WoW might run alright on the MB, but I assume he plays other games as well, and thus would probably benefit from the added power of the MBP.
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Macbook and Macbook Pro WoW performance
- Thread starter KurtangleTN
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I have a CD Macbook with 1.5GB RAM. WoW is certainly playable in OS X, but it's bad enough to have to switch to Windows if I want to play for a long period of time. It runs better in Windows.
Both times all the settings were at minimum.
Both times all the settings were at minimum.
People treat WoW like it needs a 7xxx series GeForce or better to run. It doesn't. If you're smart about it, turn the texture settings to low, AA/AF off, shaders off and keep the draw distance fairly low. It's the textures that can kill it, since the GMA950 uses system RAM and therefore it's much slower and more limiting. As long as you have 2GB+ RAM though, it won't be unplayable.
WoW should run fine if you're modest about the settings; you might get some slowdown in 25 man raids with a lot going on, but that's just how it is. For most other areas in the game it should be a non-issue. If he plays WoW fairly seriously, then I would advise getting the MBP though. It will make a substantial difference to the playability in busier/more hectic environments.
Now, if you were trying to run say, Doom3 or Quake4 on your MacBook, *then* I would chastize you, but WoW, well no.
WoW should run fine if you're modest about the settings; you might get some slowdown in 25 man raids with a lot going on, but that's just how it is. For most other areas in the game it should be a non-issue. If he plays WoW fairly seriously, then I would advise getting the MBP though. It will make a substantial difference to the playability in busier/more hectic environments.
Now, if you were trying to run say, Doom3 or Quake4 on your MacBook, *then* I would chastize you, but WoW, well no.
My macbook is my full time wow machine. Its not a gaming rig and sometimes the framrate is very low in crowded areas even with a great connection. Usual frames are 25-35 and crowded areas or intense instances can drop it below 10. MBP fared about the same, consumed more battery, and was larger when i wanted smaller and more portable.
I was in this very same predicament a couple months back before deciding on the MBP.
I play lots of WoW and I am also known to be quite the graphics enthusiast so the bare minimum or even average graphics performance wasn't gonna cut it for me. I had to decided whether or not the MB was enough to run WoW.
I had convinced my cousin to get a CD MB several months earlier so I decided to borrow his MB and test run WoW on it. It was a 1.83Ghz CD with 1GB of RAM. It ran 10 ~ 20fps in orgrimmar between the bank and the Auction House. It ran up to 140fps (not a typo) in very small rooms and hallways. It ran 15~20fps in Scarlet Monastery with just me and a friend. All the settings were turned down to the bear minimum. Outlands (the expansion area) would be unthinkable.
I was quite dissapointed to be honnest so I decided to save up a bit longer for the MBP. I got a 2.16Ghz C2D with 1GB of RAM and the 128MB ATI X1600 MOBILITY.
It runs WoW at almost full settings except AA/AP at half way and draw distance at half way and It runs at 30 ~ 45fps usually. I am not playing in Outlands much but i do see a 10 to 15fps when I'm over there with the same settings.
Either way, don't expect to be blown away, just establish your bare minimum requirements for your enjoyment of WoW and go from there.
I hope I was able to help you in your decision making.
I play lots of WoW and I am also known to be quite the graphics enthusiast so the bare minimum or even average graphics performance wasn't gonna cut it for me. I had to decided whether or not the MB was enough to run WoW.
I had convinced my cousin to get a CD MB several months earlier so I decided to borrow his MB and test run WoW on it. It was a 1.83Ghz CD with 1GB of RAM. It ran 10 ~ 20fps in orgrimmar between the bank and the Auction House. It ran up to 140fps (not a typo) in very small rooms and hallways. It ran 15~20fps in Scarlet Monastery with just me and a friend. All the settings were turned down to the bear minimum. Outlands (the expansion area) would be unthinkable.
I was quite dissapointed to be honnest so I decided to save up a bit longer for the MBP. I got a 2.16Ghz C2D with 1GB of RAM and the 128MB ATI X1600 MOBILITY.
It runs WoW at almost full settings except AA/AP at half way and draw distance at half way and It runs at 30 ~ 45fps usually. I am not playing in Outlands much but i do see a 10 to 15fps when I'm over there with the same settings.
Either way, don't expect to be blown away, just establish your bare minimum requirements for your enjoyment of WoW and go from there.
I hope I was able to help you in your decision making.
No its true. Other games the mbp works better. But for wow they are almost identical in performace. It must be some kind of crappy coding on the mac side. On patch days you hate yourself for having a mac usually. Or you are in heaven b/c all the pc people are in the forum crying they cant connect. Yes the mbp does have "dedicated" graphics of a whopping 128 megs but the resolution is higher as a default. They both lose massive frames in crowded areas/instances. Most of the time both are playable and yes enjoyable.
What I've noticed is the Expansion/Outlands eats up a lot of Frames Per Second. That might be because of the flying mounts and more texture detail added. Even on the PC performance has been hit. I have come across some memory leaks also in Nagrand etc.
In the older parts of WOW everything runs awesome on my Mac. I don't experience FPS loss etc..
So as it was stated, crappy code? Detailed Graphics? Who knows but that is why Patches exists, to hope resolve the issues that users experience.
In the older parts of WOW everything runs awesome on my Mac. I don't experience FPS loss etc..
So as it was stated, crappy code? Detailed Graphics? Who knows but that is why Patches exists, to hope resolve the issues that users experience.