Is the new MacBook Pro better than the Mac Pro for gaming?

[vocaro]

I want to buy whatever Mac is best for gaming. Two years ago, the Mac Pro was probably the right choice, but the specs haven't changed since then (except for minor CPU improvements). The new MacBook Pros were released today, with NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M and 1GB of GDDR5 memory, and I'm guessing they might beat the Mac Pro in gaming benchmarks. Anyone know for sure? How does the 650M compare to the ATI Radeon HD 5770?

 

[cluthz]

The 650M is slightly slower than a desktop 5770

 

[Wardenski]

Quite frankly, you'd be much better off buying a cheaper variant and spending some of that cash on a dedicated gaming PC.

 

[applefan289]

Quite frankly, you'd be much better off buying a cheaper variant and spending some of that cash on a dedicated gaming PC.

Totally agree. If you're a gamer, a PC has many hardware options (and software) to choose from that will most likely fit your needs for gaming more than a Mac would.

 

[thegreatdivorce]

Quite frankly, you'd be much better off buying a cheaper variant and spending some of that cash on a dedicated gaming PC.

I game a lot on my Mac Pro, and I agree with this. It's certainly not cost effective to game on a Mac.

But, I like it in some ways because the Mac Pro can do it well, and do all my work stuff too, in one sexy looking machine.

To answer you question, OP, the Mac Pro is definitely better for gaming. The optional ATI 5870 does pretty well with almost all modern games. The new 7970 will swallow absolutely anything you can throw at it.

edit: are you talking about stock setups? If so, the MP wins still, but by a small margin. But, get a refurbed 6-core MP, and throw a 7970 in it, and you're good to go. If you want to mess around with cards that aren't officially supported in OSX, there's lots of options too.

 

[Durendal]

Yeah, a Mac Pro is ridiculously overpriced and underspecced for games. A custom build will get you FAR more performance for your money.

Now, if you were doing some ridiculously CPU-intensive work...