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Which Macbook for minor gaming?

F

fb7

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 9, 2009
4
0
Hey all,

I have been looking into getting a laptop now for university and was interested in getting a Macbook Pro. I plan on leaving my main gaming pc at home and using a laptop while living on campus. I won't be primarily using the laptop for gaming, maybe an occasional game of Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead, nothing Graphically intensive.

My question is, would there be a major difference between the mid range 15" 2.66GHz Macbook Pro and the high end 15" 2.88GHz Macbook Pro?. The only difference appears to be hard drive space and an 256mb on the 9600

If someone can answer this also, please do it: How would gaming on those two games mentioned above be compared between the 13" with the 9400 and the 15" with 9600m.

Thanks.
 
fb7 said:
Hey all,

I have been looking into getting a laptop now for university and was interested in getting a Macbook Pro. I plan on leaving my main gaming pc at home and using a laptop while living on campus. I won't be primarily using the laptop for gaming, maybe an occasional game of Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead, nothing Graphically intensive.

My question is, would there be a major difference between the mid range 15" 2.66GHz Macbook Pro and the high end 15" 2.88GHz Macbook Pro?. The only difference appears to be hard drive space and an 256mb on the 9600

If someone can answer this also, please do it: How would gaming on those two games mentioned above be compared between the 13" with the 9400 and the 15" with 9600m.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Big diffrence the low end 15in doesnt have a dedicated graphics card , if you dont mind playing the game in low setting the lower 15 in well do just find
 
The 9600 is twice as fast as the 9400, but the difference between 256 vs 512 vram isn't significant.
 
RKpro said:
The 9600 is twice as fast as the 9400, but the difference between 256 vs 512 vram isn't significant.
Click to expand...

Could you explain why the jump from 256 to 512 isn't significant? I would think that doubling the vram would be pretty significant, especially for longevity of the system. I'm not trying to be a jackass, I am far from an expert on the subject so I was just wondering....
 
World of Warcraft runs pretty darn well on my MBP with an ATI 1200, which is the lowest recommended. I have to turn some settings down and it gets laggy when there's a lot of water mist or smoke, but for the most part i can get decent fps. I'm assuming the 9400 would be an improvement over that, and the 9600 would be a massive improvement. I think you'll be fine with a budget machine.
 
Boxer757 said:
Could you explain why the jump from 256 to 512 isn't significant? I would think that doubling the vram would be pretty significant, especially for longevity of the system. I'm not trying to be a jackass, I am far from an expert on the subject so I was just wondering....
Click to expand...

There are dozens of threads on this topic that go into greater detail than I can remember, but the basic idea is that this specific card (9600m) cannot really use all the vRAM all the time.
 
answer348 said:
There are dozens of threads on this topic that go into greater detail than I can remember, but the basic idea is that this specific card (9600m) cannot really use all the vRAM all the time.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, I'll do a search. Thanks!
 
Alright thanks for the responses, guess I'll opt for the mid range 15".
 
All of those games you mentioned ran beautifully on my friends unibody 2.4 MacBook. Same as the one I had. So the 13" mbp would be great for your needs.
 
Since I am on my iPod touch I can't copy and paste. Go to YouTube and look for left 4 dead on 2.4 MacBook. It runs great!
 
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