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playing doom3 on a 15inch powerbook

M

me2621a

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 17, 2005
54
0
hi,
im new to mac. i need a ultra mobile and powerful system so people said by a power book. i went looking and likes the 15inch. here is how i would configure it.
1.67 G4
1.5GB of ram
ATI 9700 with 128 VRam
80gb hard drive
Combo drive
Do i have what is required to play doom 3 at the maximum resolution the screen on the power book offers at medium settings with the shadows turned off well?
please i am planning on making my perchase soon and i need to know this.
 
me2621a said:
hi,
im new to mac. i need a ultra mobile and powerful system so people said by a power book. i went looking and likes the 15inch. here is how i would configure it.
1.67 G4
1.5GB of ram
ATI 9700 with 128 VRam
80gb hard drive
Combo drive
Do i have what is required to play doom 3 at the maximum resolution the screen on the power book offers at medium settings with the shadows turned off well?
please i am planning on making my perchase soon and i need to know this.
Click to expand...

Yea, maybe. But I would recommend using a lower res, than default PB's.
 
doom 3

me2621a said:
hi,
im new to mac. i need a ultra mobile and powerful system so people said by a power book. i went looking and likes the 15inch. here is how i would configure it.
1.67 G4
1.5GB of ram
ATI 9700 with 128 VRam
80gb hard drive
Combo drive
Do i have what is required to play doom 3 at the maximum resolution the screen on the power book offers at medium settings with the shadows turned off well?
please i am planning on making my perchase soon and i need to know this.
Click to expand...

Even though the powerbook is a great, ultra portable system, it does not matter how much gusto it has. Doom 3 was a terrible mac port and it is tuff to run on a 15 incher at maximum resolution and get great framerates. Tiger definately helped the line, but its still not gonna run super great at full res. I run it at a little less than full with some of the eye candy off and get pretty good framerates on the previous gen high end 15 inch (1.5 ghz, 1.25 gig ram, 128 vram).
 
ok

so then what resolution should i run doom3 at?
Turning off the shodows and the fog should be enough right?
one other question what should i run halo at?
thanks for your coments
 
me2621a said:
one other question what should i run halo at?
thanks for your coments
Click to expand...

I just started to play halo (i'm all out of bullets and the electric gun thingy is out of battery,) any way i use the normal settings and it doesn't lag too much, i'm not that picky... now that i think about it, it doesn't really lag at all.
 
me2621a said:
so then what resolution should i run doom3 at?
Turning off the shodows and the fog should be enough right?
one other question what should i run halo at?
thanks for your coments
Click to expand...

You shouldn't really ask it here. Launch the game and try for yourself. People have different points of view on the game's "playability/enjoyability". That's why you can modify game's graphics settings to fit YOUR needs.
 
ok

what is halos normal settings. you know whats the screen resolution and all that junk.
if i am playing halo or doom 3 how long is my battery life.
 
...sounds to me like you should get a desktop

you play games quite often, and if your going to lan parties alot or so, the imac's are quite portable for taking to the lan parties.
 
no

i need mobility for working.
i travel alot on planes
so i just need answers to theses question.
1. What resolution is sugested to play doom 3 at medium settings with the fog and shadowing turned off.
2.Can halo be played well on the power book and what resolution can i play halo at.
3. this is a new one.
i bought a 5.1 seround sound system. does a 5.1 mini pc card exist that is conpatible with the power book 15inch and if so can you tell me were to get it.
It doesnt even need to be a mini pc card, anything that is compatable with the powerbook that plays 5.1 seround sound speakers will do.

thank you
 
Ive got the 17 inch with 2 gig of ram and I run it on medium 800x500 and it runs pretty slick even at 1024 x 640 its still pretty playable
 
please i need these questions answered as soon as possible

i have 3 more questions that i need somone to answer as soon as possible.
please use the number that i have with the question in your respons so i know wich your aswering.

1.) If i hook up my powerbook to the tv with my s-video conectore and run doom 3 will i get graphics equivalent if not beder than the x-box.

2.)If there is anyone out there who plays halo on a power book please help. can i run it on the power book with the resolution of 1152x768 and get good frame rates. what i mean is no chop. If so can i run it at 1280x800.

3.) How long is the s-video cable that comes with the powerbook.

