macbook pro, gaming computer

brownkk

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
103
Hey guys,
So i built a gaming computer in the summer
core 2 Quad Q6600
8800 ultra
2gb of RAM
EVGA 680i mobo
i havent been gaming that much and its starting to feel like im phasing outta gaming, so i was wondering a couple of things. If i sold this and picked up a macbook pro, would it handle some occasional gaming? And how easy is it to sell a gaming computer on craigslist/ebay.

Thank you
 
You play orange box just fine on your computer because you're playing at 1440 x 900.

Hook up an external display and watch the framerates go down if you crank it up to 1900 x 1200.

Gaming will be fine, but don't count on playing any new games at great framerates. Aside from that, you'll be fine.
 
You would be fine at 1920x1200 most likely. Obviously the settings are nowhere close to the maxed out I run on my desktop, but I have played Orange Box and WoW on my MBP at that. It is the native res :)

For casual gaming the MBP is a plenty powerful machine. Obviously it won't ever be like your previous rig though heh.

I have never had much trouble selling machines online, though I have never attempted to sell a full gamer rig that way. I usually part out the higher end stuff.
 
ok, would ebay or craigslist be the best way to go for this kinda of thing, the games i have right now on cd are, WoW, AoE3, BF2, crysis (demo), think of getting ut3, will these games run smooth on the mpb, mainly asking about the last 2. Do you guys think this is a good move ? to sell the gaming and go for a macbook pro?
 
WoW runs great. No need for bootcamp there. At 1920x1200 I play with most everything maxed (no multisampling, level of detail checked, env detail near, and no full-screen glow effect) and get great performance. Flying around semi-peak time Shattrath right now. low 40s to mid 50s in FPS. Very rarely does it go below that and if I am just off farming or something it usually sits 55-60. Windows performance is slightly better.

AoE3 with both expansions runs great in Windows at near max settings. You actually can put it on all max settings, but if you do so it can slow down a bit in big fights, so I turn it down a tad. I don't have the OS X version so I can't comment on that port.

I haven't put UT3 on my laptop, though I can do that when I get home if you want some numbers. I would imagine it would run fine if you can do without some of the high end eye candy. I have always viewed Unreal games as some of the absolute best when it comes to running on most any semi-current machine. We were lanning the demo when it first came out on machines going from my desktop on down to an older Pentium D with a 6600 128mb (normal, non-GT). Obviously the game didn't look as good on some rigs, but it ran great on all of them :) It scales well just like the earlier Unreal titles.

I can't comment on Crysis or BF2. Don't own or plan to own either.

If you have questions on any other games I might be able to answer them. Just ask. If you don't go for the high res option on the screen you will get better performance than I am listing. Unless you need the extra space (I wanted it for Photoshop and Illustrator work) I would stick with the lower res screen.

I always sold mine through ebay, though again, I never sold a gaming rig that way. My gaming parts I usually sell off to friends when I upgrade.

Only you can say if it is a good move, but I am very happy with my machine. I do more work on it than gaming though.
 
Well for Crysis it's mainly GPU power that makes that bad boy look good. The 8600GTM is going to limit your eye candy....

For UT3 is the same story but I believe the Unreal Engine uses the CPU a lot so in that respect you should be super good at lower resolutions. This should be true for both.

I personally have both a desktop and a MBP and seriously... you have to have other uses for your MBP to justify the cost... in my head anyways. Like I use the MBP for my freelance and school work and if I get board I can dual boot to play games in XP. Also Applecare does take care of you, seeing as how I bought the original MBP with a x1600 gpu and they replaced it with a MBP with a 8600gtm gpu. Consider that when you buy the MBP.

If you ask me... you're going to notice the drop in smoothness of frame rates and you might or might not mind this...

You can also sell things here, Redflagdeals (if you ship to Canada) and other forums. Part out and things sell quicker too.
 
You play orange box just fine on your computer because you're playing at 1440 x 900.

Hook up an external display and watch the framerates go down if you crank it up to 1900 x 1200.

