Windows Gaming on a Mac
I am considering buying a Macbook just to be able to run windows and play Games that only work on Windows. Has anyone tested the gaming of Windows game on a Mac and how well do they run? Is it worth the switch from a PowerPC to an Intel for the sole purpose of Windows gaming??
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Bootcamp runs rediculously well, and you should encounter no issues running games.
However, unfortunately, the MacBook isnt the best gaming option (IMO) due to the worthless intergrated graphics.
I would personally opt for a MacBook Pro.
And yes, its a good switch to go from PowerPC to Intel just for Gaming.
Hell, thats what im doing !
Life is about having fun first,
then worrying about less important things (Eg: Anything non-game related) 8)
I am considering buying a Macbook just to be able to run windows and play Games that only work on Windows. Has anyone tested the gaming of Windows game on a Mac and how well do they run? Is it worth the switch from a PowerPC to an Intel for the sole purpose of Windows gaming??
Older games run pretty well, say pre-2004, though dates are not accurate because Fahrenheit plays great and came out in 2005, but the GMA card lacks hardware transform and lighting and so you get compatibility issues with a few games. Deus Ex Invisible War and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time don't run.
There was a thread about what games actually run with the GMA. I was hoping it could be stickied so that people wouldn't have to search for it. I think a lot of people will want to know what games work.
I'm currently testing the Star Wars games and Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast play very well.
If you like games then yes it most certainly is worth it to switch to Intel. It's just so useful having the ability to run Windows stuff. Also, the speed jump is pretty big having two faster processors for the price of one.
What you may want to do is look at refurb Macbook Pros. I've seen them at just £150 more than a Macbook and the X1600 is brilliant for gaming. It's played all the higher end games I've tried.
Macs=
So yall say that the Macbook doesn't have good graphics due to the integrated shared video memory. What is the difference in the graphics on the Macbook vs. the Macbook Pro, and would it really be worth the extra like $800 to get the Macbook Pro when it just has a little bit better graphics?
Macs=
thats what im trying to decide on too. i know the graphical difference is huge but so is the price. x1600 will prob be about 5x better especially coz it has hardware t&l which most modern games need, the gma 950 in the macbook just runs that in software instead.
but hey i haven't tested it yet coz i don't have one yet.
guess it depends on how much a gamer you are!
thats what im trying to decide on too. i know the graphical difference is huge but so is the price. x1600 will prob be about 5x better especially coz it has hardware t&l which most modern games need, the gma 950 in the macbook just runs that in software instead.
but hey i haven't tested it yet coz i don't have one yet.
guess it depends on how much a gamer you are!
To be considered is that both the MacBook and MacBook Pro will likely see revision in this upcoming quarter of 2007 when the Santa Rosa platform is released by Intel. Obviously the GPU in the MacBook Pro will remain better (likely something in the X18-19 range or X2 equal to X1600XT) but the MacBook could potentially get the new GMA 3000/x3000 which has potential to increase more hardware elements to the process such as T&L units, pixel shaders, and vertex shaders.
Basically, that would mean the MacBook integrated graphics would become competent. Though I would suppose they could finally make use of the 3-teir pricing like this:
- $1099 - GMA 3000 (400)
- $1299 - GMA 3000 (5__)
- $1499 - GMA x3000 (667)
(MHz speed of graphics core)
We'll see how the new GMAs do. As of right now googling for benchmarks is useless as the current drivers they are running don't enable hardware, There is supposed to be a new driver released very soon (version 14.26) that will enable hardware so we can see some real performance from these chips. It's a bit of a wait and see thing now, but it will (with any speck of luck) be better than the current GMAs.
To be considered is that both the MacBook and MacBook Pro will likely see revision in this upcoming quarter of 2007 when the Santa Rosa platform is released by Intel. Obviously the GPU in the MacBook Pro will remain better (likely something in the X18-19 range or X2 equal to X1600XT) but the MacBook could potentially get the new GMA 3000/x3000 which has potential to increase more hardware elements to the process such as T&L units, pixel shaders, and vertex shaders.
Basically, that would mean the MacBook integrated graphics would become competent. Though I would suppose they could finally make use of the 3-teir pricing like this:
- $1099 - GMA 3000 (400)
- $1299 - GMA 3000 (5__)
- $1499 - GMA x3000 (667)
(MHz speed of graphics core)
We'll see how the new GMAs do. As of right now googling for benchmarks is useless as the current drivers they are running don't enable hardware, There is supposed to be a new driver released very soon (version 14.26) that will enable hardware so we can see some real performance from these chips. It's a bit of a wait and see thing now, but it will (with any speck of luck) be better than the current GMAs.
yeah, unfortunately i can't wait till then as i won't be a student anymore then so no discount. need to buy next week.
but i agree if they have the x3000 it should be sweet. thats the one with HardwareT&L
I am considering buying a Macbook just to be able to run windows and play Games that only work on Windows. Has anyone tested the gaming of Windows game on a Mac and how well do they run? Is it worth the switch from a PowerPC to an Intel for the sole purpose of Windows gaming??
Windows gaming is a very beneficial side effect. You definitely need the X1600 Mobility as in the latest MacBookPro Core2Duo. Not MacBook. Remember that not all games will support the native 1680x1050 resolution of the MacBookPro --- You'll have to let the MacBookPro "work with"(scale appropriately) something like the 1280x1024 resolution or 1280x800 widescreen resolution.
What is the difference in the graphics on the Macbook vs. the Macbook Pro, and would it really be worth the extra like $800 to get the Macbook Pro when it just has a little bit better graphics?
Not a little bit better, a lot better. The X1600 is like the Geforce 6600 that came with the high end G5 towers. The GMA is like the old Radeon 9200 in the G4 Mini.
The X1600 will play Prey on maximum but you probably won't be able to play it at all on the GMA and if it does run, you'll get about 15-20fps on the lowest settings.
If you only play older games like ones based on the Quake 3 engine then you're fine to go with the GMA but you might be annoyed when a game you really like won't run. If you go with a refurb, the price difference is really not that high.