Will I see an improvement with a new MacBook Pro.

[mgartner0622]

Hello-

I'm trying to decide whether or not to upgrade to a newer (and larger) MacBook Pro. If I do I would upgrade to the low-end 15" with dedicated graphics.

I currently have the June '09 2.53GHz 4GB RAM 13" Pro. (Check my signature for more details)

I do A LOT of gaming, and almost always use my MBP connected to my 23" Cinema Display. I still want to get a MacBook Pro, just for the portability option if I ever need it.

Will I see an improvement in frames a second, heat generation ( MY current one gets REALLY HOT. about 185˚ F.) and general performance?

Also, what's a good guess as to the price my current unit will fetch on ebay?
It's in mint condition, has AppleCare, and i'm including a ton of software... CS3, Office, iWork, iLife, Windows, Paraells, Ect..

To the general community, in your opionoin, is it worth it, or should I just keep what I have?

Thank you for your input and have a wonderful day!

 

[redscull]

Well, it'd be an improvement. But enough of an improvement? Hard to say. What games are you playing now? And are they just barely under the performance levels you'd like, or way under? Because all you're really getting out of the upgrade is the video card bump, and either way, you're still gaming with a laptop video card, not an awesome desktop card. The processor difference isn't going to really affect anything. You'll have the same RAM, same disk, etc. It's definitely going to continue to get hot; rendering 3D is the main thing that heats up a MBP, and that's never changing.

If it was me, I'd say it comes down entirely to how much you sell your current laptop for. And I have no idea what they sell for used.

You'd see a bigger performance boost by installing Windows on your existing Mac (bootcamp) and playing in Windows. Unless you're already doing that.

 

[saxon48]

Hello-

I'm trying to decide whether or not to upgrade to a newer (and larger) MacBook Pro. If I do I would upgrade to the low-end 15" with dedicated graphics.

I currently have the June '09 2.53GHz 4GB RAM 13" Pro. (Check my signature for more details)

I do A LOT of gaming, and almost always use my MBP connected to my 23" Cinema Display. I still want to get a MacBook Pro, just for the portability option if I ever need it.

Will I see an improvement in frames a second, heat generation ( MY current one gets REALLY HOT. about 185˚ F.) and general performance?

Also, what's a good guess as to the price my current unit will fetch on ebay?
It's in mint condition, has AppleCare, and i'm including a ton of software... CS3, Office, iWork, iLife, Windows, Paraells, Ect..

To the general community, in your opionoin, is it worth it, or should I just keep what I have?

Thank you for your input and have a wonderful day!

IMO, I'd stick with what you got.

Yes, you will see some improvements in the newer MBP, especially when gaming. But the temperatures will likely remain the same. 185 degrees is nothing to worry about, your computer will shutdown if it gets too hot. So no worries.

Not sure about the selling online part, if that's your hearts content.

 

[mgartner0622]

I mainly play Steam Games such as the orange box, ect. I also play games they sell at the Apple Store, like Call of Duty, Bioshock, ect.

Games like bioshock are basically unplayable, they get so little frames a second unless running on about 640x480 with very low graphics settings. Meanwhile, I also own a windows copy of the game and it works great on the same computer.

I just want to be able to run my games at a decent FPS (Preferably around 35) as well as be a little futureproof for the next year or so.

Thank you for your fast reply!

Well, it'd be an improvement. But enough of an improvement? Hard to say. What games are you playing now? And are they just barely under the performance levels you'd like, or way under? Because all you're really getting out of the upgrade is the video card bump, and either way, you're still gaming with a laptop video card, not an awesome desktop card. The processor difference isn't going to really affect anything. You'll have the same RAM, same disk, etc. It's definitely going to continue to get hot; rendering 3D is the main thing that heats up a MBP, and that's never changing.

If it was me, I'd say it comes down entirely to how much you sell your current laptop for. And I have no idea what they sell for used.

 

[saxon48]

I mainly play Steam Games such as the orange box, ect. I also play games they sell at the Apple Store, like Call of Duty, Bioshock, ect.

Games like bioshock are basically unplayable, they get so little frames a second unless running on about 640x480 with very low graphics settings. Meanwhile, I also own a windows copy of the game and it works great on the same computer.

I just want to be able to run my games at a decent FPS (Preferably around 35) as well as be a little futureproof for the next year or so.

Thank you for your fast reply!

I play Steam games on my mid-09 C2D with no problems. But admittedly, I have not tried games like Bioshock, so not sure how that performs versus the newer MBP's.

 

[mgartner0622]

I play Steam games on my mid-09 C2D with no problems. But admittedly, I have not tried games like Bioshock, so not sure how that performs versus the newer MBP's.

What Graphics card do you have in your MBP?

 

[saxon48]

What Graphics card do you have in your MBP?

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

 

[mgartner0622]

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

Hmm. I wonder why my performance is so bad then. I always quit other applications, and only run the games. In games such as HL2, I get about 24 FPS @ 1440X900. This is with medium settings and no antialiasing.

 

[saxon48]

I quit all other apps too... Don't know what to tell you there.

 

[henrikrox]

I mainly play Steam Games such as the orange box, ect. I also play games they sell at the Apple Store, like Call of Duty, Bioshock, ect.

Games like bioshock are basically unplayable, they get so little frames a second unless running on about 640x480 with very low graphics settings. Meanwhile, I also own a windows copy of the game and it works great on the same computer.

I just want to be able to run my games at a decent FPS (Preferably around 35) as well as be a little futureproof for the next year or so.

Thank you for your fast reply!

Most mac games are very bad ports. like the bioshock game, its a horrendous port. if you serious about gaming go bootcamp.

Even blizzard who are good at making mac games said recently in the forums that a mac and pc with the same hardware the mac will peforme 10-15% worse.

 

[mgartner0622]

Most mac games are very bad ports. like the bioshock game, its a horrendous port. if you serious about gaming go bootcamp.

Even blizzard who are good at making mac games said recently in the forums that a mac and pc with the same hardware the mac will peforme 10-15% worse.

For near the same price, how much better would a mid-spec iMac (I'd wait for the newer generation) be do you think?

I'd probably buy a used white macbook for portability.