Hi friends! I'd like to seek your counsel. I'm planning to purchase a Macbook Pro with the following specs: 15.4-inch widescreen display 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB memory 200GB hard drive 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory Built-in iSight Camera I'd just like to know if I'll be able to play the following games on it at a respectable resolution | frame rate: 1. Crysis 2. Assassin's Creed 3. Gears of War 4. Devil May Cry 4 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Obivion Also, I would like to ask if there's anyone of you who owns any of these games [ original copy ] and are willing to part with | sell it for a friendly price? Kindly send me a PM! RFB: for my own use! =') Thank you!
Check if it meets the games' minimun system requirements. I believe Crysis requires a 512MB graphics card
Run at med-high settings 1. Crysis -Good FPS. Sometimes laggy though. 2. Assassin's Creed - Haven't tried this 3. Gears of War - Sometimes laggy. Usually not. 4. Devil May Cry 4 - Haven't tried this 5. The Elder Scrolls IV: Obivion - Runs smooth. And as a previous mugger posted, better wait for the next update. I believe the mbp is due for one already.
If you do get a macbook pro, you should try getting a cooler/fan thing also too. Playing games like World of Warcraft and Team Fortress 2 can sometimes lead to temps up to 70 deg. Celsius. And I can imagine Crysis is more intense than those 2.
I will install Raibow Six Vegas 1 and 2 via bootcamp hopefully this weekend on my XP pro bootcamp partition. I'll post some feedback. iMac 20" Al. 2.66 GHz C2D. 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro. 2GB DDR2 800 MHz.
MBP is good if you only play on medium setting with most new games out there. Im playing SPORE and i can only set the graphics on medium 1440x900 res.
From my experience if you really want an excellent gaming run with newer games DON'T play the ciderized version of those (like spore) if there are any. Running them natively in windows allows you to really take advantage of the MBP's muscle. I tried spore both on cider and windows - and I've had far better frame rates on higher quality settings in windows. Unfortunately "Mac Gaming" isn't really as good as windows until they start developing native OS X games and not shoehorning them as a cider port. The sad truth is that DirectX still owns OpenGL as an excellent gaming API.
OT: Using the entry-level MBP of the previous generation (2.2GHz, 128MB vidcard) is an exercise in frustration when using the newer games. Good luck with your new unit @suavecito - tried it out on my GF's Macbook and it felt a bit blah... but on my 'dated' MBP it was a WOW
Honestly, though, if I wanted to do "intense gaming" I'd buy a PS3, an Xbox 360, a Wii and a 32" HDTV all for the price of an MBP. If you want to do "gaming on the go", then an MBP should be adequate.
Gaming yes, intense? No. I highly recommend you just get a gaming console like a ps3 or a souped up pc for that. That's what happened with me and got a black macbook instead. Worked out better for me at least.
I've got Rainbow Six 1/2; CoD 4 and Crysis running on Bootcamp (XP SP3) on my MBP (512MB GPU). Here's my rating: 10 being the highest TC RSix 1: 7 (smooth graphics on high settings; gets somewhat choppy on high action scenes) TC RSix 2: 7 CoD4: 8 (on highsettings; smooth, detailed graphics, but machine gets hot really fast) Crysis: 5 (bearable and playable, but the machine can't cope on high settings, slows down) The machine is able to handle all the processing and GPU requirements and has rarely crashed on me. My only issues is that after about 30 mins, the machine really heats up and the fan would stay on all the time. The grill around the left hand speakers get quite hot. My son goes ouch whenever he slips on the keyboard and accidentally touches the area. So I'm really keen on getting one of these: http://www.moshimonde.com/zefyr_pro.htm
Thanks for the input guys! Is there a risk of crashing the MBP's motherboard / HDD in case I did go ahead and play the said games on it at a rate of say, 12 hours straight everyday? If yes, will Apple Authorized Resellers here in Manila honor my warranty and replace the damaged parts for free?
i think for high intense gaming ... Alienware .. I've tried one from my cousin, it rocks. I have my 2007 MBP and it is just for 2007 and older games.
Hi! I would recommend upgrading the RAM to 4gb -- My husband plays WOW on our MB (2.4ghz model) and the graphics are very smooth and the game doesn't hiccup. Happy gaming! - Tin
imo, only sweet Apple that can effortlessly be used as a gaming rig is the Mac Pro. Twin quad-core intels plus options for multiple video cards plus tons of added ram will make short work of all the current high-end pc games out there. A benchmarking software would be useful in determining how your gaming rig would perform. If not, try "Company of Heroes" or similar. The game has a pre-game testing routine which shows your average FPS (frames per second) based on user-determined settings (resolution and other graphics settings). I also would advise against using portables as a primary gaming rig and would recommend a desktop instead. Not a good idea to tax your macbook's resources (specially the batteries) and I don't think its a good idea to keep your portables plugged in all the time. Then, there's also the heat issue caused by overworking the grahics or video card. To get the full, intense experience, go desktop with a decent cpu, at least 2 gb memory, a decent sound card (separates if possible) , 5.1 speakers, 8800 nvidias or higher and a good-sized lcd (22" or higher) monitor with a fast response time.
The OP was talking about gaming for 12 hours straight. At that rate, I'd be afraid of how hot the MBP's core and GPU can get (as others have also noted). Also, it may be a matter of personal preference but I find watching movies on a good 32" (or larger) screen better than even the best 15" or 17" screen. Same goes for gaming. Plus, stretch the budget a little and one can add an entry-level 4/5.1 home theatre sound system into the mix. Unless you get really good headphones, then a dedicated gaming rig will definitely sound better. So, while the MBP will let the OP play those games, I'm wondering if he'll be missing out on a much better, more comfortable experience going with a dedicated home gaming system (assuming, of course, he has the physical space). In other words, "the right tool for the right job."
I don't know if this will answer your question, but I used to play World of Warcraft for up to 5 hours straight without issue on an ordinary MacBook, with temps staying in the upper-90s constantly.
I agree, DirectX pwns OpenGL big time. Sad to say DirectX is an MS proprietary API and most of the games out there are based on DirectX, unless MS will license Apple to use it in its future OS.