Remember i am trying to do all of this on a 15inch power book with
G4 1.67ghz
Mobility 9700 with 128 vram
1.5 gb of ram
superdrive
80gb hard drive

please i really need these questions answerd
 
me2621a said:
i have 3 more questions that i need somone to answer as soon as possible.
please use the number that i have with the question in your respons so i know wich your aswering.

1.) If i hook up my powerbook to the tv with my s-video conectore and run doom 3 will i get graphics equivalent if not beder than the x-box.

2.)If there is anyone out there who plays halo on a power book please help. can i run it on the power book with the resolution of 1152x768 and get good frame rates. what i mean is no chop. If so can i run it at 1280x800.

3.) How long is the s-video cable that comes with the powerbook.

Remember i am trying to do all of this on a 15inch power book with
G4 1.67ghz
Mobility 9700 with 128 vram
1.5 gb of ram
superdrive
80gb hard drive

please i really need these questions answerd
Click to expand...
1. Plugging in a TV or something, with out an external KB will mean you have to have the PB open, and I'm pretty sure it means that it will split the VRAM to 64 for one screen, 64 for another.

2. No idea. I played Halo on my 1GHz Ti, and it was fine, but I have no idea what the settings were as I only played it once or twice to say I had.

3. It's a S-Video to composite adapter actually, and its maybe 10-15cm. If you need length, goto a Radio Shack like store and buy a long S-Video cable or a long composite cable.
 
me2621a said:
1.) If i hook up my powerbook to the tv with my s-video conectore and run doom 3 will i get graphics equivalent if not beder than the x-box.

2.)If there is anyone out there who plays halo on a power book please help. can i run it on the power book with the resolution of 1152x768 and get good frame rates. what i mean is no chop. If so can i run it at 1280x800.
Click to expand...

1) No it will never look the same or have a similar experience to the Xbox. If you want to play console games, get a console. The mac version's performance will vary a lot more than the console version although you'll be able to play at higher graphics settings and resolutions.

2) Halo should run great on a 1.5GHz Powerbook. My dad's 1.25GHz Powerbook with the Radeon 9600 can play with Pixel Shaders at 800x600 and all settings on max (bar FSAA). The 1.5GHz model with the 9700 should be able to play at 1152x768 fine.
 
thank you

"mac version's performance will vary a lot more than the console version"



what do you mean about the performance will vary alot more?
 
me2621a said:
"mac version's performance will vary a lot more than the console version"

what do you mean about the performance will vary alot more?
Click to expand...
What these posters mean is that they love Macs too much to honestly admit how much Doom 3 sucks on a G4.

Read this other thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/127253/ This is a quote from it:
I own a stock 12" 1.5ghz Powerbook and and dual 1.8 Powermac G5 w/Radeon 9800SE video card and 2GB system ram.

Doom runs on the powerbook and I can run around in the corridors until the enemies appear, and then everything slows to a slideshow - no exaggeration. All this at 640x480 everything except bump-mapping OFF.
Click to expand...
 
Macs and gaming dont mix well

Ok, i use both a Mac and a PC and i know for a fact that games arent meant for Macs. If you want to play games either but a portable game console, or buy a PC laptop. Yes, you heard right, I am reccomending a PC for something. A Mac kicks a PC's butt in everything else except for gaming. All though that may change with the release of mactels. For now, stick to the PC or console for gaming. Thats what i do.
 
snackcakeofd00m said:
Ok, i use both a Mac and a PC and i know for a fact that games arent meant for Macs. If you want to play games either but a portable game console, or buy a PC laptop. Yes, you heard right, I am reccomending a PC for something. A Mac kicks a PC's butt in everything else except for gaming. All though that may change with the release of mactels. For now, stick to the PC or console for gaming. Thats what i do.
Click to expand...

Getting a PC is massive overkill. The combination of a console as well as a Mac is perfect. You have both amazing productivity as well as the best PC games playable on your Mac as well as the mainstream console games playable on your TV in a relaxed environment. I've thought about getting a PC to play games but instead I got an Xbox. Ok so you have to wait a few months to get the latest and best PC ports (Battlefield 2, Half Life, Doom 3 etc) but that's nothing new compared to a Mac. Then once you get them you don't have to worry about performance resulting in a much funner game.

