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MacBook, 13" MacBook Pro or 15" MacBook Pro for WoW?

Y

Yofi

macrumors member
Original poster
May 25, 2009
33
0
Montreal, QC
Hi all,

My three and a half year old MacBook kicked the bucket last night, which is a shame, but at least now I can look into getting a computer with decent graphics! So, how big of a difference am I likely to see now and in the future running WoW on these models?

Seeing as how the MacBook and 13" MacBook Pro are largely the same on the inside, is there a big difference between the two, and can I expect WoW to run decently on the MacBook throughout its lifespan? If I go for a Pro, would the dedicated graphics memory on the 15" Pro be worth the extra money, or is it not a huge deal? I think 30+ FPS is just fine if I can have most of the settings raised to Good or more.

Here are the specs of all three:

MacBook
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
2GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM memory shared with main memory

13" MacBook Pro
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM memory shared with main memory

15" MacBook Pro
2.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory

Thanks very much for your advice!
 
I just bought my Macbook Pro 13" and was nervous how it would play WoW. Well, it plays it great. It won't handle ultra settings, but mostly good settings run excellent. I usually get around 50 fps, even in the recent 4.03 patch. Hope this info helps.
 
I have MacBook Pro 15" and play WoW every other day and I absolutely love it! I could not be happier, as a laptop it plays it flawlessly.
Only thing is, is you will notice a little heat issue, and random excess fan usage, but hey... it's a laptop. But nonetheless, it is great and no complaints.
My normal FPS is around 40-50. Whether it is Stormwind or in Exodar.
By no means feel "iffy" to play WoW on your Mac, you have nothing to worry about, Mate.
Good luck, and happy WoW playing!!
:D
 
I have the 15" i7 MBP and wow plays perfectly. sometimes in a crowded Dala it can lag a bit, but once it's settled down it's as smooth as it gets
 
WoW runs on high and i use dual display with Wow on external screen (1680x1050) with safari, itunes and Ventrilo on the other.
Aslong as you keep sun glare and water low it runs great (40-60+ fps)
 
Plutonius said:
Both will run fine but get the 15" for the display.
Click to expand...

The 15 inch will run quite a bit faster.
I had a 2.2GHz MacBook Pro with 8600M GT, which should be on par with the 2.4GHz with 320M, and I'll tell you the i5+GT330M is much faster.
 
There isn't a mac sold today that couldn't do well with WoW. It really comes down to how many extra bells and whistles you want. Take note, I played comfortably on a Macbook with Intel x3100, a Macbook Pro with just the 9400M. So just the fact you have a 320M in there means you're pretty much in decent WoW territory.
 
Deciding between a 13" MBP and 15" MBP makes sense, but the differences between the macbook and 13" MBP are astronomical for such a small price bump.

With the 13" pro you get (over regular MB):

- Aluminum casing
- Far superior screen
- 4gb of RAM instead of 2gb (you will most def upgrade your MB to 4gb anyways and this costs $100)
- Backlit keyboard
- No icky rubber on the bottom that attacts all kinds of muck haha.

All for $200 more, and a bit less if you use student discount. There is no question between MB and 13 MBP.
 
15" MBP ofcourse.

The 330m is twice as fast as the 320m, it's the obvious choice if you want to game.
 
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