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WOW + LED Cinema Display + MBP

Blaine

Blaine

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 3, 2007
801
100
Abilene TX
I am thinking between a maxed out 15" MBP and an iMac

So I was wondering if anyone with this kind of setup could tell me what the framerate is in world of warcraft at an 1440 x 900 resolution.

Can the MBP handle this on the cinema display while also driving its own display?

If framerates would be to low, I would be better off with an iMac.

Thanks! :eek:

Edit:

WOW would ideally be in windowed mode on the cinema display. So the mbp would have to drive its own display and the 1920x1200 of the cinema display while playing wow at the above resolution.
 
Don't quote me but unless you are doing some sort of high end graphical computations or Protein folding on your secondary display you'll be fine. If your second windows will contain things such as iChat , mail and a few browser windows that won't have any affect as long as there are no other processes using the GPU such as any flash video running in the background.

You'll also probably be able to get away with 256 megs of VRAM since you'll only need that sort of horsepower if you are doing the aformentioend activities on a 30" monitor as well as the 15". Well, that or photoshop.
 
Portability.

You will be fine in either application. I have a family member who runr WoW on an early MBP17 windowed with other operations occurring and have had no performance issues whatsoever. This machine has 256vram and a 2.16 chip. As far as pushing a display is concerned you should not have much of an issue. I currently run a unibody MBP pushing 1920x1080 resolution through an external display. Although I do not play Wow on this machine I still get spectacular performance while playing Fallout 3 at the external displays native resolution. This is at high quality running 4x AA. The only problem you will have while gaming on the MBP is heat issues, as you will often need to manually manipulate the fan control settings to keep the machine from locking up do to overheating. Overall not a huge issue. Graphics performance on an iMac should be about equal (slightly higher) to that of an early 08 MBP. In any of your suggested scenarios you will not suffer on any level. My only suggestion for you to consider is portability and cost. In this day in age, it is hard to fathom a computer that you can not pick up and take with you anywhere you wish - unless you are real hardcore and need the horsepower of a desktop, there is no need to get something immobile. Conversely, the MBP will cost you significantly more money... My MBP + Display cost me roughly 3500. You could get this same function (quality apple hardware + large display) for approx $1000 less if you go iMac. I did all the research, as I recently went through the same decision between the two machines. I opted to fork up the cake and go with the portability and the new technology. Hope that helps you, even though I really didnt answer your question.
 
I have a new 2.8 MBP and just loaded WoW on it. I didn't drive it at 1920 but at equivalent resolution and all settings maxed the MBP had over 2x the framerate of my 2.8 iMac. I do have an intel 25-m SSD on the MBP which makes it snappier but shouldn't affect the framerate I don't think. Bottom line: MBP should do what you want or wait for the new iMacs. Can't go wrong.
 
2.5 unibody mbp with 1920x1200 24" external and I run it with everything cranked to max. Smooth framerates, and that's running the OSX version of WoW...
 
Unfortunately this combination didn't work well for me. I sold my 24" 2.4GHz iMac with Radeon 2600 PRO to buy the MBP 2.4GHz and 24" LED. WoW was unplayable on default settings. Outside I would get 20 FPS at best, and in any city it was 1 to 5 FPS. Seriously I couldn't do anything. My iMac never dropped below 20 FPS in a busy city and was between 40 and 50 FPS outside. I took my MBP back to the Apple Store for a refund due to some other problems I had with it including random freezes and kernel panics that happened a couple times every day. So perhaps the bad hardware resulted in the bad frame rates. Aside from the bad frame rate the fans kicked into full within seconds of launching WoW. The noise was unbearable to me so I've changed my mind about using a MBP and 24" LED as my main system. I've decided to go with whatever new 24" iMac comes out tomorrow plus the last gen 2.4GHz MBP from MacMall.
 
I have a stock MBP 2.53 and just picked up the LED ACD.

I've raided all the WoW content up until the new xpack, but have had to take some time off so I'm a bit behind.

I can test anything short of raiding now so let me know what content and settings you wish to have tested.
 
duncan75 said:
2.5 unibody mbp with 1920x1200 24" external and I run it with everything cranked to max. Smooth framerates, and that's running the OSX version of WoW...
Click to expand...

I find this hard to believe.

brentsg said:
I can test anything short of raiding now so let me know what content and settings you wish to have tested.
Click to expand...

Can you confirm what duncan posted above regarding smooth framerates at 1920 resolution with all graphic details maxed?
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I should probably lean toward an iMac after reading the post where the guy had heat issues and poor framerate.

I don't want a noisy computer. I just wanted something powerful that could be taken with me on trips, but I rarely go on them.
 
