Gaming on a Macbook?

[Hogmanlolz]

Is it good ? I bought I new computer over the weekend got stolen got it back, then im taking it back to the store. Right now I really dont want to build a computer or a PC just want something simple, elegant and powerful most of all dependable. Im planning, or am buying a 15 inch MBP with retina display ( store.apple.com/us/configure/ME664LL/A?) I really want a macbook because maybe in 5 years, longer than a PC would last, I would resell it for maybe $1000 which is great. I always wanted a macbook and have the wonderful to get one. I know the price is steep but in the long run its cheaper. No bad comments please I am dead set on a macbook,thoughts?

[n0cturnal]

I'm intrigued by your statement that a Macbook is cheaper in the long run, can you tell me more?

[Deleted]

If you're dead set onto a macbook which bother asking people ?

Seems like you want a Macbook but don't really know why, it won't last longer than any other computer, the parts are almost all the same. Gaming on a laptop is pretty bad (unless you spend at least 1800$ with a decent GPU), and there's not a lot of games that run on macOS (thought the list is getting longer now). I don't know about the MBP GPU but i'm assuming isnt not gonna be able to run recent games at all.

I'd really buy an asus one, with your budget you could have much better, but its your money, your choice

Hope you'll find what you're looking for

[Hogmanlolz]

The resell value and no anti virus software. I cant find any benchmark tests , just needed an opinion from a fellow mac gamer.

[n0cturnal]

The resell value and no anti virus software. I cant find any benchmark tests , just needed an opinion from a fellow mac gamer.

What are you basing the resell value on and how is the lack of antivirus effecting it?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I really want a macbook because maybe in 5 years, longer than a PC would last, I would resell it for maybe $1000 which is great.

You won't be able to resell a 1500 dollar mac for 1000 dollars in 5 years time. You would likely have to PAY somebody to take it off your hands.

[Deleted]

The resell value and no anti virus software. I cant find any benchmark tests , just needed an opinion from a fellow mac gamer.

There's virus on MacOS too, so no one should run without an antivirus.
There's no need to BUY an antivirus on a Windows based computer, some free ones are really good (avast, mse etc..) and you'll only get viruses if you do dumb things (uses cracks, "sexy" websites etc..)

Just my 2 cents, i'm an IT Tech and we do both windows and mac os based computers.

Just trying to get the best for your money

[inux94]

You won't resell the macbook at a decent price, that will only occur if the buyer is an idiot and does not know the market price of the laptop within it's specs.

You can get a virus on a Macbook, people who tell you they do not is pure bullshit marketing they did years ago. The sheeps will continue telling you that until the end of time.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

A couple of alternatives with similar spec sheets:
Acer Aspire S7 (1080p on a 13.3" screen!): 1300 dollars
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/...t/NX.M3EAA.008

Samsung S9: 1500 dollars
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=77103&...Specifications

[a21fa7c67f26f6d49a20c2c51]

You can play games on a Mac but you're going to be doing it in windows because the ones that actually exist for OS X run much faster under Windows and you'll have 100x more game choices on Windows

If you're looking for something small, long lasting, and with a great screen then a Mac is a good choice. If you can deal with a slightly lower density screen and yours actually care about gaming (it's a primary concern, not just something you do once a week when you're bored) then you should seriously consider a Windows laptop in the $2000-ish price range. You'll be much more able to find a balance of portability, battery life, and perfformance and budget than you will with Apple gear.

On the other hand, if you like Mac OS or you do the sort of things where mac is a better platform than windows (ie; unix programming) Mac OS X is probably better than A PC laptop with Linux because you'll have a unix platform with official vendor support (you don't hear mac users complaining about installing nvidia driversorthesad stat of multi-monitor support).

Also, you're not getting $1000 for a 5 year old MacBook - you might see that 2 years from now but that'd pushing it. I own 4 or 5 macs in addition to a pc and an ipad. I think much of the hardware is really great provided you don't want to run it for the wrong reasons. OS X is a fine reason to want a Mac, reduced exposure to malware in practice is another. Playing games or finding somebody dumb enough to buy used hardware 5x over market value aren't among them.

It's also worth noting that they low end MacBook Pro has a really crumby video card compared to the resolution it's running. If you can't spring for the upper tier models then you may notice weak performance even in Mac OS when running things like Apature or Motion. Apart from that the hardware is pretty good and does what it says on the box (when apple says you'll get 7 hours of battery life they actually mean7 hours browsing the web and watching Netflix not idling with the screen, Bluetooth, wifi, and sound turned off.

