Gaming Buying a Macbook, need help.

[dark42]

I'm looking to buy a new laptop for college soon, and I want a Mac.
I need some advice on whether I should get the Macbook or the Macbook Pro. What I intend to do with it is mainly run VMs, some Windows programming, and some light gaming in Bootcamp (probably on Windows 7 once that's out). From the looks of it, the regular Macbook will be able to handle it all except possibly gaming. The games I'm looking to play are some older ones like TF2, CS:S, Dawn of War Soulstorm, some really old ones like Warcraft 3, and maybe Starcraft 2 once it comes out. I prefer the portability of the 13-inch Macbook to the 15-inch Macbook Pro, but if gaming is horrible on the Macbook I will get the Pro. So if anyone out there has either of these laptops, please help me pick one out!

Please don't tell me to get a PC, the last PC laptop I had was horrible, with hardware failures left and right, and bad support. Apple's support is great, and I'm willing to pay for that. The only PCs I will ever own from now on are ones I build myself.

tl;dr Is the 2.4GHz Aluminum Macbook's gaming performance in Windows "Good Enough"?

 

[lavamasta]

dude dont get a mac, they are actually much worse for security and everything against viruses . and theyr're more expensive for a worse machine thanpc

 

[Pimpmynintendo]

Wow you really do need help if you want a Mac!
Jk gl2u finding one at a reasonable price, oh wait nvm this is macs we are talking about

 

[Raki]

dude dont get a mac, they are actually much worse for security and everything against viruses . and theyr're more expensive for a worse machine thanpc

Yeah so worse that you cannot start it up without installing AVG Mac Edition!...

I would do a quick youtube search of those games with macbook unibody
although I think it's quite strange to buy a Mac if you do Windows programming

 

[dark42]

Windows programming is required for a class, I was actually hoping to get into Mac/iPhone programming just for myself.

Also, I went to my local University Bookstore and checked out both of these laptops, I think I'm gonna go with a Macbook. The Pro seems like too big and heavy to carry around all the time.

 

[Joe88]

what are you planning on playing...?

 

[dark42]

TF2, CS:S, Dawn of War Soulstorm, some really old ones like Warcraft 3, and maybe Starcraft 2 once it comes out.

 

[PettingZoo]

Hey I can help you, I got a macbook (13 inch) not long ago for school which everyone had to get. Its pretty good, running Warcraft 3 (Mac edition), Starcraft, Diablo 2, Red Alert 3 (port) is really good and other games. And as for PC games you can only run them decently on bootcamp because VM and Parallels don't take advantage of the graphics cards and such on the macbook. Though I haven't done it myself my friend is running bootcamp on his macbook and can run TF2 at a good frame rate on normal graphics, Fallout 3 on high graphics no lag, Bioshock on high, HL 2, CoD 2 and Manhunt with 2gb of RAM (Not sure on any other pc games he has played on it yet). I was kinda about using a mac at first and am still a bit weirded out by it, though it is a pretty awesome investment especially the new ones. They're awesomely light and the new trackpad on these macs are insanely awesome, its just a big trackpad with no extra button (like the old macbooks) it clicks or taps and the 4 finger swipes are excellent. You can swipe up to clear a space or swipe down to do expose on all your open windows (expose shows all your open windows). Also there are alot of great apps out there such as skitch, cover stream and more. I've also upgraded my RAM to 4gb and its even better. Airport is another awesome built in feature. Airport is the wireless for the mac, you can create and join networks easily.

I'm not a crazy apple lover, but the new macbooks are awesome. Though it has only one flaw which kinda pisses me off. It has no firewire port. I hope this was informative for your decision.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that they're pretty freakin strong (Due to the aluminium unibody). Though I wouldn't advise being rough with it nor any other laptop.

 

[notnarb]

Windows programming is required for a class, I was actually hoping to get into Mac/iPhone programming just for myself.

Enjoy learning objective C as the rest of the world teaches you C++

 

[Joe88]

and C# is starting to get popular as well, its mostly C++ though
but regular C is dead

 

[dark42]

Hey I can help you, I got a macbook (13 inch) not long ago for school which everyone had to get. Its pretty good, running Warcraft 3 (Mac edition), Starcraft, Diablo 2, Red Alert 3 (port) is really good and other games. And as for PC games you can only run them decently on bootcamp because VM and Parallels don't take advantage of the graphics cards and such on the macbook. Though I haven't done it myself my friend is running bootcamp on his macbook and can run TF2 at a good frame rate on normal graphics, Fallout 3 on high graphics no lag, Bioshock on high, HL 2, CoD 2 and Manhunt with 2gb of RAM (Not sure on any other pc games he has played on it yet). I was kinda about using a mac at first and am still a bit weirded out by it, though it is a pretty awesome investment especially the new ones. They're awesomely light and the new trackpad on these macs are insanely awesome, its just a big trackpad with no extra button (like the old macbooks) it clicks or taps and the 4 finger swipes are excellent. You can swipe up to clear a space or swipe down to do expose on all your open windows (expose shows all your open windows). Also there are alot of great apps out there such as skitch, cover stream and more. I've also upgraded my RAM to 4gb and its even better. Airport is another awesome built in feature. Airport is the wireless for the mac, you can create and join networks easily.

I'm not a crazy apple lover, but the new macbooks are awesome. Though it has only one flaw which kinda pisses me off. It has no firewire port. I hope this was informative for your decision.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that they're pretty freakin strong (Due to the aluminium unibody). Though I wouldn't advise being rough with it nor any other laptop.

Well, thanks for the info, I guess I'll be getting the 13 inch Macbook then!

 

[delta123]

also to add, i have not had a laptop that has the battery life of a macbook. My old acer brand new only had 3 hrs on lowest settings. my brothers new asus which has slightly better specs than my mac book only had 3 hrs as well on lowest settings. my macbook has 6 hours on lowest and 3 highest. plus i have had my macbook for a year now and its still 6 hours.

 

[Mangofett]

If you're getting a Mac, get a unibody. Not a plastic.

 

[dark42]

If you're getting a Mac, get a unibody. Not a plastic.

Yea I was planning on the unibody one, the one with the backlit keyboard, 2.4GHz version. I have a backlit keyboard for my PC desktop (Saitek Eclipse) and honestly I don't know how I could live without it.

 

[BakuFunn]

Just so you know, if you are in college and get a Mac during the summer, you can get a free 8GB iPod Touch or a 8GB Nano.

Just something of note.

Also, I'm pretty sure the new unibody MacBooks can handle light gaming. The games you listed should work without a hitch.


Also, why get a Mac if you're just doing Windows related things?
Just wondering.

 

[dark42]

Also, why get a Mac if you're just doing Windows related things?
Just wondering.

Nice hardware, good support (unlike Dell).
And I've never really played around with OS X, would like to try that, and the iPhone SDK is something that only runs on Mac OS.

 

[Regiiko]

I was planning on getting one of the 13" aluminium macs (not a Pro, these are grossly overpriced) to replace this current laptop (hard drive won't last 6 months because it's failing) but because of the economy, the financial companies are being real tight arses.

Applied for hire purchase for the macbook +applecare (2900 NZD) and they would only grant me 1300 NZD even though they knew I could easily make the repayments. Guess financial companies don't have much liquid assets at the moment.