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[ant1532]

well i don't have a computer anymore(borrowing my sisters right now) and I need one asap for the past 3 months and I'm definitely getting the normal macbook so don't argue me to get another computer, its primary use isn't for gaming, just an optional thing for me. but since i dont have any current videogame systems and haven't played pc games in a while, I'm interested in what a computer like macbook is capable of playing at decent settings at decent fps. Im getting the normal white macbook

2.13GHz
* Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2GB DDR2 Memory
* 160GB hard drive1
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
* Standard keyboard
* White polycarbonate shell

I'm probably going to upgrade it to 4gb memory since 2 is weak. Definitely going to bootcamp windows on it too so i can play steam which is what I'm really interested in for gaming interests. If there is something I should know about bootcamp and it not being worth it or sucky please let me know. Also, is it necessary? I don't think there is Steam for Mac right? Also with the specs from the macbook, how would games like TF2, and other valve games hold up? Is there any really good games that run on mac? I kinda wanted Spore I also heard word of Street Fighter 4 coming out on pc. Is my macbook going to fail at playing that? So basically I'm asking, is my lowend macbook going to fail at gaming and should I not even think about it?

 

[SnakeXs]

Get the pro, save up for 4 gigs later if you have to.

Seriously.

 

[UnluckyKate]

TF2 is not avaible for Mac and 4gb of ram is useless on a Mac

and get the Pro, because 9400M won't let you play. Pro as 9600, way better.

 

[ant1532]

Get the pro, save up for 4 gigs later if you have to.

Seriously.

I'm definitely getting the normal macbook so don't argue me to get another computer, its primary use isn't for gaming, just an optional thing for me.

sorry snakeXs but at the price im getting the macbook and other things I need, i have to purchase it, for school purposes. I already have the ram btw in my old computer btw.

 

[ant1532]

oh geez, gaming is not looking good for me lol. oh well.

 

[SnakeXs]

TF2 is not avaible for Mac and 4gb of ram is useless on a Mac

1) Boot Camp

2):lol

:lol

...

:lol

 

[White Man]

TF2 is not avaible for Mac and 4gb of ram is useless on a Mac

and get the Pro, because 9400M won't let you play. Pro as 9600, way better.

I wanted to get one of the new 13" MacBook Pros, but they don't come with a real GPU either. There's really not that big of a difference between the 13" MBP and the MBs. I'm kinda bummed by that.

 

[ant1532]

1) Boot Camp

2):lol

:lol

...

:lol

explain the funny to me please! :/

 

[Munin]

The 15" MBPs are excellent for gaming, but yeah, anything below that is pretty useless unless you're looking at 2006-or-older gaming.

 

[Gibb]

So basically I'm asking, is my lowend macbook going to fail at gaming and should I not even think about it?

depends on what games you want to play...

Spore has a Mac version, you can check the requirements...

 

[Action Jackson]

Read this thread, to get an overview of which games will run on the Macbook (TF2 will run fine):

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-applications-games/127153-unofficial-macbook-gaming-thread-late-2008-models.html

 

[ant1532]

The 15" MBPs are excellent for gaming, but yeah, anything below that is pretty useless unless you're looking at 2006-or-older gaming.

ugh honestly, I would rather have a 13" for its size over ability to play games. So if the issue is that I need a 15" I'm not going to bother.

 

[ant1532]

Read this thread, to get an overview of which games will run on the Macbook (TF2 will run fine):

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-applications-games/127153-unofficial-macbook-gaming-thread-late-2008-models.html

WAH? hmmm

 

[SnakeXs]

ugh honestly, I would rather have a 13" for its size over ability to play games. So if the issue is that I need a 15" I'm not going to bother.

You should want the Pro because it's a much better piece of hardware. GPU is secondary and costs way more.

 

[ant1532]

lets just pretend I already have the macbook in the OP guys. I should have lied to you motherfuckers. I knew this would happen lol.

 

[UnluckyKate]

1) Boot Camp

2):lol

:lol

...

:lol

Yeah, right, I used to play TF2 with a windows partition on my Mac, but seriously, it sucks even with a good mice. If he wants to play TF2, a Macbook Pro is an option, but not that good.

