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MacBooki

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
6
0
Hello Im considering buying the macbook pro 13 inch with the i5 processor.
I would like to use it for work (adobe suite + to run web development software) on my free time I would like to play world of warcraft (an MMORPG) game could I play the game for like 5 hours or would the laptop overheat and crash or close suddenly (this is what happens on my dell atm and it has a 512mb graphics card) I plan to use a fan stand under the macbook pro.

Id like to hear some of your experiences and thoughts please or any tips to be able to combine all my life in the macbook pro.

Happy Easter,
Take care.
 
Why not consider a laptop cooler for your long gaming sessions? Just a suggestion. :)
 
nope it wont, albeit i don't know what the performance will be like.

The performance you mean that the game will have lag? or that the video settings should be set to low so that it will run smoother.

Why not consider a laptop cooler for your long gaming sessions? Just a suggestion. :)

Im thinking also to get a good laptop cooler tryed on the dell with a 1fan cooler but it crashes after 30mins of online call of duty play.. :/

I go on youtube and watch videos and contact people who have the MBP from their channels and some say they have no problem. Then I dont know how come I see people complaining that their MBP crashes and overheats while running dreamweaver or photoshop :eek:

Im trully freaked out and paniced because this is a serious and big purchase for me.
 
I'm playing WoW on that machine. It won't overheat and will actually be quiet if you:
- turn on vertical sync
- type "/console maxfps 30" (negates the use of vertical sync I guess, but whatever)
- turn shadows and water effects all the way down.

The game will run fine and 100% stable, but don't expect it to look GREAT since there's no proper GPU (in fact it looks much better on my ultimate MBA13).
 
I'm playing WoW on that machine. It won't overheat and will actually be quiet if you:
- turn on vertical sync
- type "/console maxfps 30" (negates the use of vertical sync I guess, but whatever)
- turn shadows and water effects all the way down.

The game will run fine and 100% stable, but don't expect it to look GREAT since there's no proper GPU (in fact it looks much better on my ultimate MBA13).

Im very new in the Mac invirorment, the vertical sync is in the wow options or in the mac os somewhere? also the command i insert it in the wow chat just like /wave?
Glad to have found one more person who has mac and plays wow.
Do you think i could play 5-6 hours straight without it overheating or crash?
Would you say I could do arena on it? or it is lagging while playing?
Would you regret your purchase of macbook pro 13inch i5 at all? or for some reason?
And one more question would you recommend I upgrade the ram from 4gig to 8gigs? Would it help at all?

Thank you for your responses :)
 
Im very new in the Mac invirorment, the vertical sync is in the wow options or in the mac os somewhere? also the command i insert it in the wow chat just like /wave?
Glad to have found one more person who has mac and plays wow.
Do you think i could play 5-6 hours straight without it overheating or crash?
Would you say I could do arena on it? or it is lagging while playing?
Would you regret your purchase of macbook pro 13inch i5 at all? or for some reason?
And one more question would you recommend I upgrade the ram from 4gig to 8gigs? Would it help at all?

Thank you for your responses :)

I'm at work right now I'll answer you later today :)
 
My friend plays Wow on this while he travels, he suggested turning sunshafts off. He has to have the graphics on medium but he raids with no lag (other than hotel internet related).
 
I'm playing WoW on that machine. It won't overheat and will actually be quiet if you:
- turn on vertical sync
- type "/console maxfps 30" (negates the use of vertical sync I guess, but whatever)
- turn shadows and water effects all the way down.

The game will run fine and 100% stable, but don't expect it to look GREAT since there's no proper GPU (in fact it looks much better on my ultimate MBA13).

MBA doesnt have a GPU either, main difference is down to the SSD on an MMO.
 
MBA doesnt have a GPU either, main difference is down to the SSD on an MMO.
The game does look better on the MBA, that is a fact and I'm not biased: I have them both on my desk right now, I noticed it right away and I've been using both alternatively for 10 days trying to decide which one I'll keep.
Pushing up the settings (the game defaults to "good" on the MBA, and "fair" on the MBP that has a lower res) doesn't change that fact. By the way on the MBP the slider thing is red above "fair", which I understand like "no use, not registered!".
This made me realize that all those benchmarks and reviews you see on the web only focus on framerate, not even looking at the rendering itself.
Anyway...


Now to OP:

the vertical sync is in the wow options or in the mac os somewhere?
In the game's options.

also the command i insert it in the wow chat just like /wave?
That's it.
/console maxfps 30
(you decide the number, I figured half the screen's natural rate was nice).

Do you think i could play 5-6 hours straight without it overheating or crash?
No problem at all. It won't overheat since that command you entered will prevent the machine from rendering all the frames it can. Actually it will get just a bit warm, nothing close to "hot". And as a consequence the fans will remain pretty quiet...
(don't forget to turn down the water and shadow effects though)

Would you say I could do arena on it? or it is lagging while playing?
Well I actually haven't done any PVP yet since I'm still leveling: my former account was banned (I had been buying gold from the chinese, quit the game for 2 years, and didn't see Blizzard's emails concerning the issue because I had changed email in the meantime so I couldn't explain myself... oh well...) so I'm starting fresh and playing casual for the time being.
However I'm getting a stable 30fps flying in open areas with view distance on "good" and during dungeons, so I don't see why that would change in very small zones like arenas. Haven't tried BGs.

Would you regret your purchase of macbook pro 13inch i5 at all? or for some reason?
And one more question would you recommend I upgrade the ram from 4gig to 8gigs? Would it help at all?
I once read on the Blizz forums that the game doesn't make use of that much RAM so I don't think 8gb would make a difference.

Do I regret the purchase? Well, this is my first MBP and I love it, I'm just a bit frustrated that WoW doesn't look nearly as good as it does on the MBA (again: I'm not talking about framerate which anyway should be limited in both cases for heat and fan noise issues).
Now I have 4 days left to make up my mind and return it or not (and maybe get the base 15"? but spending 50% more just to casually play WoW in better conditions makes me scared of buyer's remorse... oh but there's gonna be Diablo 3 some day... gahh what to do...).

However I'm a casual player now since I finally got a life so I might get on with it...

Thank you for your responses :)
Much obliged, hope that will be helpful :)
 
All the overheating problems seem to be answered and no it won't overheat.

But one thing that I didn't read being mentioned is the fact that the newer 2011 15" MBPs drain battery while playing games. So if you're doing marathon sessions of 5 hours, I'm not sure if you'll be completely drained but you'll want to make sure you're charged up FULLY before doing any raids or long gaming sessions. Don't expect to just plug it in with 10 minutes of battery left and get to play very much, it'll die out. Pretty unfortunate. If I play Portal 2 for say an hour and I quit my battery charges. I unplugged it to see the % and it was about 92% so maybe 8% loss after an hour. Not a BIG issue if you're charged up some before playing.

LOL my bad, I just noticed the 13" I fail. I don't think this is an issue on the 13" =) disregard.
 
Hmm I feel I've been too harsh on the MBP and that my issue concerning the looks could be subjective. I had not used the MBP for a few days and just played on it for... err 6 hours straight. No overheating, the computer is just warm. The fan kicked in a few times (maybe for 10% of those 6 hours) but not full speed, so no problem (I hate fans).

I think I prefer how the game looks on the MBA because of the semi-mate screen and the softer colors. Probably also because of the higher res... Other than that the difference is not as obvious as I initially put it.

Considering the HD 3000 drivers will probably get updated in the future I guess general performance can only get better.

Well, you can go for it anyway :)
 
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