Actually, no I'm not. Forgot to mention that I'm playing on 22" external 1680x1050. I'm not a "hardcore" gamer--in that I could care less what my framerate (the number) is, I only care about what it looks like in the end. And IMHO, it looks just fine to me.
 
I really think crysis as far as system requirements is wrong. A buddy of mine has a gateway with an Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 2.0GB DDR single channel, x700 can play crysis on high at 1024x768. I mean my 8600gtm plays it very well at 1280x800.
 
wow very informative post, so im actually in canada, i would prefer the extra space as i use photoshop, final cut pro, dreamweaver etc. but im pretty sure im not going to get above 3 grand for the pc im selling. Im still confused if i should do it or not.
 
Well if you are still on edge think about some questions.
~Do you need portability? If not, the desktop might be the best bet currently.
~Are you willing to use Leopard? If you plan on jumping in Windows most of the time you might want to stick with your desktop.
~Any future projects or concerns (that you know of course) that might require a more powerful desktop unit?

Simple questions, but it will put some perspective on if a desktop or MBP is better for your needs currently.
 
portability - thats wht im deicidng on right now, i have this crappy laptop that cant run anything and has anti executable put on from work, so that dosent realy even count as anything..lol
swithing to leapord? YES, 150% want to switch to leapord instead of xp/vista
future projects/concerns? wht i mentiond earlier, gaming and will it be able to handle video editing in final cut pro?
 
I really think crysis as far as system requirements is wrong. A buddy of mine has a gateway with an Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 2.0GB DDR single channel, x700 can play crysis on high at 1024x768...

Is... that... really possible?

portability - thats wht im deicidng on right now, i have this crappy laptop that cant run anything and has anti executable put on from work, so that dosent realy even count as anything..lol
swithing to leapord? YES, 150% want to switch to leapord instead of xp/vista
future projects/concerns? wht i mentiond earlier, gaming and will it be able to handle video editing in final cut pro?

The Macbook Pro will be wicked nice for your video editing in Final Cut Pro. I used it for a few projects and I love the way it handles in Tiger... don't know about it in Leopard.

Also I guess if you get a Macbook Pro now they'll give you Leopard but I've personally been holding off Leopard ( I have the disk sitting here on my desk ) because I just worry sometimes about some stability. I've seen Illustrator and Photoshop crash really hard in a fresh install of Leopard on a friends computer... and that scares me...

But really if you are not gaming as much, and by the programs I've read that you use if I were you and I needed to sell something to offset the price of the Macbook Pro I would sell the desktop. Later on you can bootcamp and play games in Windows and nerd it up that way. If I needed more money I had to decide between selling the Macbook Pro and my desktop, I'd sell the desktop.
 
k, i think over time im getting more and more convinced, i was looking on ebay to see what the prices are for a computer around the same specs and im eeing prices of 800 dollars, how am i supposed to beat those kinds of prices?
 
k, i think over time im getting more and more convinced, i was looking on ebay to see what the prices are for a computer around the same specs and im eeing prices of 800 dollars, how am i supposed to beat those kinds of prices?

Are you talking about selling your computer or the same specs as a Macbook Pro?
 
Oh no way you can get way more for your computer than that. Part out in the FS/FT forum and I can see you getting at LEAST $1000 for it.
 
yea i know i can get more for it, there just no way on ebay i will be able to, is there anyway of me getting close to what i paid for? After i sell it, its kinda the only cash i have to put towards the laptop.
 
I play CS:S maxed settings (except 4xAA and 8xAF) in XP.

2.2Ghz C2D, 2GB, 8600m GT

You're not gonna be running all the lastest games maxed, but it is fine to play alot of things, and is pretty good for a 1 inch thick laptop...
 
Actually, the MBPs have got really nice graphics cards in them. You won't play at 1920x1200 8xAA/AF like you probably did with your 8800 Ultra, but it should handle the native res of the MBP just fine at around 2x AA/AF. Macs get a bad rep for gaming, but the newest wave of GPUs in the MBPs, and Bootcamp actually make for some nice mobile gaming, far below Alienware prices.
 
