MacBook pro and Windows 7 gaming

Phonesis

Phonesis

Phonesis

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Hi guys,

I'm a recent mac convert and am planning on getting a new laptop as my current dell 2005 model is painfully slow now. I've looked into it and just can't see anything I want more than a MBP. However, I've read mixed things about the reliability of playing direct x games via a windows installation using Boot Camp.

I'm mainly an rts gamer and will want to play games like Men of War, CoH, and DoW 2 using Steam. Will probably be going for the i7 15" MBP with the 128gb SSD option. Can anyone confirm that this will work for me and I'll be able to play these games without an issue? I'll be gutted if I go mac and then simply regret it due to not being able to play my favourite games.
 
I can't help with the games, but...

I've just ordered a 15" i7 MBP, and I wanted SSD too. Instead of ordering Apple's SSD, I got a third party one. I would look into doing this, as you can get a much better SSD than the one Apple use from factory.

Just waiting for mine to be delivered :(
 
See here for more info:

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/413130/new-macbook-pro-2010-ssd-not/

mbp19_sr.gif


mbp19_sw.gif


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Cheers for the SSD info Shadowness. I'll look into this.

Any thoughts about Win 7 gaming from anyone would be greatly appreciated. I just want to know for sure I'm not going to end up having major hassles trying to play anything.
 
I don't have any experience of it myself, but I think the gpu isn't the greatest compared to some top end Windows laptops. In sure it will run most things ok but you will probably ha e to run some things on less than highest detail.
 
Thanks for the reassurances guys :) I'm going to place the order I think. The 2.66ghz i7 option has the Nvidia GPU with 512mb of vid memory so that should ensure most games work fine I would have thought. I'm going for it because I just don't see any other laptops out there that look half as nice as the MBP range.
 
Err, is a Mac right for your needs? If you're a Windows 7 gamer?

The amount of money you're going to spend on an i7 15" MBP would get you a seriously awesome Windows lappy with much spare change.

If you like Macs, get a Mac mini and a decent i7 gaming laptop. You'd probably be able to do it within the budget of a 15" i7 MBP!

edit -

15" i7 MBP with 128GB SSD - £1959

or

Mac Mini - £599
MSI i5 / 6GB / 5870 / 15.6"- £1056.33 (Also 2 HDD bays, preloaded with 2 x 500GB)
Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB - £199.99

Total - £1855.32

Superior spec gaming laptop (CPU withstanding), and a Mac Mini with just over £100 left to spare. :)
 
Last edited:
randal24 said:
Err, is a Mac right for your needs? If you're a Windows 7 gamer?

The amount of money you're going to spend on an i7 15" MBP would get you a seriously awesome Windows lappy with much spare change.

If you like Macs, get a Mac mini and a decent i7 gaming laptop. You'd probably be able to do it within the budget of a 15" i7 MBP!

edit -

15" i7 MBP with 128GB SSD - £1959

or

Mac Mini - £599
MSI i5 / 6GB / 5870 / 15.6"- £1056.33 (Also 2 HDD bays, preloaded with 2 x 500GB)
Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB - £199.99

Total - £1855.32

Superior spec gaming laptop (CPU withstanding), and a Mac Mini with just over £100 left to spare. :)
Click to expand...


Good call. I've been looking at the MSI range and even stuff like Alienware etc. The thing that appeals to me about the MBP though is the build quality of it compared to Win 7 Laptops. It's also the little things like the design of the MBP, the battery life (although I guess gaming hammers that), and the backlit keyboard. I've been using OSX recently and got really into it too. I see your point about a Mac Mini though :) May look into this a little further before I order anything.
 
The little things about the MBP will probably win you over in the end, they are truly awesome machines both in build quality and function. The trackpad and gestures are superb, and the single piece unibody chassis really is a thing of beauty. Battery life (at least on my Late 08 MBP) was good for usual tasks like surfing etc.. but in Windows the power management is a complete dog. I'm not sure what the discrete switching is like on the 2010 machines but Apple really didn't give a hoot how it ran on the 08's so just left the powerful card switched on all the time.

This meant excess heat and noise, appalling battery life (think 1hr 30 sort of range) and a not-very-nice end user experience. Irritated the hell out of when I thought that I was getting 6 odd hours in OS X, and gaming was a pleasure on Steam.

In your situation, as you've specifically mentioned you're a Windows gamer I'd find it hard to recommend a uMBP as a main machine. However, the solution above gives you a compromise and saves you some cash - and does the gaming bit a lot better than the uMBP would. Just got to weigh up having a stylish hunk of aluminium against balls out FPS. :D

Good luck whatever you decide to do matey!
 
You'll be fine. My 13" 2010 MBP (much worse CPU, worse GPU) runs a lot of the games I want to play fine under Windows 7.

Just don't expect to get anywhere near the same performance under OS X with SteamPlay games.
 
Similarly, I have an older 15" Macbook and have been dying to play a few old games, such as Diablo II and VCO. Unfortunately I'm still stuck with OSX 10.4 - are there any virtual mounting programs I can find for Tiger, or should I man up and spend £25 on upgrading to 10.6 to use Boot Camp?
 
On most games you get about 1.5 -2x the gfx performance in windows. Plus you can overclock in windows.

I have a W7 partition on my mbp 15 i5 purely for games. Everything else I do in OSX.
I use MSI afterburner to OC the 330m to 630/1500/950. I also up the fan speed to 5200rps whilst gaming to keep the temps sensible as apple leaves the temps to nearly 100c before kicking the fans up in windows.

I play the following at 1440x900 with mostly high settings:
COD BO
MOH 2010
BFBC2 & Vietnam (obviously I have shadows on low and dx9 to keep good fps)
DOW2
SC2
SupComm2
COH
Dirt2
 
Shadowness said:
How come?

I was going to download the Orange Box from steam for mac as it's stupidly cheap.
Click to expand...

The Mac version relies on OpenGL and the version of OpenGL that ships with OS X is far behind DirectX when it comes to gaming.

Team Fortress 2 runs silky smooth under Windows 7 on my MBP but it's unplayable under OS X.
 
I'm getting tempted to wait for 2011's MBP line up now. I'll be gutted if I order one now only for a new model to come out in say April with a vastly superior GPU and a blu-ray drive or something!
 
That's my thought too, the op wants to spend a lot of money on a laptop to play games because they look nice!
 
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