battlefield is ridiculously unstable
The occasional user can run BF 2142 at reasonable settings.... but most can't.
I have a first gen macboook pro at 2.16 GHz AND a first gen iMac at 2.0 GHz. Both of them have 2 gigs of memory and 256 megs of VRAM.
The game runs poorly on both. I have to keep all settings turned down (save for resolution and view distance... have to keep resolution up so i can read the damn text)
When it runs, it's good. The game is fun. But I can't even put into words how often this game crashes. Sometimes you'll get lucky and get a streak of a few hours. It you go longer than 2 hours without a crash then you're having a REALLY good day. On a bad day the game will crash 5 times in one hour.
Both EA's support and Transgaming support (they make Cider) have been extremely unhelpful.
I emailed DICE the other day requesting a copy of the PC version of bf 2142.
You can use the same serial number as with the mac version. So I just want the DVD so I can install it in bootcamp and turn up all the settings (cause my machine should be able to handle that) as opposed to keeping them on low right now, not having to worry about framerate, and significantly less crashes.
ALSO, the geniuses at EA decided it would be a good idea to port the game but NOT to port the expansion pack.
The expansion pack, which includes new unlocks, can be used by all your opponents... but not you, cause you use a mac. (you CAN use your temporary unlock points - the field upgrades - on unlocks from the expansion pack, but you'll lose them as soon as you go to a different server).
This is another reason I want the PC version... so that I CAN PAY THEM for the expansion pack.
If I didn't already have BF 2142 I'd probably buy COD4.
You can download the demos of BF 2142 and COD4 for Windows. I'd recommend trying them both out.