He's buying a Mac for school, so unless he will make some HD video editing or coding, 4gb of memory isn't worth the price but 2gb are enough for OS X

 

[Borman]

Memory is cheap, I find myself maxing out my 5 gigs on my Mac real quick (though in my case, the memory isnt so cheap with a Mac Pro). And the new Macbooks are a load better then the old, and should be able to play TF2 with no issues.

 

[Keyser Soze]

To hijack this thread a little, what is playable on:

2.8GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512M

Give me a recent game, and the setting I would expect to be able to run? (PS: I am kinda clueless on computer specs, be kind!)

Also, would the upgrade to 3.06GHz be worth it when buying through the online Apple Store

 

[ant1532]

To hijack this thread a little, what is playable on:

2.8GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512M

Give me a recent game, and the setting I would expect to be able to run? (PS: I am kinda clueless on computer specs, be kind!)

Also, would the upgrade to 3.06GHz be worth it when buying through the online Apple Store

can you hijack the thread after I get a complete answer? this is rhetorical question btw.

 

[guggnichso]

nevermind, read the op wrong.

 

[ant1532]

oh geez. I just realized I really want to play FF14... lol. I'm guessing since macbook = suckage, i wont be able to play it correct? The only reason I'm asking is, i kinda have hope it will play it since MMO's aren't really powerhouse games... right? :/

 

[brain_stew]

Its a cool integrated chip, but no, its not sufficient for many modern games.

FF14 is going to be a no go, for sure. Do you absolutely have to run a Mac? For the price of the Macbook you can get something which will produce around 5x the frames whilst still not being particularly bulky either.

Check this out:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=177856&action=customize

The $1000 config with the 2.53ghz processor, 4 gig of RAM and a DDR3 4650 will run any game out there at some pretty damn decent settings and it'll utterly obliterate the performance you'd be getting from the Macbook.

Street Fightr IV, Starcraft 2 and Final Fantasy 14 should all run very nicely on it even if you do have to tune down the settings a little, you're still looking at a nice enough leap above current console graphics.

 

[Ice Monkey]

Jesus, my GF has a $1k macbook white with 9400M and I've played many recent games on it acceptably.

Really, if you can play TF2, L4D and even UT3 acceptably, you're good for a notebook as far as I'm concerned. Obviously if you can afford it, any gamer should get the mac pro but for 4 hours of L4D and TF2 and the like, the mac is a great little machine.

 

[ant1532]

ok guys. I came into the thread with the understanding its not good for modern day pc games. But the question is, can it at least play games such as TF2 to the point where I'm at least able to pwn and tbag my foes?

 

[DrXym]

Slightly tangential to the original q but many native Mac ports are just the Windows source compiled with a winelib derived tech called Cider. Mac gaming is really an afterthought for most publishers. Better to play through bootcamp.

 

[Action Jackson]

To hijack this thread a little, what is playable on:

2.8GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512M

Give me a recent game, and the setting I would expect to be able to run? (PS: I am kinda clueless on computer specs, be kind!)

Also, would the upgrade to 3.06GHz be worth it when buying through the online Apple Store

As a rule of thumb, the MBP lets you play games at similar settings and performance as a PS3/360.

Regarding the CPU upgrade, even without checking the mark up that Apple asks, I would say it isn't worth it. You won't notice any difference in real world performance.

 

[marvelharvey]

To hijack this thread a little, what is playable on:

2.8GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512M

Give me a recent game, and the setting I would expect to be able to run? (PS: I am kinda clueless on computer specs, be kind!)

Also, would the upgrade to 3.06GHz be worth it when buying through the online Apple Store

Left 4 Dead will run 60fps using lower graphical settings.

 

[brain_stew]

ok guys. I came into the thread with the understanding its not good for modern day pc games. But the question is, can it at least play games such as TF2 to the point where I'm at least able to pwn and tbag my foes?

Check out these benchamrks:

http://optimitza.cat/news/2008/10/16/nvidia-geforce-9400m-benchmarks/

Team Fortress 2 will play fairly decently if you turn down the settings but then Valve games always do, so they're not a good benchmark to judge others by.

Performance should be somewhere around a desktop 7600GS, so whilst I'm personally impressed what it achieves as an integrated part considering what integrated graphics used to mean and the fact its very feature rich with full DX10 support and HD video acceleration you've really got to keep your expectations in check. We're talking about performance inn line with a card that was low-mid range for a desktop discrete card when it launched 3 years ago. So yeah, stick with 2-3 year old games and you'll be very happy, anything more recent than that and you're stepping into unknown territory.

