Getting a 13" Macbook Pro 2.9GHz

[Savedwow]

Tetris, you're wrong I'm afraid. The Intel 4000 HD chip, while nothing spectacular, is actually more than fine for playing wow, and probably mediocre for raiding. It is roughly on par with an Ati Radeon 6770 GPU.

[Vampurity]

Don't listen to the naysayers. I have an old Macbook Pro (that I use mostly for school) and it runs WoW very well. All the people telling you that its "integrated gpu... won't be able to process all the information that's needed in a game" are just PC fanboys who have never owned a Mac. My only issue with gaming on this or any other (Windows) laptop is that they tend to heat up. So make sure you get some sort of laptop cooling pad.

[BicycleMafioso]

Sorry, again bad at computers, what is GPU and where do I find it?

GPU is Graphics Processing Unit, or in other words, Graphics card (something the mac you are looking at doesn't have).

If you are using a windows machine right now, press Start-button and type "devmgmt.msc", click enter, and it should be under one of the first fold-outs.

[LocNess]

This is my exact computer: http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/...sp?poid=438253

[alturic]

And everyone else is not you. People use their computers differently. Besides, it's all about resolution. A 1360x768 26" is still meh compared to a 1920x1080 19" for instance. Either way, it is off-topic and does not matter to the OP.

If you are using a 26" at that resolution, you are better off saving the money and buy a 17" that can use that resolution. Forgive me for sounding dumb, but I was under the impression people always played at max resolution.

You can't say someone wanting a 13" monitor over a 26" monitor is "using their computer differently" either. Hell, the OP himself said he want's to play games on it, and my point was that he shouldn't suffer by giving up such a large screen-space purely because it's a "Mac" and apparently Apple still thinks 13" screens are "good".

---------- Post added 2012-08-30 at 03:45 PM ----------

Sorry, again bad at computers, what is GPU and where do I find it?

Open Start, click Run, type "dxdiag", click the Display tab, it's the first thing under Name:

[Emzky]

Right now i'm running wow on ultra on a 1800p retina 15'' MBP. It's eyegasm. If I were you id get the 13 inch model retina which has SSD, is thinner/lightweight and is launching before october (referring to rumors!). I would guess it comes with a dedicated graphics card as well, as the hd4000 can't handle a tad more demanding applications on these resolutions..

[LocNess]

It says

Name: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family

[BicycleMafioso]

You can't say someone wanting a 13" monitor over a 26" monitor is "using their computer differently" either. Hell, the OP himself said he want's to play games on it, and my point was that he shouldn't suffer by giving up such a large screen-space purely because it's a "Mac" and apparently Apple still thinks 13" screens are "good".

I'm sorry. Do you honestly expect him to carry a 26" laptop around? Seriously?

[Zulandia]

You're forgetting one very important thing Alturic, the bigger a laptop screen is the less portable it is (which is counter intuitive to the whole point). Either way this argument is not even slightly related to the question the OP asked.

[Deleted]

I am an education major, and due to US education prioritizing Macs we need to "get used" to the technology as well as use programs they offer to help build a portfolio for ourselves for the next 4 years.

So now I have two different answers, it will run well and I won't be able to play at all. Why is that?

You have one correct answer and one absolutely wrong answer.

It doesn't even have a graphics card, you can't expect it to play games well.

[lwalker8]

I currently raid on a 13 inch macbook pro with the i5, and same graphics. The intel integrated graphics are your biggest obstacle. That said, it is by no means impossible to raid with this set-up, as I've been doing it for about 9 months. If it's an option, move up to the $1800 15 inch model with the nvidia graphics. Otherwise you'll need to be using minimal settings.

For reference, I currently have almost all of my settings on Low or Fair. I play with the lowest resolution possible. It's not ideal, but it works just fine if you aren't a video game snob (yes, they seriously think they are better than you.).

[LocNess]

I currently raid on a 13 inch macbook pro with the i5, and same graphics. The intel integrated graphics are your biggest obstacle. That said, it is by no means impossible to raid with this set-up, as I've been doing it for about 9 months. If it's an option, move up to the $1800 15 inch model with the nvidia graphics. Otherwise you'll need to be using minimal settings.

For reference, I currently have almost all of my settings on Low or Fair. I play with the lowest resolution possible. It's not ideal, but it works just fine if you aren't a video game snob (yes, they seriously think they are better than you.).

What FPS do you achieve during 5mans and such?

And if I had the money, I would get the 15" with the NVIDIA card or w/e it is, however I don't.

[lwalker8]

What FPS do you achieve during 5mans and such?

I keep my frame rate set to a max of 25 FPS. I generally maintain that on low settings. 25 man raiding is the only thing that would drop it below 25.

[vindicatorx]

What FPS do you achieve during 5mans and such?

And if I had the money, I would get the 15" with the NVIDIA card or w/e it is, however I don't.

I have the 15 inch Mac Book Pro it has the AMD 6600m, I'm in class right now I will check FPS when I get out in about an hour and a half

[LocNess]

I keep my frame rate set to a max of 25 FPS. I generally maintain that on low settings. 25 man raiding is the only thing that would drop it below 25.

Well speaking I do 5mans at 10 FPS and 25m raids at 3-5 FPS that is a huge improvement.

[lwalker8]

I have the 15 inch Mac Book Pro it has the AMD 6600m, I'm in class right now I will check FPS when I get out in about an hour and a half

All the current mac notebooks utilize Intel Integrated Graphics, everything that is 15 inches utilizes a Nvidia card in addition:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 (all 13- and 15-inch configurations)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory (15-inch 2.3GHz configuration) or NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory (15-inch 2.6GHz configuration) and automatic graphics switching

[Festisio]

I am an education major, and due to US education prioritizing Macs we need to "get used" to the technology as well as use programs they offer to help build a portfolio for ourselves for the next 4 years.

So now I have two different answers, it will run well and I won't be able to play at all. Why is that?

Unspeakably ludicrous. I would hate to use a 13" screen for any period longer than 5 minutes. If you're considering long gaming sessions you should seriously get a monitor. I'm sure cost won't be a problem as you are considering spending a huge amount of money on a shiny accessory.

Is there a webpage which shows this organisation's stance on macs?

[lakhesis]

It'll be fine.

The 13" screen will be annoying.

Here's a youtube of someone doing BH10 on an earlier, lower spec macbook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sabk0KgtCHY

Edit: And another one of an even lower spec Macbook playing GW2 beta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTh4Lu3a-dM

You won't get the sort of performance you'd get out of a real machine like a mac pro, but they're a nice enough machine for something that lightweight.

[Deleted]

13" screen works just fine if the resolution is any good, however intergrated graphics no go for any solid FPS in any recent game.
but hey im biased with my 13" with gpu and good res

[Deleted]

People who say it won't be able to handle raids (or the game in general) are just mad or don't know any better. I have a notebook with i3-2310M processor which has the integrated HD Graphics 3000. WoW runs very smooth on minimum and still quite decent at fair settings. But OP is getting an i7 which is way better + the processor has Ivy Bridge architecture + it also has HD Graphics 4000 and I can't imagine a single reason why it wouldn't easily handle 25man raids on Low-Good settings.