I'm going through the same pains you are, I own a similar rig (see sig) and a macbook pro. I want to switch over to one OS only. I'm leaning towards mac for school, or maybe parting out my rig and downsizing to a higher end SFF. I like the gaming on the big machine, but it seems like mac is limited in the mod community and hardware upgrades don't seem to readily available without extensive hacks and theoretical hacks. Games are okay, but having a high end windows machine to mac is a big difference.
 
I would like to know if anybody has tried UT3 on a MBP....

When I had my gaming rig together, it had a x1950Pro, which is slightly faster than an 8600GT. I ran UT3 at 1280x800, medium settings, 2xAA/AF. So you'd probably get fairly decent performance with a MBP and 8600GTM.
 
thanks guys, after all of the posts i am convinced to sell and get the mbp, im going to wait till january to see wht apple rolls out im just trying to sell this computer now so i might put it on craigslist.
 
okay, so i managed to get 2400 for my PC, not a bad price, but ive got a few questions, lol
First of all will a macbook pro be able to run motion 3?(i will be using the verion iwth the 256 card) and would it be better to wait till january for the new ones or there is no major upgrades and jsut go for it now?
 
It's been more than six months since the last Macbook Pro update. According to MacRumors, you should wait until the new one comes out.
 
It's been more than six months since the last Macbook Pro update. According to MacRumors, you should wait until the new one comes out.

There was one not two months ago. It added the 2.4ghz cpu. No one ever knows when a new model will be released apart from apple themselves. Anyone saying they do is lying.
 
lol, ill wait then but what about final cut studio 2.Will final cut pro, motion 3...etc. all of those programs run smoothly on the macbook pro woth the 256mb of RAM video card?
 
I was just wondering I have this machine
AMD 3800X2
1.5gb ram
7900GS
2x250gb hd
xp pro

Im looking into a macbook I play wow and a few other games but im going to school next year and i wanted to know if the 2.6ghz mbp and the 200gb 7200rpm HD 4gb patriot ram would outperform my current comp in wow if anyone knows this is kind of the deciding factor of selling it now or waiting
 
lol, ill wait then but what about final cut studio 2.Will final cut pro, motion 3...etc. all of those programs run smoothly on the macbook pro woth the 256mb of RAM video card?

they aren't video card dependable as much as cpu and ram., i ran final cut studio on my macbook with integrated intel.
 
I would like to know if anybody has tried UT3 on a MBP....

I've got it installed now, I cannot slow the game down. I haven't run fraps or anything, but from all the settings I can find turned on high, native resolution 1440x900, and post processing all the way up, I have no problems at all with game play or fps. I guess it's not a very demanding game, I wish COD4 ran this well, although I can stand medium-low settings and still 35-45 fps avg.
 
lol, ill wait then but what about final cut studio 2.Will final cut pro, motion 3...etc. all of those programs run smoothly on the macbook pro woth the 256mb of RAM video card?

Final Cut Studio 2 ran great on the ANCIENT Dual 1ghz G4 desktop with a GeForce 4400 videocard that I finally got rid of last month and replaced with a 24" iMac (love it).

FCS2 will run great on that MBP.
 
I've got it installed now, I cannot slow the game down. I haven't run fraps or anything, but from all the settings I can find turned on high, native resolution 1440x900, and post processing all the way up, I have no problems at all with game play or fps. I guess it's not a very demanding game, I wish COD4 ran this well, although I can stand medium-low settings and still 35-45 fps avg.

crap, why do have to tell me this!!!! (prolly 'cause I asked, huh?) Now I have to go buy UT3, since I've almost the same specs you do. But I have so many games to play right now......
 
okay, i know i mite be ressercting an old thread and its been a while but im just posting to give you guys an update,

so i posted the comp on craigslist and tried evreything i can and so far no buyers, im trying to get it sold before macworld, so this coming up week will be stressfull...lol
 
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