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Oldest MBP with 4 GB VRAM?
- Thread starter HoreaG
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The 15” 2016 was the first according to ChatGPT. Looked in Mactracker and it seems to be correct so there you go.
I believe the Apple repair program has ended, so unless you plan to use it with an external keyboard it’s not worthwhile.
Not really. It’s one assembly all riveted together.
It looks like it’ll run on Apple Silicon: https://www.macgamerhq.com/apple-m1/cities-skylines-mac/
Butterfly keyboards are not easy or cheap to repair, even for apple. I seem to recall it being in the order of 500-600 dollars out of warranty for a butterfly keyboard replacement (but my memory could be wrong).
I will look into it. I doubt it will come cheap.
I have to choose: Put a a new graphic card into my very old 17" Elitebook 8740w (unfortunately not with the Dreamcolor, but the HP specific crap TN panel) or buy a MBP. The Elitebook could go as high as 8 GB VRAM, but at that price the MBP cost almost the same and I get a more modern architecture altogether with a way better screen, even when physically the 17" is larger.
Throwing money at an elite book that old (2010!) is a very bad idea and it will be handily outperformed in all respects by an M1 (never mind anything newer) MacBook Air.
Cities Skylines didn’t run great on my 2015 iMac 5K with 4GB of VRAM. I’d think about something a little newer.
I have a desktop PC with similar specs to the 2020 iMac 5K that runs it great. It also runs great on my M2 MacBook Air. I bet it would run well on an M1, but I’d get at least 16GB of unified memory (it’s famously a RAM hog—my MBA has 24gb, so I’m not sure what the minimum viable RAM amount would be).
I have a desktop PC with similar specs to the 2020 iMac 5K that runs it great. It also runs great on my M2 MacBook Air. I bet it would run well on an M1, but I’d get at least 16GB of unified memory (it’s famously a RAM hog—my MBA has 24gb, so I’m not sure what the minimum viable RAM amount would be).
Stay away from any Mac with a butterfly keyboard with a 10 foot pole. Not easy or cheap to fix. The only intel MacBook Pro that would fit your needs is a 16 inch 2019 MacBook Pro. As it has Magic Keyboard. Although honestly ARM MacBooks are very superior.
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Honestly, for gaming I'd just buy a PC.
Probably an unpopular opinion here and I also came back to Mac in 2018 after years in the PC space so I have a lot of PCs already. But Mac gaming has always been limited and it won't change anytime soon.
IMHO Mac gaming makes the most sense if you rarely game, but already have a Mac for productive work that you want to do occasional light gaming on.
You'll get better performance, lower cost, and access to more games going PC.
That would be a better investment than tryin to resurrect a Mac on a dead end platform like Intel...
Probably an unpopular opinion here and I also came back to Mac in 2018 after years in the PC space so I have a lot of PCs already. But Mac gaming has always been limited and it won't change anytime soon.
IMHO Mac gaming makes the most sense if you rarely game, but already have a Mac for productive work that you want to do occasional light gaming on.
You'll get better performance, lower cost, and access to more games going PC.
That would be a better investment than tryin to resurrect a Mac on a dead end platform like Intel...
All three 2016 models are obsolete, so Apple wouldn’t provide any service for them. They also now do standalone battery replacements for almost every computer, so there’s no guarantee that they’d replace the top case.
When I had my battery replaced on my 2018 MBP last year it included a top case replacement. I don't think they've ever been able to decouple that for those Butterfly models.
It was via Apple Care, but Apple does have a battery replacement price for the 2018 MBP. My guess though is they'll say no if they see any "damage" that makes them feel like they can bill you the full repair rate...
Ive replaced just the battery on them before, its a real pain but possible. Reguardless they are terrible models and not worth spending a cent on.
That’s what they did in the past, but as of this year, they are able to do standalone service.
The big advantage on one of the last Intel the MacBook Pro's is the ability to add an external GPU's. This very nice Vega 56 GPU from BlackMagic Design is hitting the used market and is cheap compared to the original price tag. Iconic design and a good booster for Intels last edition of Macbook Pros when it comes to gaming. It really depends on your use case.
Have you considered an M1 MacBook (or later)? They're much better machines than any 2016 MBP in every way and will run the game better as well.