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Games on MacBook Pro [Warhammer-Online]

A

Alexbx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2008
9
0
Hi Everyone!

As I'm planning to buy a new laptop, I wanted to know if the MacBook Pro could bear the game coming soon (september the 18th) Warhammer-online, age of reckoning. I know that buying a laptop is not the best thing to do to play games, but it's my only option. Besides, I don't have much money... :rolleyes:
So would the cheapest MacBook Pro be enough to run the game, with good graphics and quality? :)
I searched everywhere and nobody was able to help me, so I hope you can :)
 
A new MBP, even the cheapest model, would absolutely wtfpwn Warhammer Online. I'm thinking even my old 1.83ghz iMac should be able to run it ok (although the 128mb gpu is an issue).
 
Definatly. The lowest MBP should run it great. It has better specs than my iMac and the Preview Weekend ran fairly smooth with spell effects turned down to party only in some approx 25 versus 25 RvR.
 
On the late 2007 Model (listed in sig) I am able to play call of duty 4 at 1440x900 with mostly everything on high and achieve 25-40 frames per second depending on where and what's going on. (In multiplayer I get around 32 FPS constantly, unless zoomed in with the sniper =) )

I play Team Fortress 2 with everything on high and jacked up at well over 50 frames per second, same for Half-Life 2.

I just finished Bioshock, however, with resolution at 1440x900 I was mostly in the 20's for FPS and sometimes low 30's. However, it still looked amazing.

And ofcourse world of warcraft always runs at or over 60 frames per second.

Lest to say, the macbook pro can hold it's own with the HPs and Dells of the world when it comes to gaming - the sad thing is NOBODY realizes this when they are looking into buying a mac. Apple just doesn't market to that segment, and for a good reason: no really outstanding games run on their platform. (spore excluded)
 
Thx everyone, it was very helpful! :)

Now if I buy a MBP, do I have Bootcamp on it or do I have to buy it too? Or is it on the leopard thing? I don't know Macs very well, it'is going to be my first time (about Macs, not about.... ;) )

Aniway, thank you alrdeady for your answers, I just need to know what else I have to buy to run this game on my MBP (buying it next week :D)
 
Alexbx said:
Thx everyone, it was very helpful! :)

Now if I buy a MBP, do I have Bootcamp on it or do I have to buy it too? Or is it on the leopard thing? I don't know Macs very well, it'is going to be my first time (about Macs, not about.... ;) )

Aniway, thank you alrdeady for your answers, I just need to know what else I have to buy to run this game on my MBP (buying it next week :D)
Click to expand...

Boot Camp is a utility that comes with OS X that helps you easily setup a partition to isntall windows on. You will need a copy of XP service pack 2 or Vista.
 
Ok! :rolleyes:

And by the way, I saw that I could at up to 2 GOs of RAM MEMORY, and the normal MBP has only 2. Does it change something and is it usefull? :confused:

Thx guys you're great :cool:
 
Alexbx said:
Ok! :rolleyes:

And by the way, I saw that I could at up to 2 GOs of RAM MEMORY, and the normal MBP has only 2. Does it change something and is it usefull? :confused:

Thx guys you're great :cool:
Click to expand...

You can add 4GB to the MBP; and with todays RAM prices it's prety cheap aswell.
I have 4GB in my 2.2GHz 15 incher
 
cluthz said:
You can add 4GB to the MBP; and with todays RAM prices it's prety cheap aswell.
I have 4GB in my 2.2GHz 15 incher
Click to expand...

But if you want to put 4GB RAM in it, don't upgrade with apple. Go to OWC, get a 4GB kit, and install it yourself. You'll save $100+.

Whether or not you need it depends on what you'll be doing on the computer.
 
I play Warhammer Online and have been in the beta since last summer -

My Macbook Pro with the 8800 128 mb model runs it "ok" but the 128mb shows - night and day between my Mac Pro and XPS gaming rig

You're going to need at least 256 mb video card model if you are going to be playing on it mainly and not just when not on desktop -

2GB RAM minimum , 4GB if using Vista - if going that route go Vista64 - I run it on that -

And if available go with a 7200 rpm harddrive -

The game is more graphical intensive than WoW and will choke machines that can run WoW (as in a Macbook/integrated graphics isnt even possible), its not Crysis but its not as low requirements as WoW either

Old beta testers are allowed to play on the test servers that tested the endgame city raids and with that many on screen it brings machines to a crawl that handle it ok during normal play - you have over 100 on screen at a time and 128mb cards and slower harddrives will show badly there
 
Well i have an imac 2.4ghz and have used bootcamp to play ago of conan. after much much treaking of the settings I was able to get a decent framerate. Too bad the game was terribad.

Anyway I was just wondering if WAR has higher or lower graphical requirements than AoC?



And yes Warcraft runs silky smooth at the highest settings....
 
Mark 27 said:
Well i have an imac 2.4ghz and have used bootcamp to play ago of conan. after much much treaking of the settings I was able to get a decent framerate. Too bad the game was terribad.

Anyway I was just wondering if WAR has higher or lower graphical requirements than AoC?



And yes Warcraft runs silky smooth at the highest settings....
Click to expand...


Overall it has lower graphical requirements for individual models - but in city quests/raids you end up in the open world RvR parts with at times over 100-200 on screen at a time so you get a big load on everything from cpu to gpu and memory -

If you could run AoC ok you should be ok with WAR then - just will have to dial back effects for the mass battles if it gets a bit laggy for you
 
kahine said:
And if available go with a 7200 rpm harddrive -
Click to expand...