Blaine said:
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I should probably lean toward an iMac after reading the post where the guy had heat issues and poor framerate.

I don't want a noisy computer. I just wanted something powerful that could be taken with me on trips, but I rarely go on them.
Click to expand...

MacBook Pros have faster video cards than iMacs (unless you get the 24" with the 8800) ... I have the new MacBook Pro with the 9600M GT 512MB ... I have no heat issues playing any games. I play UT3 maxed out at native resolution and my laptop never gets too hot or loud. It can play Crysis on high at 1024x768 just fine...
 
The General said:
MacBook Pros have faster video cards than iMacs (unless you get the 24" with the 8800) ... I have the new MacBook Pro with the 9600M GT 512MB ... I have no heat issues playing any games. I play UT3 maxed out at native resolution and my laptop never gets too hot or loud. It can play Crysis on high at 1024x768 just fine...
Click to expand...

But have you driven a 24" display at 1920x1200? That makes a difference.
 
Sorry for the delay. I just got my 24" ACD setup today.

I did a quick WoW questing session. With everything on max except shadows... and 1x multisample... I stayed in between 25 and 30fps.

I expect that when I raid I'll need to tweak a couple of settings but I think I will find very playable settings with the 15" MBP. Mine is the 2.53 configuration stock.

I generally play WoW on a high end desktop so I'll be anxiously awaiting a DVI->Mini-Displayport adapter as this monitor is really something.
 
brentsg said:
Sorry for the delay. I just got my 24" ACD setup today.

I did a quick WoW questing session. With everything on max except shadows... and 1x multisample... I stayed in between 25 and 30fps.

I expect that when I raid I'll need to tweak a couple of settings but I think I will find very playable settings with the 15" MBP. Mine is the 2.53 configuration stock.

I generally play WoW on a high end desktop so I'll be anxiously awaiting a DVI->Mini-Displayport adapter as this monitor is really something.
Click to expand...

What resolution did you play it at? Was it full screen 1920x1200?
 
timestoby said:
im sure a mbp could handle wow on full settins.wow is many years old now
Click to expand...

That doesn't really mean anything because they've made lots of improvements to the engine since original release.

I don't expect the 15" 2.53 MBP to run WoW at highest settings (this includes AA and shadows at max). There is a huge thread on the WoW forums about WoW on a Mac, and to be honest in most/all cases you need to turn shadows to low and keep AA off, at least in WotLK content. In the original areas, you should be fine.

You will see better results if you run WoW under boot camp, but not everybody wants to take that path. The game will run, but I don't think you'll be able to max it out completely. It's a shame because I'm used to playing WoW at 1920x1200 on the highest possible settings at home. I'd love to be able to do that on the go. :eek:
 
Blaine said:
What resolution did you play it at? Was it full screen 1920x1200?
Click to expand...

Yeah I played at 1920x1200 maximized, not windowed. I will experiment later when I don't have work to do... but I was impressed. It looked amazing.

I should also mention that it's pretty much stock UI at the moment. I am switching mains and have yet to figure out a new UI I like.
 
brentsg said:
Yeah I played at 1920x1200 maximized, not windowed. I will experiment later when I don't have work to do... but I was impressed. It looked amazing.

I should also mention that it's pretty much stock UI at the moment. I am switching mains and have yet to figure out a new UI I like.
Click to expand...

Did you experience the max fans like I did? I know I had a defective MBP due to my other issues. I couldn't even watch a movie trailer without my fans kicking up to full.
 
Lava Lamp Freak said:
Did you experience the max fans like I did? I know I had a defective MBP due to my other issues. I couldn't even watch a movie trailer without my fans kicking up to full.
Click to expand...

Yes but I would always expect max fans when I'm gaming.

I also had the MBP in clamshell mode.

Edit: Mine were ~6000 or 6200 RPM
 
brentsg said:
Yes but I would always expect max fans when I'm gaming.

I also had the MBP in clamshell mode.

Edit: Mine were ~6000 or 6200 RPM
Click to expand...

My problems with poor fps were due to the defective MBP but hearing the fans is still annoying to me. I am used to the completely silent operation of the iMac I sold. That is the main reason I am waiting for the updated iMac. (Well both that and the problem with shifting colors on the LED which is quite annoying as well.) I would go ahead and buy a current iMac but that LED is such a beautiful screen I couldn't imagine using anything else now.
 
I have an older MBP with 128MB of video memory and a 2.16GHz CPU. I was getting about 10-12 fps at slowest in WOW at some pretty high settings. With a 512MB card and the extra CPU power, you should at least double that, if not triple.
 
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