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Can I game on a Macbook Pro?

post #1 of 7
9/2/09 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 
I'm torn between buying the Asus G51VX-RX05 and the Macbook Pro (the 13-inch: 2.26GHz and I'll upgrade the memory to 4gig). I'm a fan of the portability of the Mac and its long battery life. I'm also annoyed with blue screens, error messages, and other frustrations of using Windows. However, I want to be able to play games on my laptop and I don't know if the Macbook Pro will be good enough for me.

The games I like are not current. They include Quake 3 Arena/Quake Live, Diablo 2, Soldiers of Fortune 2, and I heard Unreal Tournament 2004 is awesome, so maybe that too. I'm a big fan of first person shooters and I want to be able to play those games without it being slow. Having said that, can I have an enjoyable gaming experience playing these titles on a Mac (I don't plan on using bootcamp)?
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post #2 of 7
9/3/09 at 12:34am
If your main criterion for picking a laptop is gaming go for the Asus. The video card in the 13 inch—and base model 15 inch—MacBook Pro is an integrated video card and under powered. Older games might play okay, especially with the lower resolution screen on the 13 inch MBP, but any newer games aren't going play without seriously reducing the quality.

Another thing to take into consideration is whether or not the games you want to play are Intel native. Diablo 2 and Soldier of Fortune are not Universal and will need to play through Rosetta, and as a consequence require software rendering, which will limit performance.

If you do go for the Mac, installing Windows just for gaming would probably be the best answer.
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post #3 of 7
9/3/09 at 1:35am
Quote:

Another thing to take into consideration is whether or not the games you want to play are Intel native. Diablo 2 and Soldier of Fortune are not Universal and will need to play through Rosetta, and as a consequence require software rendering, which will limit performance.
Well technically none of those games are really all that new and would probably do fine even on IGP. However the emulation that Pollisand mentioned is the larger issue. To be honest I would wonder if those would function better with the Windows version under Crossover Games, instead of the PPC versions under Rosetta. I have D2 around here somewhere(And maybe even SoF though I never got around to playing it) I should probably check to see how it runs under Crossover sometime.

Seablade
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post #4 of 7
9/3/09 at 10:24am
Thread Starter 
Should I get the Force 3551 or the Asus? http://www.xoticpc.com/custom-gaming...118_96_98.html
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post #5 of 7
9/3/09 at 10:32am
^^ You want to post this in the General Section?

cheers ...
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post #6 of 7
9/4/09 at 11:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by morgothaod View Post
I'm torn between buying the Asus G51VX-RX05 and the Macbook Pro (the 13-inch: 2.26GHz and I'll upgrade the memory to 4gig). I'm a fan of the portability of the Mac and its long battery life. I'm also annoyed with blue screens, error messages, and other frustrations of using Windows. However, I want to be able to play games on my laptop and I don't know if the Macbook Pro will be good enough for me.

The games I like are not current. They include Quake 3 Arena/Quake Live, Diablo 2, Soldiers of Fortune 2, and I heard Unreal Tournament 2004 is awesome, so maybe that too. I'm a big fan of first person shooters and I want to be able to play those games without it being slow. Having said that, can I have an enjoyable gaming experience playing these titles on a Mac (I don't plan on using bootcamp)?
i dont know how well those games will go but i know i love playing call of duty 4 on my macbook 13 inch... it seems to handle that very well.
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post #7 of 7
9/5/09 at 6:01am
... and WoW
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