Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Blackbook and WoW
- Thread starter luffytubby
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
hmmm. I am surprised that MB uses the same GPU as the MB Air! I mean... The air is insanely thin and light, so I can understand the graphical limitations, but Macbook... when its so thick and heavy, why on earth does it not have a more graphical intensive processor.
Hmmm... What exactly is it that WoW Craves? The minimum requirements on PC, I heard is like pentium 2 800 MHz with a 64 MB Ram geforce 2, or something. I heard that WoW likes Ram, so lets assume that the macbook would have 4 Gig of Ram, and the 2,4 Penryn. Then wouldnt it run great?
and by great, I mean in a decent resolution with a good framerate at around 30.?
Hmmm... What exactly is it that WoW Craves? The minimum requirements on PC, I heard is like pentium 2 800 MHz with a 64 MB Ram geforce 2, or something. I heard that WoW likes Ram, so lets assume that the macbook would have 4 Gig of Ram, and the 2,4 Penryn. Then wouldnt it run great?
and by great, I mean in a decent resolution with a good framerate at around 30.?
I belive it was done as such becauseApple does not want to cannibalize the sales of their Macbook Pro.
By leaving the Macbook with an Intel onboard graphics, they are thus able to draw a much clearer distinction between the 'consumer/entry' lvl Macbooks and the 'professional-lvl' Macbook Pros.
i mean, just think about it: in terms of raw processing power, the Macbooks nd the Macbook Pros are virtually deadlocked. Believe me, you cant feel much difference between a 2GHz Merom Macbook, 2.1GHz Penryn Macbook, or even a 2.4GHz Macbook Pro, etc etc. They have to draw the line between both Macbooks SOMEWHERE, otherwise, who would want to pay the premium for the Macbook Pros?
Also, i think an onboard gpu is also Apple's way of saving costs.
I'm running WoW on a 2.2Ghz MacBook with 2 gigs of RAM--I get framerates in the thirties...and really haven't had much problem playing with guildmates. Admittedly, it'd be great to get framerates in the 60s, but yeah, I can live with the 30s.
macbook "thick and heavy," lol, wow. I guess the Air has redefined those terms, huh?
Anyway, I agree that the macbook keeps the integrated GPU to distinguish it from the pro. There are very few differences between the lines at this point, and screen size and GPU are the major ones. It would be great to be able to CTO an 8400 (or something) on the macbook, but alas, that would eat in to the higher margin MBP sales.
how?
the reason why I WONT want a MBP is because of the size. 15' and 17' is simply way to big to carry around for everyday use constantly. If you need a computer by your side, 24/7, you really need a 13' or less.
I think the MB is quite heavy and thick. it has a big footprint, and I understand that it has a powerful CPU, which is great, but a 8400 could be justified in that pricerange.
I imagine that people who want MBP want desktop replacements, and people that want MBs want laptops. adding a 8400 Go wouldnt change that IMO!
Actually, even though it is the same, the graphics processing power of the air seems to, on a whole, stink. The darn thing can't even handle magnification of the dock smoothly. Try one out in the store - I was horrified when I saw that the dock magnification was stuttery on all of the Airs when the regular MacBooks were nice and swift/smooth. This was one of the big deciding factors TBH...
So, if both machines do in fact use the "same" GPU, then apple did something wrong in the Air because there is a bottleneck like nobody's business!
- Eric
Is that not more CPU related? I hear that one core will shut down after watching videos on Youtube for 15 minutes or so? lol.
Or maybe it's a GPU issue?
Maybe I was unfair. Does anyone know any 13' Laptops that are more powerful than a MB? How many 13' machines have their own dedicated GPUs? Anyone?
Doesn't the Dell XPS M1330 have a discrete GPU (NVIDIA GeForceTM Go 8400M)? And a 13" screen also. And only 4 lbs. And has an LED screen. And has an Express Card slot.
Dont' get me wrong, I love my Macbook but the XPS M1330 is a damn fine laptop. It pretty much costs the same as a Macbook too ($1000-$1400)
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1330?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
It's definitely a better deal hardware wise, I guess.
But, it's a PC. *Just thought I'd point it out*
If you want a laptop with a graphics card, then you're going to either have to buy a MBP or go for some PC option like that Dell. But good luck going back to the dark side! I'm hooked on this little setup now.
But, it's a PC. *Just thought I'd point it out*
If you want a laptop with a graphics card, then you're going to either have to buy a MBP or go for some PC option like that Dell. But good luck going back to the dark side! I'm hooked on this little setup now.
Well, he was asking about any 13" computer that has better hardware. I wish it ran OSX though.
It kind of does show that Apple is gimping the Macbook hardware though for no real reason. The XPS M1330 has about the same footprint as a Macbook (I think?) so you can't say it doesn't fit in that form factor.
The processor, for the most part, is irrelevant.
The three core ingredients required for WoW to run smoothly are the following:
1. 7200RPM hard drive or faster - the reason for this is because you may have noticed that the game does not run off your cd drive, instead it runs directly off your hard drive, so when you're sitting in IF (if your horde, then /spit) and you're surrounded by all different levels with all different pieces of armor and weapons, your hard drive has to load every single image for each of the pieces, so the faster the hard drive, the quicker it will load and thus give you less lag
2. decent video card - as Macbooks do not currently have dedicated graphics cards, your mobile WoW experience will be lacking, nothing really you can do about this here, but if you make up for with ingredients 1 and 3 you should be okay
3. RAM! - as previously stated, WoW loves its RAM. 1GB of RAM is really enough for your average user, but if you're 1337, you're going to need at least 2GB. but if of course you're 1337357, you're going to want to upgrade to 4GB RAM and remove all excuses for non-pwning.
I haven't played the game in almost 2 years but I sure do miss it. On a side note, if anyone is looking for a Gaming Desktop PC, PM me because I just so happen to have one I'm selling. (nvidia 8800GTX, 4GB ram, 10k RPM hdd)
Now, go PWN some N00bS!
The three core ingredients required for WoW to run smoothly are the following:
1. 7200RPM hard drive or faster - the reason for this is because you may have noticed that the game does not run off your cd drive, instead it runs directly off your hard drive, so when you're sitting in IF (if your horde, then /spit) and you're surrounded by all different levels with all different pieces of armor and weapons, your hard drive has to load every single image for each of the pieces, so the faster the hard drive, the quicker it will load and thus give you less lag
2. decent video card - as Macbooks do not currently have dedicated graphics cards, your mobile WoW experience will be lacking, nothing really you can do about this here, but if you make up for with ingredients 1 and 3 you should be okay
3. RAM! - as previously stated, WoW loves its RAM. 1GB of RAM is really enough for your average user, but if you're 1337, you're going to need at least 2GB. but if of course you're 1337357, you're going to want to upgrade to 4GB RAM and remove all excuses for non-pwning.
I haven't played the game in almost 2 years but I sure do miss it. On a side note, if anyone is looking for a Gaming Desktop PC, PM me because I just so happen to have one I'm selling. (nvidia 8800GTX, 4GB ram, 10k RPM hdd)
Now, go PWN some N00bS!
My MB runs WoW at 30-40 fps out on my own, 15-20 fps in cities. That's with 1280x800 resolution and a mix of medium and low. The 3D performance is lackluster but oh well, I have a gaming PC for that.