Gaming: 20" iMac vs 17" MacBook Pro

[Jbook]

I'm looking to buy a new intel mac and I was wondering which would perform better for gaming: a maxed out 20" iMac or a maxed out 17" MacBook Pro. Would the extra .16GHz on the MacBook Pro make that much of a difference? What about the difference between the x1600 and x1600 mobility. Are the clock speeds different? I know BootCamp comes with drivers for the GPU, but could I install Omega drivers instead? Thanks for the help!

jBook

 

[tyoelin]

I'm looking to buy a new intel mac and I was wondering which would perform better for gaming: a maxed out 20" iMac or a maxed out 17" MacBook Pro. Would the extra .16GHz on the MacBook Pro make that much of a difference? What about the difference between the x1600 and x1600 mobility. Are the clock speeds different? I know BootCamp comes with drivers for the GPU, but could I install Omega drivers instead? Thanks for the help!

jBook

Don't know answers to your questions, but I do have some experience.

I played Oblivion on a MacBook Pro. It set itself (its own recommended settings) on High. The game was very smooth inside and in dungeons, but outdoors around the world it was pretty chunky. Not sure which MacBook Pro it was, I installed it on a friends'.

 

[Jbook]

Don't know answers to your questions, but I do have some experience.

I played Oblivion on a MacBook Pro. It set itself (its own recommended settings) on High. The game was very smooth inside and in dungeons, but outdoors around the world it was pretty chunky. Not sure which MacBook Pro it was, I installed it on a friends'.

Thats pretty much how my friends computer runs Oblivion. Hes got a Dell with a 7800gt. Looks pretty nice indoors, but outdoors its kinda choppy. I guess thats because its got so much to render, the landscape is very detailed.

 

[Capt Underpants]

Don't know answers to your questions, but I do have some experience.

I played Oblivion on a MacBook Pro. It set itself (its own recommended settings) on High. The game was very smooth inside and in dungeons, but outdoors around the world it was pretty chunky. Not sure which MacBook Pro it was, I installed it on a friends'.

Maybe you should lower the settings... frames will increase...

 

[Jbook]

'nuf chit chat about Oblivion... back to the main questions

 

[Capt Underpants]

Id save the cash and get an iMac unless you need portability. There won't be a big performance gap between the two models.

 

[kevin.rivers]

Your answer lies more in your needs than perfomance. They will both be pretty close as far as performance goes.

So do you need a mobile solution? If the answer is no, then the iMac will give you more real estate and in my opinion a better gaming experience. Mainly because I personally don't like gaming on laptops.

So performance will be equal, or very very close. So you need to assess your needs and make a decision based on that. Good luck to you.

 

[Jbook]

Okay thanks people. I guess I'll lean towards an iMac and save a few dollars... make that 700 dollars. One last question, I know people are reporting cruddy thermal paste application on the macbook pros raising temperatures 10-15c, anybody reporting anything about this on iMacs?

 

[tyoelin]

Okay thanks people. I guess I'll lean towards an iMac and save a few dollars... make that 700 dollars. One last question, I know people are reporting cruddy thermal paste application on the macbook pros raising temperatures 10-15c, anybody reporting anything about this on iMacs?

Just a buyer's beware... I have heard from my A/V manager of my school that the 20" iMacs tend to have a lot of problems and defects. I have no idea what kind, but I actually went to the Apple store to buy a 20" iMac and the sales person said that they aren't allowed to stock them in the stores because they were recalled to fix some glitches but they were never stocked up again. Maybe they fixed the issues, but def. look into it.

 

[Mammoth]

With the iMac you also get a bigger hard drive for all those games.