Should I buy my cousin a MBPr 13" + PS4 or a MBPr 15" with NVIDIA?

Hieveryone

Hieveryone

macrumors 603
My cousins birthday is coming up and I always spoil him rotten.

He's going off to college so I really want to do it big for him.

He likes gaming a lot and will also need a computer.

The question is, will he be better off gaming on a PS4 or MBPr 15" with NVIDIA GT 750M graphics?

Thanks guys! :)

EDIT: OR XBOX ONE! :)
 
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You can game on a 13" just fine. I wish I was your cousin :)

Work got me a late 13" rMBP with 16gb RAM... granted overkill. I installed Bootcamp and framerates are decent, not great. My kids wanted an Xbox One but a lot of their friends are telling them to get a PS4, even the ones who own XBox 1's.

So yah wish I was your cousin :)
 
The 15" is really good for gaming!

But I do like my my brothers 13" for portability?

I would say get the nvidia 15"!

If he's a gamer I'm not sure he will like using intels gpu vs an nvidia 750m! And PC gaming is SO much better then consoles.

I was able to play portal 2 at maxed settings including full resolution! At high fps on my 2012 rmbp with a 650m

Also the CPU is better in the 15" model. It's a much faster computer overall. For non gaming the 13" is better since it's so light and small.

But if performance is needed, go with the big daddy!

And if you want, you can buy some cool decal stickers as a bonus gift!
 
same thing I went across for myself. Now, I like to separte your question a bit. A 13" rmbp and a 15" rmbp are different depending on his major. If he's creative type like photos or video, get him the 15". If he's a programmer or liberal arts, get him the 13", IMO.

Now, in terms of gaming, PS4 for the win. There's no way that a 15" rmbp will be more fun for him because PS4 includes more games, more exclusives, 100% compatibility with most games so no driver changes etc, most game companies are shooting for consoles anyway, and finally, mac gaming just isn't that good, don't force him to bootcamp.
 
For college, I'd take the 13" rMBP and PS4.

The 13" is great for note taking, reading, writing etc. And it can also be used for more intense jobs - but not gaming.

PS4 is a great console, and there will come so many great games for it. Since both the PS4 and Xbox One uses x86-architecture, I think that more PC-games will be released on those two platforms.

Even the 15% rMBP with Nvidia wouldn't be that of a gaming monster + it gets warm, and can't run at good framerates anyways. So all in all, I would go for the PS4. You get a nice controller too, can use it for Netflix etc... So the PS4+13" package would be my choice :D
 
Hands down 13" rMBP + PS4 (or xbox)

To beat that setup gaming wise you would need to purchase a dedicated gaming PC.

I have the rMBP 15", I game a lot, and frankly it very limited in my opinion, it got to the point where I just used it as a work laptop and got an Alienware for gaming.

The PS4 or Xbox are way way way way better than a 15" rMBP at gaming.

Though you are going to have to ask him what type of gaming he likes, ask him if he prefers console or PC. If he says console, ask him, which does he think is better, the PS4 or Xbox. This will help you to make a decision.
 
Hieveryone said:
My cousins birthday is coming up and I always spoil him rotten.

He's going off to college so I really want to do it big for him.

He likes gaming a lot and will also need a computer.

The question is, will he be better off gaming on a PS4 or MBPr 15" with NVIDIA GT 750M graphics?

Thanks guys! :)

EDIT: OR XBOX ONE! :)
Click to expand...

Depends on what he uses to game now, as it shows his preference for a platform. Some games are only on console or only on PC. PS4/Xbox One both would have more power for gaming than even a 750M. If you go the laptop route, you also have to get him a copy of windows for dual-booting, as most games are windows-only.
 
Am I the only one who wonders why someone who is going to college to study would need a PS4? Although between your choices clearly the first. The 750M really isn't a great gaming chip, it just looks good in comparison to the rest of the Apple lineup.
 
Lol I forgot how so many mac people love ps4 just because it's not Microsoft. Keep an open mind, I like Macs but Xbox One > ps4, though I buillt a PC specifically for gaming so that's my primary choice, but I'm a huge fan of the Forza series.

But if he likes ps4, that'll be better - I would NOT recommend a MBP 13 for gaming. and even the 15" with the nvidia card, sure it may have a lot of ram, but that card is still not very good for gaming. The GT750M barely squeezes out 12fps on ultra settings of modern games, - idk how the hell apple convinced people it's good for graphic design. If he really wants a gaming computer, buy parts and put it together = better and cheaper than anything else.
 
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DkSolid said:
Lol I forgot how so many mac people love ps4 just because it's not microsoft. Keep an open mind, I like Macs but Xbox One > ps4, though I buillt a PC specifically for gaming so that's my primary choice, but I'm a huge fan of the Forza series.

But if he likes ps4, that'll be better - I would NOT recommend a MBP 13 for gaming. and even the 15" with the nvidia card, sure it may have a lot of ram, but that card is still not very good for gaming. If he really wants a gaming computer, buy parts and put it together = better and cheaper than anything else.
Click to expand...

PS4 is more powerful than the Xbox One though....
 
OzzyOzman said:
PS4 is more powerful than the Xbox One though....
Click to expand...

Not in any significant way - and the games are rubbish. Weird point to make considering most mac people buy 'less powerful systems', but hate xb1 just because it's Microsoft - which is a really stupid thing to do. I love my mac as much as the next person here, but you can still like macs and appreciate other products as well. brand loyalty doesn't win you any points in this life, they could care less, they just want your money.
 