 

[celebi23]

ant1532, for TF2, HL2 (etc) I use CrossOver Games on my early 2007 MacBook Pro.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxgames/

I only have 2GB of RAM but, it runs at native speed. All Steam-related games have full (or near full) compatibility.

http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/group/?app_parent=2034; (compatibility listing for Steam games)

7 day trial to see if it works for you & it's only $39.95. I've had it since it came out last year & it's well worth it. I don't have any need for BootCamp any more

 

[Vorador]

oh geez. I just realized I really want to play FF14... lol. I'm guessing since macbook = suckage, i wont be able to play it correct? The only reason I'm asking is, i kinda have hope it will play it since MMO's aren't really powerhouse games... right? :/

The 9400M is already pretty shitty by modern standards, so....

Here's a benchmark to compare:

http://optimitza.cat/news/2008/09/0...m-9500m-9600m-mobility-radeon-3450-3470-3650/

 

[Lyte Edge]

As a MacBook owner, I can tell you that the answer to this is simple: Don't buy a MacBook if you're looking to do any kind of serious gaming.

 

[ant1532]

The 9400M is already pretty shitty by modern standards, so....

Here's a benchmark to compare:

http://optimitza.cat/news/2008/09/0...m-9500m-9600m-mobility-radeon-3450-3470-3650/

but are mmos ever powerhouse games? like would you personally think FF14 is going to be a game where you would need a modern day gaming computer just to play?

thanks btw people!

As a MacBook owner, I can tell you that the answer to this is simple: Don't buy a MacBook if you're looking to do any kind of serious gaming.

im not at all. itd just be nice. ya know

 

[brain_stew]

]As a rule of thumb, the MBP lets you play games at similar settings and performance as a PS3/360.
[/B]
Regarding the CPU upgrade, even without checking the mark up that Apple asks, I would say it isn't worth it. You won't notice any difference in real world performance.

Yeah, that's a pretty decent place to put it, so yeah, if you're happy with console levels of performance/graphics then you've got little to worry about. Most every game should be somewhat decently playable in some fashion, and it'll usually be a rather pleasant experience.

 

[brain_stew]

but are mmos ever powerhouse games? like would you personally think FF14 is going to be a game where you would need a modern day gaming computer just to play?

Absolutely, the bse assets may be simple but with so much stuff going on at times they are often the most demanding of games around. WOW will bring even bleeding edge rigs to their knees in certain scenarios with the latest expansion. FF14 looks to be pushing some very impressive visuals, so once you start populating the game with 100s or 1000s of character, things are going to get rough on most setups. If you have any interest in playing FF14 then give up the idea of a Macbook. If OS X isn't essential to you then then laptop I linked to you earlier is seemingly much better suited to your needs. You should get a decent enough FF14 experience out of it.

 

[permutated]

Get the pro, save up for 4 gigs later if you have to.

Seriously.

Agreed on this.

If you don't get the Pro there's zero point.

My pro runs Max resolution on COD4 and looks fantastic. Definitely happy with that.

 

[ant1532]

one more thing non gaming though.

um im on my sisters mac right now, and its always noticeably super slow when loading videos for some reason in comparison to my dads old ass toshiba notebook. Is there something weird with mac wireless i should know about? I mean videos are almost unwatchable as they buffer every 8 seconds it seems. or is this just my sisters fucked up mac? I have a linksys wireless g router btw.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Macbook and gaming? lol. They are great for the elderly or young children though.

 

[Firestorm]

I have the GeForce Go 7600 which is apparently better than your card. You should be able to set everything to low and play near 30 fps.

FFXIV probably will not run very well.

Edit: My 7600 does not give me 360/PS3 level visuals at the framerate they should be at. Not sure what people are talking about here. Maybe the 9600M does, but not the 9400 won't.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

If you are serious about using a laptop for gaming and you absolutely want to run Mac OS X, consider a Hackintosh.

