Professional use + gaming, no problem

[oscarzeta2222]

I went through a few laptops before I settled on this 2017 MacBook Pro 13". I wanted something mostly to help run my psychotherapy practice. But I also wanted something I could game on secondarily. Just for when there are no-shows or when I work at the hospital overnights on the rare occasion it's not busy.

I looked at the Microsoft Surface Book 2, with the I7 and the Nvidia 1050. That honestly seemed perfect, except that it was way too big to carry around in my small bag. And very expensive.

Also looked at the Razer Blade Stealth 2019, with the MX150, which was really nice. But I just heard so many terrible things about the customer service and quality. I mean, you hear things about every brand, including Apple of course, but the reviews on Razer products seem particularly egregious. I couldn't take the chance.

Also looked at the Surface Pro 6, the new MSI 13" with the MX150, MacBook Air and MacBook.

With the MacBook Pro I can do anything I need for my practice plus I can definitely game as well. I always hear how this laptop is not for gaming, so maybe I'm just lucky that the types of games I play are available. Or maybe it's just because I'm only a casual gamer. But if you look at the games for the 2017 MacBook Pro 13" on the Feral Interactive or Aspyr sites, I could play for years just on those alone. The entire Borderlands series, Tomb Raider series, Batman Arkham Asylum and City, Civilization, Shadow of Mordor, Lego games, Bioshock, StarWars, Doom, Sims, etc, etc.

I guess these games are all optimized for the Mac? I have no idea, but it's awesome to be able to have this laptop for professional use but also play some really cool games at the same time. Yes, I wish the keyboard didn't have the problems it does but if that happens, I will worry about it when the time comes.

 

[Tim018]

uhmmm... have you actually tested any of this?

Older versions of bioshock and sims might run ok

But new stuff like Doom, Shadow of Mordor, tomb raider, etc? Not a chance in hell unless you like slideshows on the lowest of low settings

 

[oscarzeta2222]

uhmmm... have you actually tested any of this?

Older versions of bioshock and sims might run ok

But new stuff like Doom, Shadow of Mordor, tomb raider, etc? Not a chance in hell unless you like slideshows on the lowest of low settings

If you look in the App Store or on Steam, it will say specifically which MacBooks are supported for the specific game. I already had most of those titles on Steam that I played on my gaming laptop.

I have played both Batman Arkham games with no problems, averaging about 50fps, maybe a bit more. I’ve played the Borderlands and BL2 averaging about the same FPS with no problems. And I’ve played the first Tomb Raider game with no problems but I haven’t played the second one. I’ve also played Thief with no issues. I use the FPS counter on Steam when I play. My thought was that they are somehow optimized for Mac. Because again, if you look at the store, in most cases it will tell you which MacBooks are supported. And most of those games support the one I have.

My MacBook heats up to about 60-65 degrees when I play but I don’t think that’s too much of an issue is it?

Again, I’m not a huge gamer. I’m playing for at most 1-2 hours at a time, maybe twice per week. I use the PS3 wireless controller which also works flawlessly, as it is supported in most of these games according to the Feral or Aspyr sites.

Maybe 50-60fps is not good according to most people who play games like this? It honestly looks great to me.

I can try Doom and the newer Tomb Raider if you like?

 

[maflynn]

I always hear how this laptop is not for gaming, so maybe I'm just lucky that the types of games I play are available.

Its probably you're picking games that are available for the Mac and the mac can handle it. Widows machines have a much higher volume of available games, then steam on macOS. iGPU based laptops just don't have the graphical computing power to run many games, its not an apple thing, but just a fact whether its dell or apple.

 

[1096bimu]

I went through a few laptops before I settled on this 2017 MacBook Pro 13". I wanted something mostly to help run my psychotherapy practice. But I also wanted something I could game on secondarily. Just for when there are no-shows or when I work at the hospital overnights on the rare occasion it's not busy.

I looked at the Microsoft Surface Book 2, with the I7 and the Nvidia 1050. That honestly seemed perfect, except that it was way too big to carry around in my small bag. And very expensive.

Also looked at the Razer Blade Stealth 2019, with the MX150, which was really nice. But I just heard so many terrible things about the customer service and quality. I mean, you hear things about every brand, including Apple of course, but the reviews on Razer products seem particularly egregious. I couldn't take the chance.

Also looked at the Surface Pro 6, the new MSI 13" with the MX150, MacBook Air and MacBook.

With the MacBook Pro I can do anything I need for my practice plus I can definitely game as well. I always hear how this laptop is not for gaming, so maybe I'm just lucky that the types of games I play are available. Or maybe it's just because I'm only a casual gamer. But if you look at the games for the 2017 MacBook Pro 13" on the Feral Interactive or Aspyr sites, I could play for years just on those alone. The entire Borderlands series, Tomb Raider series, Batman Arkham Asylum and City, Civilization, Shadow of Mordor, Lego games, Bioshock, StarWars, Doom, Sims, etc, etc.

I guess these games are all optimized for the Mac? I have no idea, but it's awesome to be able to have this laptop for professional use but also play some really cool games at the same time. Yes, I wish the keyboard didn't have the problems it does but if that happens, I will worry about it when the time comes.

When we say things like the MBP is "not for gaming" we don't mean "it is impossible to run games on it".
I thought that would be obvious, as general purpose computers, you can run anything on them, obviously.

We mean it can't run the latest games to a satisfactory level, like running Shadow of the Tomb Raider on native 2560x1600 resolution at 30fps.