Game Selection is a JOKE!!!!

1. Apple could care less about games. Their bread and butter is creative professionals.

2. Apple doesn't not make DTR/Gaming notebooks like Dell. You can't fit a high end video card in a 1-inch.

and don't forget that a lot of games today are compatable for both mac os x AND windows.

i haven't seen a notebook thinner than the powerbook with better graphic.

the dell gaming machines are huge and i have heard that the battery life is not great either.

why would apple add thickness to their notebooks to make them perform better at games while knowing that their is hardly any games out for the mac anyway and good mac ports can get good frame rates on the lovely windscreen of a powerbook.

by in large, i game on my windows machine and work on my iBook. i can game casually if i want to on the iBook, but IMO ppl who game on laptops are typically making a sacrifice in screen size, and hence playability as it is. i.e.-show me a "laptop" w/ a 20" display then we'll talk, but i wouldn't buy it anyway due to the hypothetical size of the machine. someone who prefers to game on their laptop over a desktop, given the simple issues of screen size keyboard angle, and keystroke, etc, isn't a serious gamer IMO. if i were to buy a laptop that were gameable, it'd like be a 15" one and would be bought with the understanding that it is a supplemental "get me by" product while on the road for instance. anyone who does come home to a desktop after having gotten their laptop gaming fix via a mobile injection, and doesn't breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of their 19" + monitor and superior hardware on their desktop, is questionably insane...again, IMO.

the novelty of having a hardcore piece of hardware like the 6800 in a laptop is "neat", but is exactly what i mentioned, a novelty. the only time it would be something otherwise is if the system got 4+ hours of battery life, didn't cook your thighs to a golden brown during casual use, was no more than 6lbs (w/ power adapter included), and was less than 1.5" thick at the maximum. until that happens, ppl will buy for their needs, and if u know anything about market segmentation it's not likely to happen at all.

i also have a desktop for gaming and my notebook for the rest of my stuff (and a few games).

laptop gaming is not that great unless i have a mouse (taking away part of the whole portability factor) and a large screen (also making it less portable).

and i can get much better and cheaper hardware for desktop gaming and have a much better experience.

It wasn't even a year ago that the 9700 was the best you could get in a laptop and now people are treating it like the plague.

And regarding Doom 3: It's not that it's a bad port, it's that Macs and PCs are fundamentally different. Here is an explanation of why Doom 3 isn't as fast at the moment on a Mac compared to a PC.

Over time performance should increase significantly as both Apple and Aspyr work on optimising it.

If you have suggestions on what they should do differently, I'm sure they would like to know. They do have their own gaming site, plenty of info for programming for the industry standard OpenGL in their OS, and they also attend all the major game shows (GDC, E3, etc...).

Basicially too many developers aren't willing to invest the slight amount of time to make the game cross platform, or are so far into MS standards that it would take a lot more time to convert it to OpenGL.

If you want more games for the Mac, ask the developers to make them. I personally can't imagine anything else Apple could do to make it easier.

And regarding the video cards in the Powerbook, true, it's not a 6800 GeForce, but the 9700 is still quite a capable card. As others said, Apple does not make desktop replacement systems, otherwise I'm sure they would have a 2 inch thick 12 pound beast with a G5 processor and GeForce burn your nuts off card in it. Instead, they make mid range portable systems that still have decent power, but also portability and battery life as well. And besides, if you want a laptop mostly for gaming, you have already admitted more games exist on the Windows platform. That side offers plenty of choice.

I would use a Mac for multimedia more than gaming. As an potential Apple Employee I have spent plenty of time researching their products and although they are expensive...they are indeed well integrated as far as SOFTWARE and HARDWARE are concerned.

have you seen the sager 4480...its rather thin, and has x800 gpu 256mb...clearly beats a 9700 128mb

I would really consider getting a PowerBook if they added a better graphics card - even a 6600gt go would be decent.

Do you mean the 4880 which has the x700 and is almost 2 inches thick? There isn't a 4480 on the Sager site.

The only Sager notebooks with the x800 are the 7620 and the 9860 at 2 and 1.95 inches thick respectively. They're also Pentium 4 machines.

And CR...have you read the thread? IT WOULD MAKE THE POWERBOOK TOO THICK AND POWER HUNGRY WHICH GOES AGAINST THE APPLE DESIGN ETHOS.

i think it mostly boils down to only a very small marketshare of apples customers wanting to game on a pc (personal computer, not wintel machine)

I think the same demographic buying macs will probably buy a psp or other console... something they can just put games in and play.

Kakaze - I'm not looking for a 6800 Ultra or X800/850. The newer generations of thin and light PC notebooks are utilizing the X700 or the GeForce 6600 (Gt?) Go. These are not power hungry, but are part of the next generation PCI-E architecture.

I'd like to think I can make the switch to an apple notebook, as there are a variety of tasks that are important to me. Learning to tweak and configure OSX, being able to run a variety of GPL/ Linux ports, general usage, as well as some gaming. Do I want to be able to run every game for the next two years at 1600x1200 max settings? No. However, I can't see investing the premium price apple commands on something that I can't see allowing me to perform one of the tasks I'm interested in. I just don't see a 9700 as "future proof" at this point.

Edit: http://us.acer.com/acerpanam/page9.d...crc=3160585103

One example of a thin and light PC notebook (1.2 - 1.4 in thick) with an X700.

Also, a HardOCP review of X700 technology. http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzQ2LDI=

Hey triadone my laptop blows your desktop away

and it gets 3 hrs+ battery life and runs cool. Oh yeah and its a 17"

what were your arguments again?

CR, 1.4 inches isn't bad, but it still not thin enough for the current trend at Apple as far as high end Laptops go. When the G5s come out expect to see better video cards, but not before then. And if you're serious about gaming, you shouldn't be gaming on a Mac anyway.

And Shmittay...do you have anything constructive to add or are you going to act like a 2 year old?

i have a 9700 in my acer and it can handle latest games.
too bad that apple laptops have the hardware but not the software.

If you want to play games do NOT purchase an Apple computer. Point blank.

I can play games on my PowerBook just fine, thankyouverymuch, Element.

the games that do run on mac run well on my powerbook, but my favorite games do not play on mac therefore i use my pc.

if rollercoaster tycoon, serious sam and counter strike ran on mac i would have no use for my pc.