upgrade to MBP for gaming.. What to do???

[benalexe]

Hi Everyone,

About 3 months ago I made a switch from the PC to the Mac. Best thing I ever did.

I currently have a 2.0 Macbook, 100 gig HD, and the superdrive.

One thing I miss about the switch is the ability to play games. THe macbook does not have the juice. Wehn I was a PC guy I loved Half Life. I had an ati all in wonder 2006 eddition video card.

I decided that it would be a good time to upgrade to a Macbook pro. I found a great deal at macmall for $1,800 for the base macbook pro core 2 duo. I figure for my macbook which is one month old (due to a replacement issue) It is custom with 100 gig HD and 1 gig ram. I can probably get about $1,300 on ebay. I also have the apple care on it.

So I figured about $500 get me the upgrade to the pro with the core 2 duo and better graphics and all the other benefits, so I can play some games etc.

Well.... I just realized that the MBP only has a 128 kb video card which is a dissapointment. So I need some advice on what to do...

1) Keep what I have until after new years... run a risk of it depreciating more, then see what is out there and if apple upgrades the card.

2) Pay more money and go for the MBP with the 256K video. Will cost about $500 maybe a little less

3) go to the apple web site and buy a refurb MBP CORE 1 DUO with the 256 video card for about the same price as a new core 2 duo base model.

4) Buy an xbox 360 for games and keep the macbook

5) See if I can get my old P IV PC working again
I can't think of any other options

Any advice would be really great!!!

 

[Stadsport]

Well I'm a console gamer, so this isn't a big issue for me. But in any case, I'm pretty sure the MacBook will run HL2 at full speed with 2gb of RAM. Still, if you want the extra beef I'd just save up and get the MBP with 256mb video RAM. I'm sure the Core Duo MBP will be enough power, too. From what I've heard, it'll run about anything you throw at it. Just make sure to put at LEAST a gig of RAM into it.

 

[Sun Baked]

Wait for the next Inel chipset update to trade up, you've gotten little real use out of the machine in 3 months -- plus update now and you'll be wanting to update again rather soon when you see the MacBook Pro with 965 chipset specs.

 

[benalexe]

Any Idea when the new MBP will come out? It seems they just did this update to the C2D?

Do you think my macbook will depreciate a lot in that time?

If I decided to go for the MBP which is the better option on the MBP the c2d base or the c1 middle of the road?

 

[Stadsport]

Any Idea when the new MBP will come out? It seems they just did this update to the C2D?

Do you think my macbook will depreciate a lot in that time?

If I decided to go for the MBP which is the better option on the MBP the c2d base or the c1 middle of the road?

It'll probably be a while before the MBP is updated, it's was just updated to C2D.
As for low C2D or mid CD, that's your decision to make. Personally I don't think the performance difference between CD and C2D is that large, unless you're running 64 bit applications, so I'd probably go with the mid range one and get more video muscle.

 

[benalexe]

Thanks for the advice. I am leaning to buy the c2d. Here is my logic.

the current macbook I have now is the core 1 processor. I can sell it now when it is still worth some money.

As much as I think getting the core 1 MBP with better graphics would make sense, I think that if I got the core 2 base. If I want to resell it when a better v card comes out it will fetch a higher price because it is a newer model.

The only other thing I am wondering if anyone knows when ilife 07 is due out. If it is right after the holidays it may make some sense to wait.

 

[FFTT]

I would just keep the Macbook for your basic portable needs and buy a well equipped C2D iMac 20" or 24" as your primary workstation and gaming console.

 

[QCassidy352]

the extra 128 MB of vRAM on the higher end MBP will matter a lot for running a bigger display, but will have a trivial impact on gaming done on the MBP's built in screen. Get the base model for $1800; it's a good deal.

 

[wyrmintheapple]

Wait for the next Inel chipset update to trade up, you've gotten little real use out of the machine in 3 months -- plus update now and you'll be wanting to update again rather soon when you see the MacBook Pro with 965 chipset specs.

As the pro will likely ignore the graphics in the 965 in favour of a dedicated chipset, other than some minor fixes and boots I fail to see what you think will benefit the OP by waiting for this chipset. If it were the regular Macbook, I could see your point.... but its not.

 

[Sun Baked]

As the pro will likely ignore the graphics in the 965 in favour of a dedicated chipset, other than some minor fixes and boots I fail to see what you think will benefit the OP by waiting for this chipset. If it were the regular Macbook, I could see your point.... but its not.

If you look at the stuff for the Santa Rosa platform, the benefits are many ... the biggest one is more than 3GB of RAM.