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Windows 2013 Macbook Pro Can't Run CRAP!
- Thread starter c00kays
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"Pro" doesn't mean good graphics. There are a lot of Pro uses that have no need of a GPU.
No offense man, but if you wanted to do some hardcore gaming, you picked the wrong line of laptops.
If your serious about your gaming and want a Laptop, your gonna need the highest end rMBP or a Alienware laptop.
Theres a very good reason that " gaming " desktops and laptops don't have integrated GPUs.
If your serious about your gaming and want a Laptop, your gonna need the highest end rMBP or a Alienware laptop.
Theres a very good reason that " gaming " desktops and laptops don't have integrated GPUs.
For the OP it's academic at this point, but for anyone else, the Windows Gaming on a Mac FAQ discusses this and I recently updated it. The section is labeled "Mac Centric" meaning that you want to have a Mac included in your hardware. You could always forgo Mac all together, but I would not do that personally.
Forget the gaming aspect. Why on earth did a film major buy a 13" MBP decked out with ram and a SSD? You would have been much better off without the SSD and 16gb of ram and bought a plain 15". Heck a lot of PC laptops at that point would have been a better option. The 13" is really the low end machine. I agree with others that Apple should reLly drop the pro name. There is really nothing pro or special about the 13" anymore.
Dual core CPU, limited gpu, small screen. All of these really hinder a film maker and a gamer.
SSD's in my opinion are over rated. Sure they are nice if you have wads of cash to blow but your CPU and gpu are where things really matter for video editing and games.
Don't get me wrong the 13" is a nice machine. My wife is a doctor and she loves hers. Then again she is only using it for business applications and the web which it is perfect for. If you only wanted the laptop for running Final Draft or other screen writing software then I would say you are fine but it sounds like you want to edit your films as well.
Dual core CPU, limited gpu, small screen. All of these really hinder a film maker and a gamer.
SSD's in my opinion are over rated. Sure they are nice if you have wads of cash to blow but your CPU and gpu are where things really matter for video editing and games.
Don't get me wrong the 13" is a nice machine. My wife is a doctor and she loves hers. Then again she is only using it for business applications and the web which it is perfect for. If you only wanted the laptop for running Final Draft or other screen writing software then I would say you are fine but it sounds like you want to edit your films as well.
As above, the Intel integrated graphics are lousy for gaming. They're much better than previous generations, and will now actually handle older games at basic settings, but they're hopeless for decent framerates on intensive games at even moderate settings.
Whether your laptop is a Macbook or Toshiba or whatever, it's going to have the exact same problem trying to run games on integrated graphics. Ultimately, this was a total failure of research - you didn't know what you were buying and bought something that didn't meet your needs.
For even modest gaming, you want a discrete graphics card. For the games you're talking about (Far Cry), you want a fairly solid and capable discrete graphics card - the 650M that's in the 15" Retina MBP or better.
I've been waiting several months with cash burning a hole in my wallet for the eventual upgrade to the 15" Retina MBP *specifically* for an upgraded discrete video card, as the 650M is solid, but I'd really like the current generation of discrete card.
The unfortunate reality is that you're going to have a rough time finding what you want. General-use laptops in a reasonable price range just really aren't good gaming rigs. Running even a mid-range discreet graphics card hard in a laptop case uses a ton of power and creates a lot of heat. Dedicated gaming laptops like Alienware handle this with somewhat expensive, massive heavy cases, loud fans, etc, and Razer is trying it with very expensive laptops ($2K min) that are thin and light with great graphics cards, but there's a reason nobody is selling $1K gaming laptops that kick ass, and are pleasant and portable...
In a lot of ways, the 'sane' way to go about this is to buy an MBA and a fairly modest PC gaming rig, like an Alienware X51 - not especially cheap, but far cheaper than trying to get thin/light gaming laptop.
Long story short - integrated graphics suck, good gaming laptops are expensive and/or heavy and large, get an MBA and an X51, and then you'll have what you probably really wanted all along.
Whether your laptop is a Macbook or Toshiba or whatever, it's going to have the exact same problem trying to run games on integrated graphics. Ultimately, this was a total failure of research - you didn't know what you were buying and bought something that didn't meet your needs.
