I bought my 2010 15" refurb MBP mainly for the dedicated gpu so I can could game on it when I wanted to.
Thus I loaded up Win7 and installed BF:BC2 from Steam last night.
Well gpu isn't fast enough not to be laggy at default settings. AT times it is fairly smooth, but get any kind of action on the screen and you can tell frame rate bounces around 30 fps which is too low for my tastes.
Second you need a mouse. Doh! But this means you can't really game anywhere. Not being a laptop gamer it didn't really sink in exactly beforehand.
Next I don't feel comfortable using a $1350 laptop for gaming when the fans are running full board the entire time. Doesn't seem that wise.
Nor does using the built-in keyboard for gaming seem wise. I need to press the keys hard when I'm playing. Or rather I find myself subconsciously pressing keys too hard. With some cheap external keyboard who cares. But this thing? So I ended up using an external keyboard last night and that's fine. But then the laptop screen is farther away and that just reminds you that....
gaming is more enjoyable with a bigger screen.
So having second thoughts about gaming on a laptop or needing a laptop with a decent gpu to game on. I think I can be fine with integrated graphics and go down to a lesser 13" MBP. Maybe the new one if I can get it for $1100ish no tax from the internets. Lesser model will give me more portability too.
Or may get a 2nd imac to go with my older first one. or build win7 gaming machine and get a an ipad 2 for portable surfing.
But after going back to pcgaming last night on this 15" MBP I'm not even sure I am cut out for pcgaming any more. Loading drivers. Getting kicked by punkbuster in every game at first. Having to research why on the internets. .....
got used to Xbox since I got one this year after a few failed attempts to switch the previous years. MOre specifically just got used to the plug and play nature of playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on it even with the worse controls. And believe me it took 3 or 4 tries over 5 years to finally keep an xbox around long enough to get used to the gamepad.
And not to mention kicking back on a couch to game instead of hunched over a keyboard feels so much better on the back and body.
But damnit Battlefield 3 is coming this fall and the pc is the lead sku and will have 40 more players. Plus Diablo3 which is another one I will definitely buy.
decisions, decisions
Thus I loaded up Win7 and installed BF:BC2 from Steam last night.
Well gpu isn't fast enough not to be laggy at default settings. AT times it is fairly smooth, but get any kind of action on the screen and you can tell frame rate bounces around 30 fps which is too low for my tastes.
Second you need a mouse. Doh! But this means you can't really game anywhere. Not being a laptop gamer it didn't really sink in exactly beforehand.
Next I don't feel comfortable using a $1350 laptop for gaming when the fans are running full board the entire time. Doesn't seem that wise.
Nor does using the built-in keyboard for gaming seem wise. I need to press the keys hard when I'm playing. Or rather I find myself subconsciously pressing keys too hard. With some cheap external keyboard who cares. But this thing? So I ended up using an external keyboard last night and that's fine. But then the laptop screen is farther away and that just reminds you that....
gaming is more enjoyable with a bigger screen.
So having second thoughts about gaming on a laptop or needing a laptop with a decent gpu to game on. I think I can be fine with integrated graphics and go down to a lesser 13" MBP. Maybe the new one if I can get it for $1100ish no tax from the internets. Lesser model will give me more portability too.
Or may get a 2nd imac to go with my older first one. or build win7 gaming machine and get a an ipad 2 for portable surfing.
But after going back to pcgaming last night on this 15" MBP I'm not even sure I am cut out for pcgaming any more. Loading drivers. Getting kicked by punkbuster in every game at first. Having to research why on the internets. .....
got used to Xbox since I got one this year after a few failed attempts to switch the previous years. MOre specifically just got used to the plug and play nature of playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on it even with the worse controls. And believe me it took 3 or 4 tries over 5 years to finally keep an xbox around long enough to get used to the gamepad.
And not to mention kicking back on a couch to game instead of hunched over a keyboard feels so much better on the back and body.
But damnit Battlefield 3 is coming this fall and the pc is the lead sku and will have 40 more players. Plus Diablo3 which is another one I will definitely buy.
decisions, decisions
