the first place, so in the combination you are already over the price of the rMBP. You could go 15" rMBP route, but you should understand that it is possible to get a gaming laptop for around $1300 which would absolutely devastate the rMBP. Don't expect to play something like Crysis 3 on high with 60 fps...
All in all, I'd say that an MBA + a desktop gaming tower is the best choice if you do not game much outside of your home. If you absolutely need a mobile gaming machine (and a Mac), then the rMBP will be the most cost-effective and practical solution, even though it will have problems with some games. After all, you don't want to lug around an MBA + a 4 kg gaming laptop.
Cmbp 15" right, this is sound like the best route.so it doesnt have to be retina right? The ssd doesnt impact much for gaming?
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I would wait for Haswell and get the refreshed 13inch cPro or rPro
13" integrated graphic will be more promising on haswell?
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I know, this is what im asking from the first place.have to stick with macbook
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Seriously? decent gaming pc laptop alone is $1200, i guess rmbp its the obvious route than
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And don't forget a lovely 15-30 minute battery life
I mean although its weight 4 kl, i still have the option to play it on hotel room, or anyone house with power plug in. Dony have to leave my gaming on home.
Cmbp 15" right, this is sound like the best route.so it doesnt have to be retina right? The ssd doesnt impact much for gaming?
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13" integrated graphic will be more promising on haswell?
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I know, this is what im asking from the first place.have to stick with macbook
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Seriously? decent gaming pc laptop alone is $1200, i guess rmbp i obvious route than
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I mean although its weight 4 kl, i still have the option to play it on hotel room, or anyone house with power plug in. Dony have to leave my gaming on home.
Yeah, I know
But I just thought I'd throw that in there.Cmbp 15" right, this is sound like the best route.so it doesnt have to be retina right? The ssd doesnt impact much for gaming?
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13" integrated graphic will be more promising on haswell?
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I know, this is what im asking from the first place.have to stick with macbook
The Classic will outperform the Retina at native resolution. If you downscale the Retina it has an advantage, since its GT650m is clocked a bit higher than the Classic's (about 15% if memory serves).
And whatever improvement the next generation of on-die graphics brings for the 13" with Haswell, it's still going to be significantly slower than almost any dedicated solution.
Depends. If you plan to use an external monitor or HDTV, or don't mind wasting all that resolution, the Retina will outperform the Classic. Its cooling solution is quieter too (not sure if it's really any better temperature-wise).
Bootcamp is definitely the way to go, though. And the smallish SSD in the base Retina model means you won't have a lot of extra space to devote to a Windows partition. So it's a tossup.
My graphics card
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-...410757&sr=8-2-catcorr&keywords=Nvidia+GT+660M
My Keyboard-mouse combo is a normal microsoft wireless keyboard. I use a wired xbox controller for gaming.
A link to my Gaming PC is posted below.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ripperkiller/saved/#savedbuild_295126
I use an external optical drive from samsung as it is much easier to replace.
I also have an iMac 21, Mac mini (awaiting delivery), rMBP 13 (early 2013)
I use a samsung display
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T27B3...362411545&sr=1-5&keywords=Samsung+pc+monitors
I got all this for an approx 1300$ in India, you will get for 900$ in the US.
Buy this and get a new cMBP refurb.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I certainly dont want a desktop pc for gaming, so the refurb 15" cmbp will be the cheapest route than.
So there is no pc gaming laptop that is cheap right.if there is, i can live with that, and use air or base 13 cmbp for mac.
Basically, no. By the time you get a Windows laptop that's 15" with decent gaming specs, you're still looking at $1.2k-$1.5k-ish.
Just get a 15" cMBP and run Parallels, you should be fine (With dedicated graphics and all.. you can game but not to the level that a windows laptop can) Macs are NOT for gaming
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD212B/A?
Just get a 15" cMBP and run Parallels, you should be fine (With dedicated graphics and all.. you can game but not to the level that a windows laptop can) Macs are NOT for gaming
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD212B/A?
The OP will still need a copy of Windows, though.
To be honest, one should game using Bootcamp. Playing a game through/while running a virtual machine will just likely decrease performance.
