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Will the new 15" be better than last year's for gaming?
- Thread starter dapork
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I don't know what that means, but I was referring to this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-macbook-pro-15-will-be-a-lagfest-in-parallels.2012812/
I was wondering if the old or the new MBP 15" will run games better.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-macbook-pro-15-will-be-a-lagfest-in-parallels.2012812/
I was wondering if the old or the new MBP 15" will run games better.
I am the OP of that thread. What I meant was that integrated GPU in the new model is twice as slow as 2015 model.
Integrated GPU is used for general computing tasks such as safari, scrolling and everything else that's not games and not GPU intensive.
Games will actually use the dedicated GPU and depending on which model you pick you may get the same or better performance in the new model.
The base 2016 model which comes with Radeon 450 actually has about the same performance (or slightly worse) than 2015 model's Radeon M370X. Obviously Radeon 455 and 460 will be faster, but you have to pay more for them.
Here is the comparison of dedicated GPU performance of 2016 and 2015 models:
Radeon M370X inside 2015 Macbook Pro 15" : 1024 GFLOPS
Radeon Pro 450 inside 2016 Macbook Pro 15" base : 992 GFLOPS
Radeon Pro 455 inside 2016 Macbook Pro 15" : 1305 GFLOPS
Radeon Pro 460 inside 2016 Macbook Pro 15" : 1800 GFLOPS
Here is the comparison of integrated GPU performance of 2016 and 2015 models:
New 2016 MBP 15" model uses Intel HD 530 which has performance of 441.6 GFLOPS
2015 MBP 15" model uses Iris Pro Graphics 5200 which has performance of 832 GFLOPS.
In other words if you are picking a 2016 model with Radeon 450, then you will be getting much worse GPU performance all around (both integrated and dedicated) than 2015 model.
This is the first time ever, when Apple actually downgraded integrated GPU by such a drastic number.
I thought this was a no brainer but there was a thread in which someone said that the rMB Pros actually had better graphics. I'd just like to clear this up.
The other thread was about the integrated graphics that would NOT be used for gaming. For those cases the dedicated GPU would be use and they are more powerful in the new model.
More powerful only if you pick 455 or 460. 450 is about the same performance as m370x
True, I just imagined anyone asking a question about gaming would do that.
If you are going for the Radeon Pro 460 it's effectively a GeForce GTX 960m by what I've read, go give the GTX 960m reviews a read and it appears that's it's no slouch, sure it's not groundbreaking when it comes to mobile GPU's but it's going to offer enough power to play most modern games at reasonable settings whilst maintaining a steady frame rate. So in answer to your question, if you are upgrading to the 460 then yes, this years 15" MBP is a much more equipt system for gaming.
The Radeon Pro 460 is rated as similar to GTX 960M card in performance, which will give you medium settings for recent games and high settings for older games (in Windows of course, who even games on MacOS?)
The MacBook Pro is not meant as a gaming machine, but this is the closest you can get as one (for $2599+, plus a Windows license $100. And if you BootCamp & install games you'd need at least 512 GB SSD. That would push the price of Macs way too high). If you don't mind different machines I'd actually suggest buying a base MBP 13" for $1499 and spend $1000 on a desktop (or iPad + PS4/XBOX ONE) which will net you portability and power.
The MacBook Pro is not meant as a gaming machine, but this is the closest you can get as one (for $2599+, plus a Windows license $100. And if you BootCamp & install games you'd need at least 512 GB SSD. That would push the price of Macs way too high). If you don't mind different machines I'd actually suggest buying a base MBP 13" for $1499 and spend $1000 on a desktop (or iPad + PS4/XBOX ONE) which will net you portability and power.
That's a good point, something I haven't really considered. I don't really wanna get into gaming though. Years ago I wasted a lot of time playing Diablo II. Now I just wanna be able to play a few interesting titles, like Bioshock III, maybe Civilisation 6 (both of which will run on Mac OS), plus I saw that the last Macbook Pro was able to run a few Assassin's Creed titles with decent graphics (using Boot Camp). Beyond that I don't wanna do any serious gaming. It's more of an occasional escape. Plus I travel a lot.
On the more serious side I use the Mac pretty heavily for Logic Pro, and my current Macbook 2009 is too weak to handle large projects. A 2015 rMBP could take care of all my Logic needs (I've seen pro engineers using it in recording studios for projects way bigger than mine), but if we're talking about a maxed out 15" rMBP vs a maxed out 15" OLED (but with 1 TB instead of 2), the price difference of 4-500 Euros (including a couple adaptors), seems like a small price to pay for the latest MB Pro. Then Windows is $100, while Boot Camp is free?
There's also the like factor. I like Macs and have always used em. When I was a kid I got a playstation and never played it. Though I wasted a lot of time playing the computer games that ran on my Mac. At one point I had gotten an iMac (first one), but then I switched it for a PC caused I wanted to game. I ended up not gaming at all, and I switched back to the iMac cause I simply didn't like the PC or the environment. The MBP 15" will actually be nearly a pound lighter than my 13" Macbook.
On the more serious side I use the Mac pretty heavily for Logic Pro, and my current Macbook 2009 is too weak to handle large projects. A 2015 rMBP could take care of all my Logic needs (I've seen pro engineers using it in recording studios for projects way bigger than mine), but if we're talking about a maxed out 15" rMBP vs a maxed out 15" OLED (but with 1 TB instead of 2), the price difference of 4-500 Euros (including a couple adaptors), seems like a small price to pay for the latest MB Pro. Then Windows is $100, while Boot Camp is free?
There's also the like factor. I like Macs and have always used em. When I was a kid I got a playstation and never played it. Though I wasted a lot of time playing the computer games that ran on my Mac. At one point I had gotten an iMac (first one), but then I switched it for a PC caused I wanted to game. I ended up not gaming at all, and I switched back to the iMac cause I simply didn't like the PC or the environment. The MBP 15" will actually be nearly a pound lighter than my 13" Macbook.
Apple are claiming otherwise and the first hands on reviews I've seen said the remained cool and quiet in the short time they were used.
There's no way they'll run cool and quiet at peak performance for a standard gaming session.
Neither will any laptop if you have the settings at the highest they will go bit if you tailor your expectations to what you should for a thin light laptop I think you'll be surprised!!
My expectations ARE tailored. I don't expect desktop performance from a laptop, especially one engineered as thin as these new MBPs, but I'm also not going to claim that they'll run cool while gaming.
I am waiting on my 2016 15'' MBP with 2.6Hz/512 SSD/460. Here is my plan: I want to run WOW and Diablo 3 on macOS (or bootcamp) - what settings and frame rate do you project?
Then I want to run Gears of War 4 via bootcamp - what settings and frame rate do you project? And does all this sound silly? Gaming isn't my primary use but it would be nice!
Then I want to run Gears of War 4 via bootcamp - what settings and frame rate do you project? And does all this sound silly? Gaming isn't my primary use but it would be nice!