 

[ant1532]

can i ask you guys something? why do all of you say if your serious about gaming or if you really want to play games. Not only in the OP but several times I make it clear its just an optional thing that would be nice. READ GAF. The fact if it plays games awesomely like ps3/360, is not important at all to me. I'm fine with wii level graphics and if it cant even do that then no big deal its not going to change my purchase. im done with the whole gaming thing on it though, but if someone can answer my last question that would be nice.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

Don't let the hardware junkies scare you off. 9400M is an awesome IGP. It can run TF2 perfectly fine, even in crossover, because as brain_stew noted, Valve knows how to design quality, scalable games. I had a MBP with the 9600M, and to be honest, I didn't find it useful enough to justify the price/heat/bulk. Apple's windows driver support is less than inspiring TBH, and the 9400M could run COD4, TF2, etc. in OS X at a fine level. Older games and scalable games are cake for this IGP.

Are we sure that FFXIV is NOT going to scale? It seems like, if Square wants to keep having the MMO pie, it's going to have to scale pretty well.

The only upgrade I'd suggest, if you can bear it, is to go up to the $1200 to the entry level 13" MBP, thanks to the highly improved screen, battery life, unibody construction, etc.

And don't get taken off point, you're right in Apple's wheelhouse in terms of value right now.

 

[vesp]

I play(ed) WOW on the 13inch unibody MacBook at medium settings just fine even in the clusterfuck of whatever their new open world bg thing was called.

I've played most of the source games and theyre all fine.

I play demigod on it a lot at low-medium settings and it works ok.

All games played on bootcamped xp and now windows7. I really like windows 7 on the macbook, after a few patches and such the trackpad and such works better than it ever has and performance is back to xp or better.

This is still at 2 gigs of ram, I really want to get 4, though havent decided if its worth it as I'm not sure things will get that much better and I have a real gaming computer at home.

It's not absolutely ideal as a gaming machine, but it's workable for light gaming on the go. Most games at low settings are pretty feasible, 75.3763% of pc gamers just cant stand running shit on low.

 

[Firestorm]

ant, have you looked through the Refurbished store? For $350 more you could get this guy:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB470LL/A?mco=MjE0NDk5Mw

Would stay current for a longer period of time and much more useful for games, graphics work, and everything else. Reburbished Apple products are top notch. Come with the full warranty and are often new, just returned to the store because someone changed their mind.

More: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTE3NjY

Although you should weigh education discount + ipod vs this if you're a student.

 

[Ryu1999]

It's not absolutely ideal as a gaming machine, but it's workable for light
gaming on the go. Most games at low settings are pretty feasible, 75.3763% of pc gamers just cant stand running shit on low.

75.3763% of pc gamers are either on GAF or a forum nerdier than GAF. True story

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Is there a rule against recommending a PC over a MAC on GAF?

If not, that's what I'm doing. :lol

 

[Firestorm]

Is there a rule against recommending a PC over a MAC on GAF?

If not, that's what I'm doing. :lol

Only on the OT. But I'm pretty sure ant is set on a Mac. Gaming is not his primary concern.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

Only on the OT. But I'm pretty sure ant is set on a Mac. Gaming is not his primary concern.

He could buy a PC for a lot less, and then take the time to workaround and get OSX running on it, if he's that dead set on it. Although I think that significantly limits your hardware anyway, so I doubt you could use the extra money to beef up the notebook, which was the whole point of recommending the PC. I suppose if you're set on a macbook it's one thing, but if you're considering buying it for the purpose of gaming, you're probably better off going with a PC because you'd get more bang for your buck. Since he's not, then it's a non-issue.

 

[Lucis]

you have the ram already?
you sure they are AVL'ed ram?
you sure you have ddr3 SODIMM on a "old" laptop?
even if you do, they probably won't work on that macbook

 

[leroidys]

sorry snakeXs but at the price im getting the macbook and other things I need, i have to purchase it, for school purposes. I already have the ram btw in my old computer btw.

If it's for school, you get the student discount so the pro is like 1099, and then you get a free ipod touch which you can ebay for ~200, so you end up with an 899 macbook pro (before taxes.)

 

[Bankoiia]

To hijack this thread a little, what is playable on:

2.8GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512M

Give me a recent game

I recently played through Prototype on a machine similar to yours, (albeit mine is a bit weaker at 2,66GHz) and it ran pretty damn well on medium settings. The MBP really shines as a gaming platform- with a bootcamp partition.