13" Macbook Pro. How is gaming?

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zamardii

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I currently have a Macbook which is the late 2007 model and I can't play virtually anything on it. I tried Counter Strike source and I couldn't even play it on low settings. I am planning on buying a new Macbook Pro before Spring for school but I saw they have like a Nvidia 330m, and I was wondering if anyone had that Mac, and how gaming is like on it, if at all doable.

I have a Steam account and it would be nice to be able to play at least Counter Strike Source on it. But i was wondering what others were playing, the performance, and what is doable.

Thanks.
 
I know your struggle with the MacBook, I had an '08 MacBook and it was awful for gaming.

Mine is the 9400M, and it handles CSS, Day of Defeat, and pretty much any other Steam game with no problems at all on Medium/High settings with no AA or AF. I played Mass Effect 2 (on Bootcamp with Windows 7), and it was quite playable, even though it was an unpatched version of the game. If my 9400M/2GB RAM can handle it, I'm very sure that you can squeeze some higher settings and framerates out of the updated model.
 
Just bought a mbp 13 and will test out some steam games and starcraft 2 and get back to you. Massive downloading for me tonight. I don't think it would be that bad. CSS for sure you can play no problem
 
Last week I gotten the 13" MBP and have installed SC2 on it, after tweaking the settings I would average around 35 fps, even in a intense 1v1 fight.
 
I have had my macbook pro for nearly a month now and it can run most older games decently -- albeit not with max graphics or anything. It's definitely playable but I generally play on my PC instead.
 
my experience on the 13mbp 7,1 has been "ok". source games have improved greatly over the past few months. I have SCII but haven't installed it on the mac, I much rather play it on my desktop w/ maxed out settings
 
mtbush said:
my experience on the 13mbp 7,1 has been "ok". source games have improved greatly over the past few months. I have SCII but haven't installed it on the mac, I much rather play it on my desktop w/ maxed out settings
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Same here, I only use my mac for work heh.
 
Starcraft 2 on my mbp 13.3 is totally smooth on lowest settings and native res.. I actually haven't tried it at anything higher. Like the others though, I prefer to play on my desktop.

CSS has no issues on the mbp either.
 
sc2 seems to run around 25 fps on medium settings AA off. CSS has no issues or hickups. I can play l4d2 as well and TF2. my Asus UL 80vt with the g210m can run SC2 around 25 fps with textures on high and effects on high everything else on medium.
 
i have a MBP unibody. 9400m. performance in CS:S and SC2 is horrible and unplayable @ 1920x1080. i can only play 2D games. the 330m may prove otherwise.
 
zamardii said:
I have a Steam account and it would be nice to be able to play at least Counter Strike Source on it. But i was wondering what others were playing, the performance, and what is doable.
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Even bumping up to the very first unibody models, the late 2008 MacBook or MBP, would be a step up for you. The 9400M is very capable at native resolutions, though graphics settings will have to be turned down. The Mac port (an emulated port at that) of CoD4 ran silky smooth on the 9400M with a 2.4GHz C2D.

My experience with the 330M in my new mid-2010 MBP has been generally positive. It’s not the best mobile GPU out there, but it’s a solid step up from the 9400M, especially in Source engine games.

Boot Camp is still preferable to native OS X versions, but this will eventually change. Of course, by then, you’ll probably be in the market for yet another hardware upgrade.
 
Unfortunately there is only so far an integrated GPU will get you, same as any other small notebook minus machines like the Alienware m11x. It is an nvidia GPU, which is a positive, but you're still not getting what you can with a a dedicated GPU. As many have already said, turn down your settings a bit and you'll be fine. Otherwise you get the other positives like battery life, construction, trackpad and keyboard, extreme portability, etc.

If the 13" had a better GPU I would totally get one instead of a 15".
 
I have an Nvidia 9400 graphics card and can play games mostly fine.

Games that I have tested on the MacBook Pro include:

League of Legends
Need for Speed World
Vindictus
World of Warcraft
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Killing Floor

As someone else mentioned, it doesn't run at max settings, but for a laptop mainly being used for other reasons, its nice to be able to play games on decent settings.
 
I have a macbook pro 2010 model, 4gb ram intel core 2 duo 2.4ghz and I use it for wow, i have windows 7 bootcamp and run crysis and crysis warhead on high settings and it runs about 35 fps. wow runs about 60 fps, and assassins creed 2 runs great too. I have yet to have any issues. <3
 
ranviper said:
I have a macbook pro 2010 model, 4gb ram intel core 2 duo 2.4ghz and I use it for wow, i have windows 7 bootcamp and run crysis and crysis warhead on high settings and it runs about 35 fps. wow runs about 60 fps, and assassins creed 2 runs great too. I have yet to have any issues. <3
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Holy shit. Seriously?
 
i should note- it took me a little while to figure out, but the mousing in OSX bugs me quite a bit- I haven't got bootcamp setup and everything but my Razer Orochi drivers on mac don't feel the same as they do on my desktop Win7.
 
kencheeto said:
i should note- it took me a little while to figure out, but the mousing in OSX bugs me quite a bit- I haven't got bootcamp setup and everything but my Razer Orochi drivers on mac don't feel the same as they do on my desktop Win7.
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Steermouse in OSX.
 
kencheeto said:
maybe at 640x480
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Nah man, just straight up 1280 x 800. Idk why, it just works great. Maybe cuz I don't look at porn. =P

But seriously. Sooner or later though when I can saved some cash, I am going to build a desktop. I'm not really biased to either mac or pc. I love mac, I love mac os x, but I really like windows 7 too. Why not have both? Lol.
 
I'm using the current MBP 13, and also have a steam account, I play TF2, not nearly as well as my gaming rig, but it works. Still not a gaming machine, but not unusable by any means.
 
i have a 2009 15" Macbook Pro, CSS was okay on low settings but any other game like BioShock blew..had much better performance when I boot camped that mac though..
 
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