Need help on what to buy

[Xan]

Hello everyone, i have a white macbook that's about 2-3 years old here's the info on it
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB11.0061.B03
SMC Version: 1.4f12
Serial Number: RM6400YHU9C
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Now i'm looking to make it into more of a gaming computer, whenever i play a online game with good graphics such as World of warcraft my computer lags very badly, is this because i need more ram?

 

[robbieduncan]

You definitely need more RAM. 2GB at least. But you have to be willing to accept that the machine will never be a killer gaming rig.

 

[Xan]

So should i just buy a new computer instead? or just more RAM?

 

[Schtumple]

Yes, 2GB ram will greatly increase performance compared to having 512mb...

 

[Xan]

Can you buy RAM at any apple store? or do i have to buy it on the internet?

 

[windowpain]

Can you buy RAM at any apple store?

You CAN, but please don't! Apple overcharges horrendously for ram.

I'm not sure where you are but crucial
is popular. If nothing else it'll tell you exactly which ram you need.

 

[mobilehaathi]

You defintely need more RAM, 512MB is rather small these days. However, what you really need is a discrete video card. You will only get marginal improvement without a discrete video card. The MacBook Pro is what you should be looking at for gaming.

 

[Xan]

Well my friend has a black macbook which he got about 6 months ago, and he has no lag problems in games. so i dont think i need a MBP

 

[Expired]

If he has a newer MacBook, his has the Intel GMA X3100 integrated grapics which is definitely better than the Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics that you have in you're MacBook. The best option for you right now would be to upgrade the RAM and see if that provides better performance.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Well my friend has a black macbook which he got about 6 months ago, and he has no lag problems in games. so i dont think i need a MBP

If you say so. Your integrated graphics is rather old though, so I still doubt you will see too much improvement by upping RAM to 2GB (you should do it, though).

I still maintain that if you plan to play graphics intensive games, a discrete graphics card will yield the best improvement, if not be outright necessary.

 

[Xan]

Thanks everyone specially windowpain crucial was great service and now my computer has no lag problems

 

[windowpain]

No problem at all, glad I could help. Thanks for the thanks.
I've never actually bought anything from crucial before, just heard good things about them on the boards here.

How well (or badly?) does it play warcraft now? I heard that the graphics card in the earlier macbooks isn't so good, but the later ones with the X3100 play it fairly acceptably.

 

[gnasher729]

Now i'm looking to make it into more of a gaming computer, whenever i play a online game with good graphics such as World of warcraft my computer lags very badly, is this because i need more ram?

You only have 512 MB of RAM. Today, RAM is so cheap, it is almost a crime not upgrading to 2 GB. This will make your computer substantially faster in all respects. This will not turn a MacBook into a gaming computer, but it will turn it into much more of a fast and very useful computer.

You could get a faster computer by spending a lot of money on a new MacBook. But you will get 80 percent of that gain by spending less than £30 on two 1 GB chips (check out http://www.crucial.com; you may find RAM slightly cheaper, but with these guys you can order RAM that is guaranteed right for your computer).

 

[Willis]

I play WOW on my Macbook and when it had 1GB of ram, framerates were around 11-13... with 2Gb of ram... 17-20fps... so it helps an awful lot!

That is with the GMA950