Intel Iris Pro Graphics - Questions

[Xl House lX]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting back into World of Warcraft for the expansion (seems like they're going back to their roots yeah?); anyways I need a new laptop, however my current one is only a dual-core processor and uses Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. I know Intel Iris Pro is integrated as well, but I was just wondering if it would be ok to run WoW on (that, and Hearthstone pretty much). I'm looking for ~1080p/40-60fps performance wise.

I'll go ahead and say what laptop it is, but fair warning, I'm not going to respond or take anyone seriously who tries to derail. For my needs I need a Mac for what I do in school and work. The particular laptop I'm looking at is this: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro (the 15 inch $1,999) model. I do understand that I can get a more powerful laptop for way cheaper but like I said, I need OS X for the things I do, and furthermore I'm ok with the pricing.

Thanks for any considerations and help computer champions!

[zolok2.0]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting back into World of Warcraft for the expansion (seems like they're going back to their roots yeah?); anyways I need a new laptop, however my current one is only a dual-core processor and uses Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. I know Intel Iris Pro is integrated as well, but I was just wondering if it would be ok to run WoW on (that, and Hearthstone pretty much). I'm looking for ~1080p/40-60fps performance wise.

I'll go ahead and say what laptop it is, but fair warning, I'm not going to respond or take anyone seriously who tries to derail. For my needs I need a Mac for what I do in school and work. The particular laptop I'm looking at is this: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro (the 15 inch $1,999) model. I do understand that I can get a more powerful laptop for way cheaper but like I said, I need OS X for the things I do, and furthermore I'm ok with the pricing.

Thanks for any considerations and help computer champions!

I have a late 11' MBP 15" with the 2.2 i7 and raedon 6750M and it runs wow perfectly. It runs on ultra, but it is between 25-50 fps and I like to always be 50+ so I just disabled shadows and it's great. I'm fairly certain that the newer pro 15's also have some sort of discreet graphics cards as well, i'll look it up really quickly for you

EDIT: According to http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html the iris pro 5200 is actually better than the raedon in my MBP, so you should be okay

[Xl House lX]

I have a late 11' MBP 15" with the 2.2 i7 and raedon 6750M and it runs wow perfectly. It runs on ultra, but it is between 25-50 fps and I like to always be 50+ so I just disabled shadows and it's great. I'm fairly certain that the newer pro 15's also have some sort of discreet graphics cards as well, i'll look it up really quickly for you

EDIT: According to http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html the iris pro 5200 is actually better than the raedon in my MBP, so you should be okay

Interesting. Iris Pro 5200 isn't too far behind the 750m which is in the $2500 MBP model.

[Erous]

The Intel HD 4000 runs in the low 30s mid 20s (fps) on Ultra in shrine at 1080p, 25 man raiding fairs worse....but runs in the 30s at about medium. It's actually quite good. My laptop has the HD 4000 and I didn't realize I wasn't using the dedicated card for about a week

[glo]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about getting back into World of Warcraft for the expansion (seems like they're going back to their roots yeah?); anyways I need a new laptop, however my current one is only a dual-core processor and uses Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics. I know Intel Iris Pro is integrated as well, but I was just wondering if it would be ok to run WoW on (that, and Hearthstone pretty much). I'm looking for ~1080p/40-60fps performance wise.

I'll go ahead and say what laptop it is, but fair warning, I'm not going to respond or take anyone seriously who tries to derail. For my needs I need a Mac for what I do in school and work. The particular laptop I'm looking at is this: http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro (the 15 inch $1,999) model. I do understand that I can get a more powerful laptop for way cheaper but like I said, I need OS X for the things I do, and furthermore I'm ok with the pricing.

Thanks for any considerations and help computer champions!

1080p isn't going to happen since it's not a 1:4 ratio of the laptop's native resolution. You could run it, but it would be pretty blurry and look awful. That said, the Iris Pro isn't intended for gaming and performs pretty poorly in any modern game, WoW included. Benchmarks pin it around the same performance as a $45~ desktop multimedia card.

You'll need to set your resolution to half of your display's native (1440x900) for it to look right, and this will have to be in fullscreen mode, not windowed unless you manually change the notebook's resolution every time before opening WoW or any other game. If you couple that with low to low-medium settings, you should have somewhat playable FPS.

That said, a $350 AMD A8 notebook would perform better. What software are you using that requires OSX? I can't think of any OSX exclusive software that's required in the professional or educational world.

[zolok2.0]

1080p isn't going to happen since it's not a 1:4 ratio of the laptop's native resolution. You could run it, but it would be pretty blurry and look awful. That said, the Iris Pro isn't intended for gaming and performs pretty poorly in any modern game, WoW included. Benchmarks pin it around the same performance as a $45~ desktop multimedia card.

You'll need to set your resolution to half of your display's native (1440x900) for it to look right, and this will have to be in fullscreen mode, not windowed unless you manually change the notebook's resolution every time before opening WoW or any other game. If you couple that with low to low-medium settings, you should have somewhat playable FPS.

That said, a $350 AMD A8 notebook would perform better. What software are you using that requires OSX? I can't think of any OSX exclusive software that's required in the professional or educational world.

Intel > AMD for WoW. I went from an OC'd 8350 at 4.5 ghz to an i5 4790K OC'd to 4Ghz and my fps went from 30-50 to 140+. Didn't change anything else, and that's on ultra. Also, the OP said don't try to talk about anything other than Macs in his first post.

Like I said though, my 2011 Macbook Pro 15" performs fine in WoW using its built-in AMD Raedon 6750M which benches near the OP's iris pro. So OP, you should be fine.

[glo]

Intel > AMD for WoW. I went from an OC'd 8350 at 4.5 ghz to an i5 4790K OC'd to 4Ghz and my fps went from 30-50 to 140+. Didn't change anything else, and that's on ultra. Also, the OP said don't try to talk about anything other than Macs in his first post.

Like I said though, my 2011 Macbook Pro 15" performs fine in WoW using its built-in AMD Raedon 6750M which benches near the OP's iris pro. So OP, you should be fine.

We're not talking about processor + discrete GPU performance, though. When it comes to integrated graphics performance, APUs walk circles around Intel in gaming.

[Lightwysh]

The iris pro, the 5200 model should do well. In my laptop, I have a 5100 that my laptop switches too when it's on battery, on full ultra I get 40ish fps pretty steady. I almost got a mbp but went asus for the $1k savings.

I did read w the mbp you may need to go native resolution vs retina. I think it's XXXX x 900 and should run pretty smooth without getting too hot. Also, vsync or capping fps at like 50 help with heat too.