Macbook Pro and gaming?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Hi everyone,



Have anyone tried playing games on their Macbook Pro 2.0 GHz?

How is performance, and is it true that the graffics card is not as powerfull as on the iMac?



How about gaming in "Bootcamp Windows XP" mode?



Basically I want to know if the machine can be used for playing World of Warcraft in Mac OS X and for Battlefield 2 with good results.



Regards,

Soeren

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Running games in XP is supposed to be pretty good last I heard. That are all sorts of reviews and comparisons out there if you search a bit.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    It runs any recent PC game gorgeously, just as well as a comparable PC laptop would do it. You can also clock the graphics card up if you're ambitious, it's underclocked by default, to enable greater performance.



    But even with the default clock, it's really great for a lot of games. Many run in widescreen, too.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    tednditedndi Posts: 1,921member
    Works really well in bootcamp with XP



    I was able to get 63fps in Half Life 2



    Works flawlessly.





  • Reply 4 of 10
    trowatrowa Posts: 176member
    Gaming on the macbook is great.



    I played F.E.A.R. with settings pretty high and got good frame rates.



    Half life 2 runs smoothly as well. haven't played online yet, since I am just running through the single player. multiplayer is where it really matters.



    FWIW. running macbook pro 2.16 2GB RAM. 7200RPM 100 GB HD
  • Reply 5 of 10
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    I can't wait for UT2k7 on my Mac Pro.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    >_>>_> Posts: 336member
    2.16Ghz 17" Macbook 2 gigs of ram 100gb 7200rpm



    http://homepage.mac.com/xidius/WoW/fps.jpg



    That's with 4x Multisample, also.



    For those who cannot view the screenshot:



    1680x1050

    Terrain Distance - Max

    Environmental Detail - Max

    Anisotropic Filtering - Max

    Terrain Texture - Max

    Terrain Detail - Max

    Weather Intensity - Max

    Spell Detail level - Low



    Enable All Shader Effects - On

    Terrain Highlights - On

    Full-Screen Glow Effect - Off

    Death Effect - Off

    Vertex Animation Shaders - On

    Smooth Shading - On

    Trilinear Filtering - Off

    Vertical Sync - Off

    Hardware Cursor - On

    Smooth Mouse - Off



    Current FPS - 51.7

    Average FPS - 33.6

    Minimum FPS - 2.7

    Maximum FPS - 95.5



    Going from the top of the line 17" Powerbook to this 17" Macbook is an AMAZING difference.



    - Xidius
  • Reply 7 of 10
    sororcasororca Posts: 69member
    Thanx!!



    Hey I really appreciate all your feedback :-)

    I'm going for it, espc since the new otherwise cool macbooks, does not sport a good enough graphics card for serious gaming.



    World of Warcraft - here I come! 8)
  • Reply 8 of 10
    sororcasororca Posts: 69member
    Hi guys,



    Just another quick thought on the gaming issue.



    Does the optional faster harddrive make much of a difference in the gaming experience? And what about batterylife, it must be spinning faster and thus use more power?



    I'm still looking at the 15" Macbook Pro 2.16 GHz.



    To Xidius: How come these settings are set as low or off?



    Spell Detail level - Low

    Full-Screen Glow Effect - Off

    Death Effect - Off

    Trilinear Filtering - Off

    Vertical Sync - Off



    Guess this one have nothing to do with performance:

    Smooth Mouse - Off



    Thanks,

    Soeren



    EDIT:



    No thoughts? Anyone??
  • Reply 9 of 10
    Bump.



    I would like to know if the upgraded 7200 rpm makes a difference. Battery life is about 3 hours on full blown gaming. I think that I will spend a huge difference for the 2.16 mhz pro in September because I want to game itup and the MB just doesn't have that edge but is capable of doing it but at lower settings.



    Sororca,



    search for bench marks on google for the pro because they are lots of tests out there.



    Cheers
  • Reply 10 of 10
    sororcasororca Posts: 69member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JadeEmpirePlaya

    .... Sororca,



    search for bench marks on google for the pro because they are lots of tests out there.



    Cheers




    Thanks, I'll look into it. I just thought someone out there actually had a Macbook Pro with a 7200 rpm harddrive and could enlighten everyone how performance was different when gaming or doing other power work.



    I'll give Google yet another crack in the meanwhile
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