For even modest gaming, you want a discrete graphics card. For the games you're talking about (Far Cry), you want a fairly solid and capable discrete graphics card - the 650M that's in the 15" Retina MBP or better.
I've been waiting several months with cash burning a hole in my wallet for the eventual upgrade to the 15" Retina MBP *specifically* for an upgraded discrete video card, as the 650M is solid, but I'd really like the current generation of discrete card.
The unfortunate reality is that you're going to have a rough time finding what you want. General-use laptops in a reasonable price range just really aren't good gaming rigs. Running even a mid-range discreet graphics card hard in a laptop case uses a ton of power and creates a lot of heat. Dedicated gaming laptops like Alienware handle this with somewhat expensive, massive heavy cases, loud fans, etc, and Razer is trying it with very expensive laptops ($2K min) that are thin and light with great graphics cards, but there's a reason nobody is selling $1K gaming laptops that kick ass, and are pleasant and portable...
In a lot of ways, the 'sane' way to go about this is to buy an MBA and a fairly modest PC gaming rig, like an Alienware X51 - not especially cheap, but far cheaper than trying to get thin/light gaming laptop.
Long story short - integrated graphics suck, good gaming laptops are expensive and/or heavy and large, get an MBA and an X51, and then you'll have what you probably really wanted all along.
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I'm not traveling like I used to. I'm currently using a 2011 MBP (see signature) which handles my gaming needs admirably. However for the next go around, due to my gaming tendencies, I'm seriously considering one of two options:
1. Light duty Mac portable + $1200 PC for gaming, something like iBuyPower or Cyberpower tower assuming it will be more powerful (better video card) than the MBP mentioned in option 2. This gives me two computers in case I have problems with one of them, although only one real gaming computer.
2. Upgraded to a new $2000 15" MacBookPro as an all-in-one machine. I'll spend less money with this option, but only have 1 computer total.
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The MacBook Pro 13 is not designed for gamers. It's designed for professionals such as computer programmers, photographers, web designers, etc.
You should've gotten the MacBook Pro 15. That one is designed for gaming, video editing professionals and people that need the graphics power.
I'd return that for a 15 if I were you.
If you read the OP post, you will see that he was using boot camp and running Windows only games and was getting unacceptable results. Windows boot camp will give you better results than OS X but, in many cases depending on the hardware and coding of the game, the results may not be much better than OS X. Considering the disk space it takes, the fact that you need Windows, and the inconvenience of booting between OS X and Windows, many don't consider the FPS gain to be worth it. In my case, I only use boot camp to run non-OS X games (i.e. I only use it if I have to).
The definition of Pro does not stand or fall with or without a dedicated GPU. The overall of the specs of the Pro he has, clearly makes it a Pro machine in my opinion (512GB SSD per example) HP markets Workstation notebooks (in the price range of a MBP) which are also to be classified as the ' pro' machines on windows, yet they also lack a dedicated GPU most of the time.
It does what it should do, that the OP isn't capable of making an effort of reading the system requirements for games isn't the notebook's fault. And even if he read them since he mentioned that certain games said the HD2000,3000 and 4000 was compatible, he clearly misses the point there.
Compatible means it runs........nothing more nothing less. So the game will boot and probably give you a powerpoint slideshow speeds framerate, but still it runs.
If the OP would actually understand IT related matters he would have looked at the recommended system requirements and then made the decision, hmmz maybe a MacBook isn't really my choice to go with maybe i should invest in a nice gaming laptop Dell, Alienware or Asus have. If he did that he wouldn't be ranting here about how awful a 2000$ laptop runs games which are clearly positioned as Windows hardware games.
You may want to work on your reading skills. He clearly states he is using a 13" MBP with windows 8 in bootcamp. soooo
You may want to work on your reading skills. The 13" model does not have Nvidia graphics.
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That said OP, I'd return it and get a 15" MBP if you want a decent graphics card.
That would be great if they will let him. I purchased a MacBook for my wife and a couple of weeks later a new MacBook with better graphics came out. Apple allowed me to return it for a $100 fee.