Return Gaming PC and buy a MacBook Pro?

[yourdream]

My parents recently bought me a CyberPowerPC from and a 24" monitor. They made it clear that I'm allowed to return the gaming pc and buy a 15" MacBook Pro if I want. But I am having trouble deciding whether to return the gaming pc and buy a 15" MacBook Pro instead. (Maybe a Build to Order model.) If I decide to buy a MacBook Pro, I would have to sell my current 13" MacBook Air. What I want in a laptop is portability and power. Since the MacBook Air uses a Intel Core 2 Duo and the MacBook Pro uses a i7 processor (Sandy Bridge), the MacBook Pro would be faster and slightly heavier. The gaming pc is more powerful but it lacks portability and the fan noise is a bit annoying. I have a 27" iMac that uses a Intel Core 2 Duo. My uses for a laptop are web browsing, email, music, using Pages, opening documents (Powerpoint) and maybe gaming.

Gaming PC Specifications:

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4 GHz
8 GB PC10666 DDR3
1 TB 7200 RPM
ATI Radeon HD 6870
Coolermaster 690 II Advanced
700 Watts Power Supply

13" MacBook Air Specifications:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
256GB flash storage
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics

27" iMac Specifications:
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz
4GB 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SO-DIMM SDRAM
1 TB 7200 RPM
ATI Radeon HD 4670

 

[AppleDApp]

What games are you playing? Game selection for macs is limited but improving. For web browsing and email you will not need a core i7. You seem to already have computers that fit your need. I'd return sell the iMac return and the gaming rig. Keep the MBA for school work and stuff once you set your mind on what you will be doing with the machine. Get something that fits your needs.

 

[yourdream]

What games are you playing? Game selection for macs is limited but improving. For web browsing and email you will not need a core i7. You seem to already have computers that fit your need. I'd return sell the iMac return and the gaming rig. Keep the MBA for school work and stuff once you set your mind on what you will be doing with the machine. Get something that fits your needs.

Counter-Strike: Source.

 

[AppleDApp]

Counter-Strike: Source.

your current systems can play CS source I don't see why you would need the gaming rig. Do you have an OS preference? Maybe sell the iMac or both and get a new iMac and keep the air for school.

 

[yourdream]

your current systems can play CS source I don't see why you would need the gaming rig. Do you have an OS preference? Maybe sell the iMac or both and get a new iMac and keep the air for school.

The game runs better on the gaming pc. I don't have an OS preference.

 

[AppleDApp]

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium 4 @ 1.2 GHz
Memory: 256 MB
Video Memory: 64 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Direct X: 7.0
Keyboard & Mouse
CD/DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Processor: Pentium 4 @ 2.4 GHz
Memory: 512 MB
Video Memory: 128 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0
Keyboard & Mouse
CD/DVD Rom Drive

Yes CS:S will definitely run better on your new machine but the point is your old machine is perfectly capable of running it as well maybe run Onyx on the iMac to see if anything is holding it back.

 

[Hellhammer]

If CS:S is seriously the only game you play, then I would also suggest returning the PC, or optionally selling the iMac. Even the MBA can play it fine. I wouldn't go for the 15" MBP because your laptop usage isn't very heavy so having an ultraportable like MBA is a better choice.

As for the PC's fan noise, you can easily change the fans for quieter ones.

 

[AppleDApp]

As for the PC's fan noise, you can easily change the fans for quieter ones.

PC's are also typically louder based on your heatsink fan and HDD, case and case fans. Your case is fairly quiet I can't speak for your other components.

 

[zarathu]

You should be aware that swers of the new macbook pros(mid 2011 Sandy Bridge models) are complaining of excess heat to the point that they need to use one of those lap top fan systems connected to the USB port to make them comfortable. Apple denies that there is a problem.

 

[Hellhammer]

PC's are also typically louder based on your heatsink fan and HDD, case and case fans. Your case is fairly quiet I can't speak for your other components.

It doesn't list anything about the fans or cooling so it's hard to say what is causing the noise. If I had to guess, it's the GPU or PSU fan. That is why I always build my own PCs so I can select whatever components I want to make sure they aren't too noisy.

 

[mzeb]

I decided to scale back to only one computer but wanted portability as well as a gaming machine. eGPU to the rescue. If you want to consolidate the list of machines you have there this would be a good option. If you want a portable gaming machine it is less ideal. Here's my list:

2017 MBP 13" 3.5GHz/16GB
Mantiz Venus Thunderbolt 3 EGPU Enclosure
Sapphire Radeon 580 Nitro+

This lets me plug in the desktop class GPU to my laptop and game like a desktop. Some CPU bound games (very modern multiplayer FPS can push this CPU) aren't quite as good as on a quad core box as this is a dual core laptop but most run just fine. OS X is plug and play bit windows takes a little work to get running with an eGPU.

On the go this is a less capable gaming machine than gaming laptops but it handles stuff well enough for what it is. It'll play modern games on low res and low detail. But the tradeoff of power for portability has long been this. Hard to find a good GPU in a 13" laptop.

https://egpu.io is a good resource for getting this set up. Happy to help as well.

 

[Tech198]

Keep the gaming PC and keep the MBA, or give up gaming PC and just play in Bootcamp

MBA is not really best for games, so if that's the thing, then you really want a Macbook Pro for that.