Which MBP for me?! Work/Games. Help!

[mt229431]

Hi everyone,

I need help choosing a new MBP. It's going to be used mainly for work, which involves me having multiple programs at once open, including word, powerpoint, graphpad, endnote, internet, mail, and probably itunes.

Also, I play WoW and want to play SC2 on at least high settings ideally. I currently have a 24" monitor at home that I could either hook a laptop up to, or get a average gaming desktop.

So, my options are, get a basic 13" MBP and a gaming desktop totaling ~ $2000 together, or get the i7 MBP (also about $2000) and use it for work, and dock it to my monitor at home to play WoW and SC2.

So, $1199 13" MBP + ~$800 PC desktop, or $2049 for i7 15" MBP that I will use a 24" external with. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[dsprimal]

if ur going int the 2 grand price range. i would do what i did. get the 15" core i7 2.66ghz witha hi res screen (looks better for gaming from what i hear) 4gb ram (8gb is way too expensive and 4gb will do u fine) and a 500gb 7200rpm hd and your set. total price after education discount and added tax was like $2,310.74 if i remember correctly.

anyways best of luck.

ps: youtube gaming on macbook pro 15" core i7. games run flawless on these bad boys. and also look into the razer deathadder 3500dpi gaming mouse (1 of the best gaming mouses out there )

 

[LedCop]

If you don't need to play games anywhere you want, I'd go for the separate Mac + PC option. Here are my reasons:

1) $800 for a gaming PC is pretty generous and will run games far better than even the i7 MBP will because the desktop processor and desktop graphics card you get will be more powerful, and because it'll be running Windows which games are more optimized for.

2) The 13" MBP is simply more portable than the 15" MBP. I have a 15" MBP but I find my 12" Windows laptop lighter, smaller and just more inviting to bring along with me. With a 15" MBP you'll be more tempted to find reasons NOT to bring it with you.

3) With the separate option you get two computers at your disposal. While you'll get less screen space compared to having a 15" MBP connected to your monitor, you can have Windows and Mac OS running at the same time without dividing up computer resources.

3.5) For what it's worth, you can still play those games on the 13" MBP just not at well as the i7 15", obviously.

I should mention, I have a Windows desktop, a very portable laptop and a MBP that could run the games you're mentioning, so I didn't have to make the choice you have to make now. But FWIW, I find the desktop + laptop combo the ones I actually spend the most time with and they excel at the roles they're meant for.

Again, this is only if you don't mind not being able to play WoW and SC2 at high settings when you have your 13" MBP with you and can resist letting the Core i7 15" bugging you later on.

 

[mikeo007]

I agree with the above poster. Desktop + 13" MBP. The 15 and 17" MBPs have a relatively poor GPU for gaming, so you won't be playing much on the highest settings. An AMD 3 -core gaming rig would cost about $700 and destroy the performance of the macbook.

The 13" GPU isn't very far behind the one in the larger macbooks, so you could technically game on the go if you had to, although you would have to lower the settings. Best of both worlds imo.

 

[swish2351]

Hi everyone,

I need help choosing a new MBP. It's going to be used mainly for work, which involves me having multiple programs at once open, including word, powerpoint, graphpad, endnote, internet, mail, and probably itunes.

Also, I play WoW and want to play SC2 on at least high settings ideally. I currently have a 24" monitor at home that I could either hook a laptop up to, or get a average gaming desktop.

So, my options are, get a basic 13" MBP and a gaming desktop totaling ~ $2000 together, or get the i7 MBP (also about $2000) and use it for work, and dock it to my monitor at home to play WoW and SC2.

So, $1199 13" MBP + ~$800 PC desktop, or $2049 for i7 15" MBP that I will use a 24" external with. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you want to play games on a 17" forget it, it doesn't have a powerful graphics card. Go with the 13" so you can easily transport it from home to work everyday and buy a windows desktop (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+...ci_sku=9699025&ref=06&loc=01&id=1218152464094) <--only 699.99 and you will be MUCH happier

 

[apple.gr]

If you don't need to play games anywhere you want, I'd go for the separate Mac + PC option. Here are my reasons:

1) $800 for a gaming PC is pretty generous and will run games far better than even the i7 MBP will because the desktop processor and desktop graphics card you get will be more powerful, and because it'll be running Windows which games are more optimized for.

2) The 13" MBP is simply more portable than the 15" MBP. I have a 15" MBP but I find my 12" Windows laptop lighter, smaller and just more inviting to bring along with me. With a 15" MBP you'll be more tempted to find reasons NOT to bring it with you.

3) With the separate option you get two computers at your disposal. While you'll get less screen space compared to having a 15" MBP connected to your monitor, you can have Windows and Mac OS running at the same time without dividing up computer resources.

3.5) For what it's worth, you can still play those games on the 13" MBP just not at well as the i7 15", obviously.

I should mention, I have a Windows desktop, a very portable laptop and a MBP that could run the games you're mentioning, so I didn't have to make the choice you have to make now. But FWIW, I find the desktop + laptop combo the ones I actually spend the most time with and they excel at the roles they're meant for.

Again, this is only if you don't mind not being able to play WoW and SC2 at high settings when you have your 13" MBP with you and can resist letting the Core i7 15" bugging you later on.

Get the 13" Base Model for all the reasons mentioned above. With 800 USD you will get a very tempting PC for games.

 

[0186279]

If you don't need to play games anywhere you want, I'd go for the separate Mac + PC option. Here are my reasons:

1) $800 for a gaming PC is pretty generous and will run games far better than even the i7 MBP will because the desktop processor and desktop graphics card you get will be more powerful, and because it'll be running Windows which games are more optimized for.

2) The 13" MBP is simply more portable than the 15" MBP. I have a 15" MBP but I find my 12" Windows laptop lighter, smaller and just more inviting to bring along with me. With a 15" MBP you'll be more tempted to find reasons NOT to bring it with you.

3) With the separate option you get two computers at your disposal. While you'll get less screen space compared to having a 15" MBP connected to your monitor, you can have Windows and Mac OS running at the same time without dividing up computer resources.

3.5) For what it's worth, you can still play those games on the 13" MBP just not at well as the i7 15", obviously.

I should mention, I have a Windows desktop, a very portable laptop and a MBP that could run the games you're mentioning, so I didn't have to make the choice you have to make now. But FWIW, I find the desktop + laptop combo the ones I actually spend the most time with and they excel at the roles they're meant for.

Again, this is only if you don't mind not being able to play WoW and SC2 at high settings when you have your 13" MBP with you and can resist letting the Core i7 15" bugging you later on.

All great points, definitely good advice.

That being said, I like to have on portable machine for everything, so I always go with a 15" macbook pro. There is nowhere that you can put a 13" that you cant put a 15" and it will run all the games you want at medium-high settings depending on how new the game is.