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What games can you play smoothly on a PB 12" or 15"?

R

Ryvius

macrumors member
Original poster
May 4, 2004
78
0
One of the last real nagging points about getting an PBook is knowing what games it can run and can't run. It's a trivial issue to most, but I'm a gamer through and through and the thought of being crippled when it's playtime horrifies me in ways incomprehensible to the human pschye.

The 12" Pbook has that crappy Nvidia card. The 15" can have the ATI 9700 card which is pretty damn good at least in the PC world.

What games have you guys tried on your machines? Which have worked the best, and which have run the poorest?

Much appreciated.

Forever in your debt.

Comrades in arms.

-- Ryvius
 
I leave most of my gaming to my Gamecube and Gameboy, but I still love to play EV: Nova on my 12" PB. It's not even close to cutting-edge on the graphics front, but it runs very smoothly.

Remember to also consider the amount of RAM you have, as well as your graphics card. A game will still run slowly if you don't have a good chunk of memory installed.
 
Its all about the visual sacrifices you're willing to make. Turning off anti-aliasing always helps out, as does lowering the amount of texture detail. I have a revision C TiBook, (with 256 MB RAM, I could use a lot more) which plays Neverwinter Nights acceptably with medium settings, Diablo II plays much better since 10.3.3. I don't really play a lot of other graphically intensive games, but considering my equipment is nearlytwo years old, I would be willing to bet that the latest revisions will handle most games quite well.
 
i have a rev. a 12" pb, diablo II and Quake 3 both run great on my machine, i could use some more ram for them both tho, dont expect to have the best performance with a laptop though
 
It people that make comments like yours give the 12" a bad name. Jedi Academy and Return to Castle Wolfenstein run fine on my 1.33Ghz with 256mb of ram. I upgrade my ram to 768mb for virtual pc purposes, but it didn't make a difference in gaming. I prefer to have a nvidia video card over a crappy ati anyday dude! :cool:
 
kirk26 said:
I prefer to have a nvidia video card over a crappy ati anyday dude! :cool:
Click to expand...
what video card does Nvidia make that is better than any of ATi's offerings? I don't know of any, and if you think the GeForce 5200 is better than an ATi 9700, you need to do some research.
 
My 12" Rev B handles games pretty well...I play Unreal Tournament 2003/2004,Jedi Academy,Medal Of Honor,Command&Conquer Generals without any problems. I still hate nVidia so I dont see a point in upgrading to the Rev C 12". If you want a nice gaming machine get the 15" 1.5GHz w/ 128MB VRAM or a G5 desktop.
 
BrianKonarsMac said:
what video card does Nvidia make that is better than any of ATi's offerings? I don't know of any, and if you think the GeForce 5200 is better than an ATi 9700, you need to do some research.
Click to expand...

I will always will be loyal to Nvidia. Never the dark path of the ati.
 
kirk26 said:
I will always will be loyal to Nvidia. Never the dark path of the ati.
Click to expand...


me too nvidia is the older company and apple is older then wintel. the older the better software just like apple
 
1

KooBrewoP said:
I am going to buy a 12in 1.33 pb, and cant decide between 512 and 768 mb ram. Is it really worth around £200 to upgrade? :confused:
Click to expand...
Buy the PowerBook with just the base 256MB RAM (soldered on, with the open slot free) and then buy a 512MB module for around £80 from crucial.com/uk. You'll save far more money than buying RAM from Apple's rip-off prices.

That's what I did, and then you end up with 768MB RAM (1GB modules are becoming more affordable but are still rather expensive).
 
johnnyjibbs said:
Buy the PowerBook with just the base 256MB RAM (soldered on, with the open slot free) and then buy a 512MB module for around £80 from crucial.com/uk. You'll save far more money than buying RAM from Apple's rip-off prices.

That's what I did, and then you end up with 768MB RAM (1GB modules are becoming more affordable but are still rather expensive).
Click to expand...

Nice one that saves me over £100!!!!

is it easy to install?
 
KooBrewoP said:
Nice one that saves me over £100!!!!

is it easy to install?
Click to expand...
It's easy. You'll kick yourself if you watch a technician charge you £40 to install it themselves.

You just need a small screwdriver, flip your powerbook upside down, unscrew the RAM expansion panel and then plug it in. Screw back up and you're done. Then boot up, check "About this Mac" from the Apple menu and it should say 768MB RAM. If you have any kernal panics or crashes, then you know it'll be bad RAM but crucial has quality stuff - I believe Apple uses Crucial RAM.

Full instructions for RAM installation are given in the PowerBook documentation. It is designed for you to put in yourself so don't worry about damaging your machine.
 
HALO...

Whatever you do, don't buy HALO. It is not very well optimised. i have the 15 inch with the 128 Mb graphics and it's quite jerky. It is the only micro$oft product I have purchased in years and I am not very pleased..

aussie_geek
 
aussie_geek said:
Whatever you do, don't buy HALO. It is not very well optimised. i have the 15 inch with the 128 Mb graphics and it's quite jerky. It is the only micro$oft product I have purchased in years and I am not very pleased..

aussie_geek
Click to expand...

Just play Halo on Xbox...runs great on mine! :)
 
I've been able to play Warcraft III (only a couple crashes), Alice, and Tropico smootly on a 1Ghz Titanium 512. It's not the best, but it works since I'm not too much of an avid gamer.
 
i play Halo on my 12" just fine. i have to have all the fancy visuals turned off, but when i'm in the middle of a Blood Gultch battle with warthogs flipping through the air over my head it doesn't bother me one bit. a couple of my friends have the 1.25 15"ers and Halo runs really well (for Halo that is) Halo will never give you awesome framerates even in the PC world.
 
johnnyjibbs said:
It's easy. You'll kick yourself if you watch a technician charge you £40 to install it themselves.

You just need a small screwdriver, flip your powerbook upside down, unscrew the RAM expansion panel and then plug it in. Screw back up and you're done. Then boot up, check "About this Mac" from the Apple menu and it should say 768MB RAM. If you have any kernal panics or crashes, then you know it'll be bad RAM but crucial has quality stuff - I believe Apple uses Crucial RAM.

Full instructions for RAM installation are given in the PowerBook documentation. It is designed for you to put in yourself so don't worry about damaging your machine.
Click to expand...

Is their any problems with buying cheap ram? i mean is this ram going to be of an inferior quality?
 
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