What is the difference between a 5400 rpm and 7200? Do I really need it? Because if I begin taking +2 GO RAM and a better hard drive, it's going to cost me a lot more than what I wanted to.. :(

But if I summarize all this ;

MBP:
15-inch: 2.4GHz
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory (+2GB)
200GB hard drive (+ 7200 rpm option)
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256 MB

This should run the game perfectly, even if there is many people on the screen... Right? :)

For those interested, I'm talking about the cheapest model on:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTE4NDY
 
Alexbx said:
What is the difference between a 5400 rpm and 7200? Do I really need it? Because if I begin taking +2 GO RAM and a better hard drive, it's going to cost me a lot more than what I wanted to.. :(

But if I summarize all this ;

MBP:
15-inch: 2.4GHz
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB memory (+2GB)
200GB hard drive (+ 7200 rpm option)
Double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 256 MB

This should run the game perfectly, even if there is many people on the screen... Right? :)

For those interested, I'm talking about the cheapest model on:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTE4NDY
Click to expand...


Perfectly no - my Macbook Pro has the 8600 also and its an ok card but big difference between it and the 8800m/9700m one in other laptops ,I only play on it occasionally , if it was my main gaming machine I wouldn't be that thrilled with it

If its going to be your main gaming machine I would wait until mid Sept and see if they are going to update the mobile video card to an 8800 or 9600/9700m series - the 8600m is the bottom video card I would play with in the 8x line ,

Its completely playable with it but definitely not "perfectly" with lots on screen in battles

Making a laptop your main gaming rig costs $$ if you really want it to handle everything well , its just the way it is - sometimes is cheaper to buy/build a 1k ( and even less ) pc desktop that can crush macbook pro's for gaming and get a macbook for the mobility part you need and together these cost the same as buying a macbook pro
 
True. But I am ready to pay a bit more...
Anyway, what does it change to have a 5400rpm or 7200 rpm hard drive? Will it smoothen the game? :rolleyes:
Or is it useless :cool:
 
Alexbx said:
True. But I am ready to pay a bit more...
Anyway, what does it change to have a 5400rpm or 7200 rpm hard drive? Will it smoothen the game? :rolleyes:
Or is it useless :cool:
Click to expand...

But not matter what you pay currently you cannot get a good gaming video card in the Macbook pro , that's why I said you want to wait and see if they upgrade the options in Nov

An 8600m no matter how much RAM is not going to allow you to have spell effects or much detail on when you get 40 players on screen - much less 100-200 - its just at best a mediocre video card

And no a 7200 harddrive is not useless but you seem to think so do whatever , but your Macbook Pro is going to be slow running the game compared to a Gateway Laptop that costs 1300 dollars at best buy simply because of the video card , they just arent built currently to run the latest games very well at all

I have one with the 8600m and an Imac with the 2600 and a Mac Pro with the 3870 , and the PC rig with a 4870 blows them all away for Warhammer simply because of the video card -

Theres no way around it - the current 8600m is not built to handle 100 players on screen in a RvR battle , I've seen it in action considering I've been testing since last summer , if its going to be your only/main gaming rig you'd be making a bad decision to not wait and see if they dont offer a better video card in a couple weeks -

You want it to run it "prefectly" and I can assure the current one cannot - no matter how much you want to convince yourself it will , it wont
 
Wowwww you're being very persuasive! ;)
Well Actually I don't have much time before I buy my MBP, I need it before the 6th of september... So I'll follow your advice and I'll get another computer to play on war, as my main gaming cpu...:cool:
However I think I am going to buy an MBP instead of a MacBook because I want to be able to play with it, from time to time... :rolleyes:
The thing is, I'll have to wait to have enough money to get the normal computer, so I will HAVE TO use the MBP as my main gaming cpu for a while, sad for me though...
Next thing is: is it possible to change the graphic card of my MBP if a new one comes out? And how much would it cost? About 400$?
 
Alexbx said:
Wowwww you're being very persuasive! ;)
Well Actually I don't have much time before I buy my MBP, I need it before the 6th of september... So I'll follow your advice and I'll get another computer to play on war, as my main gaming cpu...:cool:
However I think I am going to buy an MBP instead of a MacBook because I want to be able to play with it, from time to time... :rolleyes:
The thing is, I'll have to wait to have enough money to get the normal computer, so I will HAVE TO use the MBP as my main gaming cpu for a while, sad for me though...
Next thing is: is it possible to change the graphic card of my MBP if a new one comes out? And how much would it cost? About 400$?
Click to expand...


Unless Apple changes their stance I dont think so , not officially anyway , I know with Dell and Gateway gaming laptops in the past few years you could upgrade with a new video card as long as the architecture hadnt changed (agp to pcie ) , and was easy enough

Maybe unofficially though its doable ? I think the problem you would run into is actually buying the Apple version of the notebook card as in Apple might not even sell it separately like Dell/Gateway will ?

One option you might be able to so is get your MBP on the last day you possibly can and if they get upgraded with new video cards within 14 days you could return/swap it for new model and pay difference if it happens to be more

I know the Apple store around here is quite cool about people returning a model that just got upgraded in lots of ways for the new one , dont charge a restocking fee either
 
Thanks for your great advice kahine :)

I Think that's what I'll do... Hmm comming to think of it, I think it won't be possible... If a new MBP comes out, will it just be in the usa? (because I actually live in Switzerland, Europe (no not Sweden for those of you who are bad in geography).. :(
And Things normally come out later over here... Or will it come all over the world?
And I'll ask the Apple shop in town, if they have any clue about a new MBP graphic card...
 
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