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Macbook and Macbook Pro WoW performance

K

KurtangleTN

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 2, 2007
523
0
My friend is looking for a Mac laptop for his graduation gift, he's been looking at and his main this is playing World of Warcraft on it. Now he was looking at the MBP but I was thinking the MB would be fine for what he needs, although I'm a bit worried about the GMA card.

Anyone with a current C2D Macbook can tell how it runs?

Thanks!
 
runs fine. you can't turn the details all the way up. more mid/lower settings, but like i said it runs just fine under OS X. the other option would be to install Windows and use boot camp to run it under XP which has dynamic allocation of memory for the GMA950 if i recall correctly.
 
PlaceofDis said:
runs fine. you can't turn the details all the way up. more mid/lower settings, but like i said it runs just fine under OS X. the other option would be to install Windows and use boot camp to run it under XP which has dynamic allocation of memory for the GMA950 if i recall correctly.
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Ahem..it's a matter of opinion. :)

I have a Macbook and I would barely say that WoW runs 'fine'. I run with everything turned to low and get about 15-20fps tops. Not playable in my opinion. Of course, I am used to playing at everything maxed on my gaming rig. If your friend is used to a high end PC running WoW, he will be disappointed if he tries to play on the Macbook. Tell him to go for the MBP. Trust me.
 
odinsride said:
Ahem..it's a matter of opinion. :)

I have a Macbook and I would barely say that WoW runs 'fine'. I run with everything turned to low and get about 15-20fps tops. Not playable in my opinion. Of course, I am used to playing at everything maxed on my gaming rig. If your friend is used to a high end PC running WoW, he will be disappointed if he tries to play on the Macbook. Tell him to go for the MBP. Trust me.
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well of course it runs fine. i didn't say that you could max everything out. also depends on how much RAM you have. its playable on the MB, heck its playable on my Rev A 12" powerbook!
 
If he plays WoW a lot he really needs to invest in a MacBook Pro.

I can't say how well it runs on a MacBook, but without a graphics card (i.e. with integrated graphics) gaming performance really does suffer.

WoW runs very well on my MBP; even with the settings on high, the game performance is nice.
 
Well, we got two different stories lol.

I'll have to see what his definition is of fine.
 
KurtangleTN said:
Well, we got two different stories lol.

I'll have to see what his definition is of fine.
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it does all depend on personal preference. if your friend wants to have settings all set to high, then definitely get a MBP. if hes okay with settings being a bit lower, go with the MB.
 
Eh, I don't think the MB is going to cut it in OS X for gaming.

I get disappointed in my FPS on my MBP (CD) with the settings all the way up.
In Windows I get pretty great performance with the graphics card clocked up, though.

... But Outland throws a wrench into everything. It's not quite as nice in Outland.
 
I don't know ... I game with my settings all the way up, and I really can't complain. I get very good performance, and very little lag. And Outland is significantly more resource-intensive than Azeroth, mainly because they had to create the environment completely different because of the flying mounts.

The only place I lag is in Shattrah, and that's more network lag than anything else, waiting for everyone on the server to load. :p
 
I played WoW on a stock low-end MacBook (512MB RAM) and it ran fine. I've since upgraded to 2GB and have no complaints at all.
 
Just put a freaking low-end GPU as BTO in the MacBook Apple. I don't want to be forced into buying a MBP (a PROFESSIONAL laptop) just because I play a game every now and then.
 
To the OP... Your best bet in reading this thread is to take advice from the people who are honestly "worthy" of giving it. :) For example:

Bad advice: "Well the Macbook has integrated graphics, so it will suck."

Bad advice: "My friend's Macbook runs horribly playing some other game that's not WOW."

Good advice: "I own a Macbook, and have played WOW on it frequently. It runs fine, given you don't turn the graphics up full bore. Even low-medium it runs great, I've never noticed any stuttering or lag."
 
Littleodie914 said:
Good advice: "I own a Macbook, and have played WOW on it frequently. It runs fine, given you don't turn the graphics up full bore. Even low-medium it runs great, I've never noticed any stuttering or lag."
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To the people who have this opinion on running wow on a Macbook, I'd like to know what you're doing that I'm not.

I have turned down everything as low as it goes, getting 15-20fps is hardly 'Fine' imo, as I have previously stated. If you can't notice that the game is running like crap then I applaud you for not having to spend more money for a MBP. But for me, it simply isn't playable on my Macbook.
 
Wow on the macbook....is fine if you want to play the game with out any appealing looks. All settings to low, it will play, stutter here and there, but will be playable. If someone can afford a Macbook Pro, go for it. The Macbook is NOT a suitable choice for playing WoW in my opinion.
 
odinsride said:
To the people who have this opinion on running wow on a Macbook, I'd like to know what you're doing that I'm not.

I have turned down everything as low as it goes, getting 15-20fps is hardly 'Fine' imo, as I have previously stated. If you can't notice that the game is running like crap then I applaud you for not having to spend more money for a MBP. But for me, it simply isn't playable on my Macbook.
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TBH, I just used the default install. Didn't adjust any of the graphics settings or anything. I made no attempt at calculating framerate, but it was in no way laggy or slow looking, for what that's worth.
 
arcane said:
TBH, I just used the default install. Didn't adjust any of the graphics settings or anything. I made no attempt at calculating framerate, but it was in no way laggy or slow looking, for what that's worth.
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To each his own :)
 
<- MacBook, default setting runs fine and is indeed PLAYABLE

<- MacBook Pro, you get better and smoother gameplay experience and is indeed ENJOYABLE
 
If he's going to be playing WoW alot, then why not go for an iMac, unless he realllllly has to have portable. He'll get a lot more out of an iMac.
 
RaMaz said:
WoW runs great on my MacBook on OS X,

on high settings too :D
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That is absolutely ridiculous.
I've played A LOT of Wow on a Mac mini coreduo and a lot of Wow (I mean, a lot) on a Macbook.
Both of them have awfull performance on OSX. In Windows Xp you can run it at barely 30fps with medium-low details but I strongly recomend a MBP if your friend wants to play wow intensively.
 
I strongly recommend a Macbook Pro.

World of Warcraft runs on a Macbook, but it does not run well. It's playable, but it's not great. I know people who do play World of Warcraft on their Macbooks, and they find the performance and low framerates acceptable, but I personally couldn't stand it.

Edit: Old thread alert.
 
Does it not depend if you raid or not. Raiding with 25 people and all the various mods that go with that drags my desktop PC from 60fps when wondering around azeroth to around 15-20fps if I'm lucky. Can anyone who raids a lot tell us how well it runs on a Macbook?
 
Don't even think about playing on the integrated Intel graphics. Buy a MBP if decent graphics performance is ok, get a gaming PC if you want something really good.
 
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