Just get a 15" cMBP and run Parallels, you should be fine (With dedicated graphics and all.. you can game but not to the level that a windows laptop can) Macs are NOT for gaming
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD212B/A?
The 650M in the rMBP is on-par with (or slightly better than) the stock 660M that is the entry point for most "gaming" Windows notebooks. Of course, it starts about $800 more than those notebooks, but if one's heart is set on a Mac...
Ok, thanks for all your input guys.helping my curiousity.. A lot.
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my heart definitely set in mac, but still cannot leave gaming that more budget efficient than mac.can you give me info that pc gaming notebook that slightly $800 saving than rmbp?
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The 650M in the rMBP is on-par with (or slightly better than) the stock 660M that is the entry point for most "gaming" Windows notebooks. Of course, it starts about $800 more than those notebooks, but if one's heart is set on a Mac...
my heart definitely set in mac, but still cannot leave gaming that more budget efficient than mac.can you give me info that pc gaming notebook that slightly $800 saving than rmbp?
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The 650M in the rMBP is on-par with (or slightly better than) the stock 660M that is the entry point for most "gaming" Windows notebooks. Of course, it starts about $800 more than those notebooks, but if one's heart is set on a Mac...
I disagree. If one *only* looked at specs, then yes. But most serious users do not *just* care about specs.
You get the great Mac OS X operating system that is *so* much more efficient, fluid, and fast. The workflow is great for productivity (as experience as a student), and I can only imagine how useful professionals find it to be. This is easily worth at least a few hundred dollars right there.
On top of that, Apple doesn't nickel and dime you for every operating system feature. With Windows, oh you want Ultimate, Professional or Enterprise? That will cost you a couple hundred more.
You also get many standard (official from Apple) apps that come with Mac such as Notes, Reminders, and iCalendar, which could easily be $20-$50 EACH from a 3rd-party.
Another thing that absolutely annoyed me about Windows is that you had to pay extra for language packs (and you had to own a higher edition than Home Premium to even be able to change the language in the first place).
By the time you add up every little and/or major thing that OS X comes bundled with, then no, it's not that much more expensive than a Windows machine that Windows fanboys would like to make you think. And it's totally worth it, too.
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Read my previous post.
add a GTX460/GTX560Ti Thunderbolt eGPU to your Macbook using it's Thunderbolt port. See sig for details.
edit: saw you travel a lot. Would be extra luggage to carry but still managable if use a AC adapter to power the eGPU rather than an ATX PSU. In any case, expect eGPUs to become far more common upon release on Haswell (June 2013) which will have native Thunderbolt ports. In addition, 20Gbps Thunderbolt is coming in 2014, delivering up to 95% of desktop performance.
edit: saw you travel a lot. Would be extra luggage to carry but still managable if use a AC adapter to power the eGPU rather than an ATX PSU. In any case, expect eGPUs to become far more common upon release on Haswell (June 2013) which will have native Thunderbolt ports. In addition, 20Gbps Thunderbolt is coming in 2014, delivering up to 95% of desktop performance.
Just get a 15" cMBP and run Parallels, you should be fine (With dedicated graphics and all.. you can game but not to the level that a windows laptop can) Macs are NOT for gaming
http://store.apple.com/uk/configure/MD212B/A?
bootcamp...definitely
Also, I was looking at benchmarks and the 650m in the rmbp benches somewhere between the desktip 5770 and 5850, which were mid-high end desktop cards 3 years ago. Pretty impressive considering these desktop cards draw more power than the entire rmbp combined.
There are going to be two(three really, but the 1st is almost like NOT having any GPU), levels of integrated GPU in Haswell - G2 and G3. G2, AKA 4600, is another step in the march from 3000->4000->4600. A modest upgrade to barely keep up with the times. The G3, however, is more in lines with an upper/low or lower/mid discrete GPU. That is what will eventually come to the 15" MBPs, IMHO. But I really doubt that makes it into the MBA, Mini, or even the 13" MBP. Apple does not want to cannibalize the sale of more expensive machines by making their little siblings too good.
G2 is going to launch with haswell. I don't know if G3 will, launch at the same time, or if it will be cost prohibitive to use them in right away.
To the original poster, the cMBP with the upgrade to 1Gig of VRAM would be my suggestion.