I've been waiting to purchase a MBP for a while but I couldn't justify buying MBP 13" or ASUS G51Jx. I can get basically both for a similar price but yet Asus is loaded. But then I like the the mobility of MBP. So what I'm really asking is, does the MBP has enough spec to have the game run very smoothly at a higher setting?
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Current MacBook Pro 13
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A MBP 13" has an integrated graphics card. That's a big downside. Modern games like Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare will not fare well when the system has to steal RAM to power the video card. Any 15" MBP should handle the games quite well (I've run ME 2 beautifully), so if you can spare some extra cash invest in that. Otherwise, however, I'd recommend the ASUS if you plan on doing a lot of gaming.
Starcraft and Sims 3 should run fine, along with most FPS games as well. The 320m graphics is supossed to be pretty good. I have 13" mb with 9400m, it runs games pretty good (when it's not over heating) I run QuakeLive, X-Plane, Counter Strike Source, TF2 runs ok, probably need more RAM though I only have the 2gigs
Edit: On the other hand that asus would probably mop the floor with both in terms of graphic power. Decide if you want more power, or if you like the Aluminum Macbook case, which is pretty nice too.
Edit: On the other hand that asus would probably mop the floor with both in terms of graphic power. Decide if you want more power, or if you like the Aluminum Macbook case, which is pretty nice too.
Just a warning, though-- if you are going to have gaming sessions on your MB, I would recommend you invest in a stand for the laptop so as to prevent overheating. I know it may not seem like that big of a deal, but I recently purchased one for my own 15" MBP and I noticed a huge difference in how hot m laptop got as I played through Dragon Age: Origins. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.
Up until 10.6.4 and the latest patch I could play Starcraft 2 absolutely fine on the 13" with graphics on Medium, on the native resolution. Now there major performance issues but that's limited to OS X and I'm convinced this is gonna be resolved by Apple. (Valve's games have the same issues now.) On Windows everything's fine.
So yeah, Starcraft isn't going to be any issue at all.
So yeah, Starcraft isn't going to be any issue at all.
I own both the Aluminium Macbook with the 9400m and the 13" MBP with the 320m and I can say that, even on 10.6.4 they both run steam games (HL2, TF2, CS:S) perfectly well at medium for the 9400m and high for the 320m (color correction is off here) both at native resolution.
Sims 3 will work brilliantly on medium and even high settings, Starcraft I've never played.
As for the suggestions of getting a 15" unless you are going to be gaming a lot or need the increased screen size then I really wouldn't bother. I debated with myself about going for the 15" and the dedicated card but in all honesty I think it would have been a waste of money in my situation and I'd have grown tired of the larger size and weight of the laptop.
If you really want to save some money look into the current Macbook, it has the 320m and 4GB ram so specs wise it would be almost indistinguishable from the MBP in game however you really can't beat the durable feel of the aluminium unibody designs.
Hope this helps, Joe
Edit: Another plus side of going for the cheaper 13" MBP or even the MB would be that you could use the saved money to invest in a bootcamp setup (Win 7 or XP) and open up a whole library of other games to play along with arguably much better gaming performance on the windows side of the fence. This is a reasonably tiresome way to so things tho if like me your only a casual gamer, having to shutdown and boot into windows doesn't half take the 'casual' out of it believe me.
Sims 3 will work brilliantly on medium and even high settings, Starcraft I've never played.
As for the suggestions of getting a 15" unless you are going to be gaming a lot or need the increased screen size then I really wouldn't bother. I debated with myself about going for the 15" and the dedicated card but in all honesty I think it would have been a waste of money in my situation and I'd have grown tired of the larger size and weight of the laptop.
If you really want to save some money look into the current Macbook, it has the 320m and 4GB ram so specs wise it would be almost indistinguishable from the MBP in game however you really can't beat the durable feel of the aluminium unibody designs.
