MacBook Pro... Now???

[robertnas99]

Hey all,

I have finally decided that it is time to swap to Mac. I will be needing a laptop and the 17" MacBook Pro is the only one that meets the requirements that I am looking for. SOO... Mostly I will be using my Mac for design, commercial prints, video editing etc. BUT I also tend to play a lot of games on my spare time. Here comes my issue with the current model of the MBP, the graphic card - Radeon X1600! I have read about all the reasons why that card is in the MBP, size, battery efficency etc... But that still does not change the reality of it beeing about half as slow as the graph cards that are put into PC laptops that goes for around $2000.

Fortunately I am not a big fan of first person shooters which are the biggest graph card hoggs. I tend to play strategic games and MMORPG's like WoW and EVE Online. So for those games my MBP would do the job. But in the years to come my gfx card will lag behind the other more hi-end cards that are out there a the moment. Eventually the same thing will happen that happned to my current PC, the old 3D card wont even start up the new games since it is just too old. And seeing that they have not upgraded the gfx card since the release of the MBP this thing is going to happen to me 1 year earlier than it would if they actually had an up-to-date gfx card in the MBP

So what do you think? Will I be waiting in vain for a more powerful 3D gfx alternative for the MBP (since they put size and battery life as more important I'm not really sure). And if, when and with what would that upgrade be? They just upgraded to mermon's so guessing it would take a while until next update.

At the moment I am in a state of every other day considering ordering one, and every other of those days trying to convince myself to wait for an upgrade.

Please help me out here with some feedback so that I can decide wether or not to order one today or struggle on with my PC for just a bit longer...

 

[GraceMolloy]

WoW is frickin beautiful. I turn the graphics ALL the way up and never drop below 40 FPS. In bootcamp I rarely drop below 55-60 FPS, and they're updating the OpenGL specs for the Mac side of the game. So it should be more in line with the bootcamp side.

I also ran Battlefield 2142 in Bootcamp and it looked very good also.

 

[diadem]

The thing is about games is that the ones i find my self playing CS:S EVE doom3 BF2 ect.. all run on the MBP fine and well i aint seen a single game in the last year or so i would run out an buy.

Personaly i dont see that changing for anouther year ir 2 yet games just aint doing well they can seem to make anything good these days, 2142 is BF2 reskined gfx are pritty much the same its the same engine. Until somthing really great happens the MBP will serve your needs for atleast 2 years

 

[e12a]

WoW is frickin beautiful. I turn the graphics ALL the way up and never drop below 40 FPS. In bootcamp I rarely drop below 55-60 FPS, and they're updating the OpenGL specs for the Mac side of the game. So it should be more in line with the bootcamp side.

I also ran Battlefield 2142 in Bootcamp and it looked very good also.

i agree bf2142 (demo) ran superbly on my mbp.

 

[Chone]

The X1600 comes severely underclocked at 300/300 which is enough for the games you want to play, however if you want more punch for other games you can overclock it, I have it running stable at 530/530 at which rates it feels like a completely different card, 1440x900 om every game!

 

[diadem]

The X1600 comes severely underclocked at 300/300 which is enough for the games you want to play, however if you want more punch for other games you can overclock it, I have it running stable at 530/530 at which rates it feels like a completely different card, 1440x900 om every game!

The new MBP C2D is not under clocked 450/400 or sumthing like that.

 

[robertnas99]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Taking what you are saying in consideration, I guess this takes me closer to ordering a MBP. I guess no computer is really "future proof" and specially no laptop. My friend just bought a spanking new Dell laptop with c2d and nVidia 7900GT, and he is trying to convince me in all kind of ways the rip off (GPU wise) I will be having when buying a MBP with the X1600...

The thing is that I do not want an other PC, and his gaming laptop will not stand a chance when beeing put up to the wall with even next years hi-end games anyways.

Guess I will just have to upgrade my MBP in a couple of years or simply buy a PS3 or XBOX360 as a compliment instead

 

[robertnas99]

Thanks again for helping me make a decision.

Just got of the phone with one of apple's saleswomen. Ended up getting the MBP 17", glossy, with the 100gb 7.2k rpm HD. I know, I know... people here are all wild about the new 160gb HD and say it is as fast as the 100gb. BUT, that is compared to the old seagate 7.2k rpm. The information that I got over the phone was that by now they tend to mostly put in HD's from Hitachi when available.. If that happens, my 7.2k rpm will kick some 160gb ass

If not... well, it will still be in the margins of beeing faster. And for the savings I did from the "down-grade", here in Sweden, those savings will give me 300gb worth of external HD-space!

Estimated delivery in 2 weeks. Well... I am at least going to give them a chance before saying anything

I also got a Brenthaven Metro bag thrown in for free because of some promotion (good thing I phoned the store last second to check the HD-brand thing).

Now, my only concern is how I am going to fit my 17" MBP into a Brenthaven Metro bag when the max size of those are mad for 15inches
Guess that is a question to be asked tomorrow during phone-hours...

 

[aog]

I also got a Brenthaven Metro bag thrown in for free because of some promotion (good thing I phoned the store last second to check the HD-brand thing).

Now, my only concern is how I am going to fit my 17" MBP into a Brenthaven Metro bag when the max size of those are mad for 15inches
Guess that is a question to be asked tomorrow during phone-hours...

I guess it just won´t fit. You should get a bag designed for 17" laptops...

 

[iW00t]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Taking what you are saying in consideration, I guess this takes me closer to ordering a MBP. I guess no computer is really "future proof" and specially no laptop. My friend just bought a spanking new Dell laptop with c2d and nVidia 7900GT, and he is trying to convince me in all kind of ways the rip off (GPU wise) I will be having when buying a MBP with the X1600...

The thing is that I do not want an other PC, and his gaming laptop will not stand a chance when beeing put up to the wall with even next years hi-end games anyways.

Guess I will just have to upgrade my MBP in a couple of years or simply buy a PS3 or XBOX360 as a compliment instead

Actually if you are very much into games keeping a old PC around is still the best way to go. It doesn't even have to be the latest and greatest, all it needs is a relatively decent single core (gasp) processor and a PCI-E slot with good amounts of ram.

From time to time you just buy a new mid range graphics card and plug it in. Dirty and cheap, but raw graphics power

I really think the current MBP is good for handling most "work related" tasks and even tasks like video editing for at least the next 5 years