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MH01 said:
Hands down 13" rMBP + PS4 (or xbox)

To beat that setup gaming wise you would need to purchase a dedicated gaming PC.

I have the rMBP 15", I game a lot, and frankly it very limited in my opinion, it got to the point where I just used it as a work laptop and got an Alienware for gaming.

The PS4 or Xbox are way way way way better than a 15" rMBP at gaming.

Though you are going to have to ask him what type of gaming he likes, ask him if he prefers console or PC. If he says console, ask him, which does he think is better, the PS4 or Xbox. This will help you to make a decision.
Click to expand...


Thanks! very helpful. I'm assuming you have the NVIDIA in yours right?

Also, what ways are you limited? Just curious...

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OzzyOzman said:
PS4 is more powerful than the Xbox One though....
Click to expand...

Xbox One has Titan Fall.



UPDATE: I think I will go on ahead and buy an Xbox One + MBPr 13" 2.4/8/256 refurbished.

The reason being is I play Titan Fall on Xbox One and I'm sure he will love it too.

I actually have almost the exact same setup except my MBPr has a 2.6 GHz processor and it was new.
 
DkSolid said:
Not in any significant way - and the games are rubbish. Weird point to make considering most mac people buy 'less powerful systems', but hate xb1 just because it's Microsoft - which is a really stupid thing to do. I love my mac as much as the next person here, but you can still like macs and appreciate other products as well. brand loyalty doesn't win you any points in this life, they could care less, they just want your money.
Click to expand...

PS4 is actually more powerful in a very significant way and it's already starting to show in the games being released. I have no brand loyalty to Apple (I use other Microsoft products and have an Android phone) and I find it very odd that just because someone doesn't agree with you that means they are automatically loyal to one specific brand. Last point, if I'm buying a system specifically for gaming I would want the option that was the best not the one that was almost as good.
 
I'd put it this way:

Do you want to give him something genuinely useful that he can use to develop skills that will give him an edge in the jobs market?

15" Pro (or 13" without the PS4)

Do you just want to spoil him and give him something to waste his time doing something completely unproductive?

13" and a PS4

funkdoctor said:
PS4 is actually more powerful in a very significant way and it's already starting to show in the games being released. I have no brand loyalty to Apple (I use other Microsoft products and have an Android phone) and I find it very odd that just because someone doesn't agree with you that means they are automatically loyal to one specific brand. Last point, if I'm buying a system specifically for gaming I would want the option that was the best not the one that was almost as good.
Click to expand...

The main reason why PS4 games are looking better doesn't have that much to do with hardware (PS3 has theoretically 50% more GPU power, but otherwise it's slightly worse), but with Microsoft's efforts on the software front not being quite up to the task. The development tools are not as good as Sony's and the drivers aren't nearly as mature as they've diverted huge amounts of resources into Kinetic, various media features and making sure the RROD fiasco won't be repeated. Other than that the Xbox One also has the really high performance on-chip SRAM which developers still haven't been able to properly utilize while the PS4 is so simple they've been able to utilize everything from the get-go.

Another way of putting it is that the PS4 is basically a console designed by software developers for software developers when the PS3 was mainly done by the whims of a hardware engineer with software being secondary (literally the opposite). Apparently the Xbox One drivers and development tools are getting some major updates this summer with things like DirectX12 with some pretty good close-to-metal kind of stuff (which the PS4 already has with PSGL).
 
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funkdoctor said:
PS4 is actually more powerful in a very significant way and it's already starting to show in the games being released. I have no brand loyalty to Apple (I use other Microsoft products and have an Android phone) and I find it very odd that just because someone doesn't agree with you that means they are automatically loyal to one specific brand. Last point, if I'm buying a system specifically for gaming I would want the option that was the best not the one that was almost as good.
Click to expand...

Xbox One has Titan Fall and Halo

/<end thread>/

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SarcasticJoe said:
I'd put it this way:

Do you want to give him something genuinely useful that he can use to develop skills that will give him an edge in the jobs market?

15" Pro (or 13" without the PS4)

Do you just want to spoil him and give him something to waste his time doing something completely unproductive?

13" and a PS4



The main reason why PS4 games are looking better doesn't have that much to do with hardware (PS3 has theoretically 50% more GPU power, but otherwise it's slightly worse), but with Microsoft's efforts on the software front not being quite up to the task. The development tools are not as good as Sony's and the drivers aren't nearly as mature as they've diverted huge amounts of resources into Kinetic, various media features and making sure the RROD fiasco won't be repeated. Other than that the Xbox One also has the really high performance on-chip SRAM which developers still haven't been able to properly utilize while the PS4 is so simple they've been able to utilize everything from the get-go.

Another way of putting it is that the PS4 is basically a console designed by software developers for software developers when the PS3 was mainly done by the whims of a hardware engineer with software being secondary (literally the opposite). Apparently the Xbox One drivers and development tools are getting some major updates this summer with things like DirectX12 with some pretty good close-to-metal kind of stuff (which the PS4 already has with PSGL).
Click to expand...

How will a 15" teach him skills?

He wants to be a doctor. His major is Chemistry.
 
Get him neither and make him something by hand. It's the thought that counts.
Ok if you insist, I think the mbpr 13 inch + ps4 would be better because you have the ps4 to make up for the not so great gaming of the mbpr 13 inch.
 
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