Hope this helps, Joe
Edit: Another plus side of going for the cheaper 13" MBP or even the MB would be that you could use the saved money to invest in a bootcamp setup (Win 7 or XP) and open up a whole library of other games to play along with arguably much better gaming performance on the windows side of the fence. This is a reasonably tiresome way to so things tho if like me your only a casual gamer, having to shutdown and boot into windows doesn't half take the 'casual' out of it believe me.
So I'm a brand new mac user got a 13" 2.66ghz 2010 model. and installed a couple of games
Starcraft 2 Beta
Counterstrike Source
Day of Defeat
Warcraft 3 reign of Chaos
Starcraft Broodwar
I only got to play SC2 beta for like a day cause the beta ended later that night
pretty much played it for about 30 minutes to an hour anyways it run on medium to low.. some options where on high, and it ran really smooth.. didn't get to experience big battles since I'm a veteran on SC and I usually rush pretty quick. So I'm sure SC2 the actual game will run really smooth.. there is a 2-3 second lag everyonce in awhile but I think everyone experiences that.
Counterstrike source and day of defeat High/medium runs very smooth
Warcraft 3/ Starcraft broodwar High, very beautiful.
I don't know how to show fps so if you guys can go ahead and tell me how to show it I will be more than happy to let you guys know fps. but technically the only reason I got a mbp was for 2 things one being school, other one for SC2, and I wanted a small computer as well. Oh and a quick question what kind of mice do you use for gaming, i bought a logitech m505 wireless. but when I play Starcraft 2 the mouse jumps around to all the sides and makes the screen side scroll.. and when I play counterstrike the crosshair laggs a little. I don't know if its because its wireless or anything, but would it be better to buy a wired mouse? thanks guys!
Yeah I'm thinking of doing that buying a stand, where did you get yours, I have a 13"
Starcraft 2 Beta
Counterstrike Source
Day of Defeat
Warcraft 3 reign of Chaos
Starcraft Broodwar
I only got to play SC2 beta for like a day cause the beta ended later that night
pretty much played it for about 30 minutes to an hour anyways it run on medium to low.. some options where on high, and it ran really smooth.. didn't get to experience big battles since I'm a veteran on SC and I usually rush pretty quick. So I'm sure SC2 the actual game will run really smooth.. there is a 2-3 second lag everyonce in awhile but I think everyone experiences that.Counterstrike source and day of defeat High/medium runs very smooth
Warcraft 3/ Starcraft broodwar High, very beautiful.
I don't know how to show fps so if you guys can go ahead and tell me how to show it I will be more than happy to let you guys know fps. but technically the only reason I got a mbp was for 2 things one being school, other one for SC2, and I wanted a small computer as well. Oh and a quick question what kind of mice do you use for gaming, i bought a logitech m505 wireless. but when I play Starcraft 2 the mouse jumps around to all the sides and makes the screen side scroll.. and when I play counterstrike the crosshair laggs a little. I don't know if its because its wireless or anything, but would it be better to buy a wired mouse? thanks guys!
Yeah I'm thinking of doing that buying a stand, where did you get yours, I have a 13"
So I'm a brand new mac user got a 13" 2.66ghz 2010 model. and installed a couple of games
Starcraft 2 Beta
Counterstrike Source
Day of Defeat
Warcraft 3 reign of Chaos
Starcraft Broodwar
I only got to play SC2 beta for like a day cause the beta ended later that night
Counterstrike source and day of defeat High/medium runs very smooth
Warcraft 3/ Starcraft broodwar High, very beautiful.
I don't know how to show fps so if you guys can go ahead and tell me how to show it I will be more than happy to let you guys know fps. but technically the only reason I got a mbp was for 2 things one being school, other one for SC2, and I wanted a small computer as well. Oh and a quick question what kind of mice do you use for gaming, i bought a logitech m505 wireless. but when I play Starcraft 2 the mouse jumps around to all the sides and makes the screen side scroll.. and when I play counterstrike the crosshair laggs a little. I don't know if its because its wireless or anything, but would it be better to buy a wired mouse? thanks guys!
Yeah I'm thinking of doing that buying a stand, where did you get yours, I have a 13"
I use this to cool my MBP 15". It works fantastically, is very portable, and looks great.
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