Any platform that (eventually) allows you to play Halo 2, GTA San Andreas, Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Doom 3 and a thousand other decent games at 30fps on a large monitor for less than $500 (including software costs) beats any PC in my book.

Here's a proposal for you. Get yourself a Mac and a console. When Apple brings out a Mactel Powerbook line sell the Mac and the console and buy a new Powerbook. Install Windows on a partion and play all of your Windows games as well as having a Mac. That sounds like the best solution to me.
 
Ahhhhhh

i keep getting mixed oppinoins.
when i spoke to an apple representitive he said that he was playing doom at max resolution at medium settings with fog and shodows turned off and he was only using a 1.5 g4 and 64 mb of vram.

i spoke to other apple people and they said it will run fine.

some of the people on this forum said it will run fine.

just so you know i already have a x-box but i need mobility. this notbooks sole perpose wont be games but if i have a game i want to be able to play it. so i will asc agian.

can a powerbook g4 1.67ghz play doom 3 at a resolution of 1152x768 with the fog turned off and the shadows turned off at medium settings and get frame rates over 20 the majoridy of the time. the vram is 128mb
 
me2621a said:
i keep getting mixed oppinoins.
when i spoke to an apple representitive he said that he was playing doom at max resolution at medium settings with fog and shodows turned off and he was only using a 1.5 g4 and 64 mb of vram.

i spoke to other apple people and they said it will run fine.

some of the people on this forum said it will run fine.

just so you know i already have a x-box but i need mobility. this notbooks sole perpose wont be games but if i have a game i want to be able to play it. so i will asc agian.

can a powerbook g4 1.67ghz play doom 3 at a resolution of 1152x768 with the fog turned off and the shadows turned off at medium settings and get frame rates over 20 the majoridy of the time. the vram is 128mb
Click to expand...

i doubt it, i think you'd be lucky to get over 8-9 on a Powerbook
 
hmmmmmm

when reading over a few benchmarks posted by macoligists they stated that i get about 19-28 frames per second at about 720 by 480 and about 17 to 25 frames in 896 by 600
do these scores sound right
all of this with shadows turned off.
test done on a PB with 1.5 ghz G4, 512 ram, and 128 video card
it didnt sound right to me exspecally the 512 ram part. imight have read it rong
any coments.
 
I have a Powerbook 1.67GHz with the 64MB VRAM Radeon 9700 and 512MB RAM. I used to have Halo loaded on it. Performance was better than my dual 1GHz G4 with the Radeon 9000 Pro with 64MB VRAM and 1.25GB RAM. On my Powerbook, I usually ran it at the setting just below the native resolution with details on high, but not at its highest setting. As for Doom3, I really doubt you could get high resolution and good game play without low frame rates. BTW, i fly around a lot too, maybe cya on the airplane sometime, and we can have a dual in Halo
:cool:
 
I know I might get flamed for saying this but anyway, if you want to play Doom 3 on a laptop, you're really not gonna want a Mac. If it boils down to gaming alone then unfortunately for the time being at least the PC based laptops really lead the way. Have a look at a Dell XPS laptop maybe. Of course this will all change when Apple bring in the Intel based laptops which can run Windows - that'll be the way to go then but right now, Apple's are a bit poo for gaming.
BTW Doom 3 really isn't that great - I got bored very quickly and don't bother playing it anymore, tried starting the game twice now but just can't seem to get into it - its nothing like Quake 2 or the original Dooms. Halflife however is fantastic and don't forget the Sims 2 which can run happily on Powerbooks. I'm normally a hardcore FPS PC gamer but I haven't been able to stop playing the Sims now for weeks.
 
HALO should be fine. I play at 800x600 on my 12" PowerBook with 64MB of VRAM and it is fine.

Dunno about Doom 3.

Make sure you set your Performance to Highest while gaming. Kills the battery but does a lot better than Reduced mode.
 
thats cool

Mechcozmo
what is the badery life at high performance anyway?
I was told by apple that you can get about 2.5 hours and 3.5 hours

Icespiker
I'll take you up on that
do you think with the 128 card i can squeese the highest setings out of halo


one other question somone mentioned halflife (i know not halflife2). Is halflife avalable on the mac?

Just so people know i played doom 3 on a friends pc and i love it. i dont know wy people find it boring
 
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