[Defengar]

Yeah, MBP's only really have decent resale value for the first 2-3 years. After that, they are aluminum covered dinosaurs most people won't want, similar to any high end windows laptop you try to sell 4+ years down the road.

The MBP with, and without retina display, uses an Nvidia 650m. Which is a "decent" mobile GPU. It will play anything currently out thats new, albeit at low to medium settings. Older games, and MMO's like wow will run on it without a hitch.
Now something to note about the MBP with retina display is that it is thinner, which means its cooling is worse, its battery is worse, and its even less repairable. People I have talked to say that when gaming, you absolutely have to be plugged in, and after a while, it gets really hot, and the fans get really loud and whiny. Also, since its res is so high, unless you turn it down, games will run like shit. the resolution of the panel it uses would bring even some mid range desktop cards to their knees if turned up.

If you are dead set on a MBP, and you want to game on your MBP I would really suggest getting the non retina one. Its not that much bigger, and the panel is still really good. It also gets less hot, has better battery life, is more repairable, has more storage options, is more quiet, and also has a slot loading media player, (the RMBP does not have a media player). Also, since its cheaper than the RMBP, you can use that extra money to kick the specs up a bit. Customize it with some extra ram, or a better CPU.

[gmike]

Forget a mac. Go buy an alienware if you want a strong laptop.

[Hanto]

Forget a mac. Go buy a Dell if you'd like an equally overly expensive laptop.

Fixed that for you. Alienware = Dell. They are the Macs of Windows OS. There are MUCH better out there for cheaper.

[vindicatorx]

If you bootcamp it's fine I run BF3 on medium settings with no issues at all. If you just plan on playing mac games it's fine there as well. In WoW I run High to Ultra and the only time I get lag is gall or sha in the open world.

[Harry Botter]

Asus G75 unless a newer one is out now. Got one for my wife and it's a bad ass little machine. That or the MSi equal would be good.

[MushroomBomb]

There are issues with the MPB when it comes to gaming. I do not have a new version (on the contrary, mine is closing on on two and a half years now), but here are the issues I tend to bump into (these are well worth a read if you are planning on keeping it for more than a couple of years:

It gets hot. Unseemly so. After a very short time. Honestly, I more or less have to game plugged into my cooler stand if I want to play for anything more than, say, half an hour. If I do not, it always seems far too likely to overheat and shut down.

You *should* be gaming on Windows. I use Windows 7 with Boot Camp, which is a mostly excellent solution when you don't have access to a laptop actually suited gor gaming. The unfortunate fact is that the vast majority of games I have tried (I know, this is anecdotal evidence, but I felt like it's somewhat relevant) playing on OSX are badly ported, running into all sorts of odd issues (mostly just not running as smoothly as you'd expect)

Finding drivers (at least for the AMD Radeon card which is found in my MBP) is a bit of a nightmare. It does not automatically find you updates, as is implied that the OSX update program which comes with Boot Camp should, and for a quite long time I used an 18-month old driver simply because it was anything but easy to find a new one. At the moment I think the one I am using is six months old, which I suppose is alright for an older graphics card.

You will most likely be running all new games, even if you have to crank most settings down to a lower-level or medium-level setting. Some games from years ago will run perfectly on high settings, some will not. It is entirely up to the game and how complicated it is in terms of performance. In about a year, possibly a year and a half, I imagine you will run into high-tech games that you can not really run at all, even on the lower settings. They will technically speaking be playable, but do you really want to play a gorgeous hi-fidelity game stuttering away on sub-20 FPS?

And a piece of advice: people (mostly PC gamer elitists, but you do run into them every once in a little while) will not take you seriously. I find myself getting slightly defensive whenever people ridicule me about it, despite having a perfectly valid reason for not having anything else to game on. You might want to grow a thick skin when it comes to this.

In the end, it all comes down to this: yes, you can game on a Macbook Pro. But I really would not suggest it. I think the easiest way to solve this is really to ask yourself one simple question: do you really feel like you need the things that only an MPB delivers? If the answer is yes, and if you can not find it in you to say no, I would say go for it. It is, after all, your money.

Other than that, I think everything else has already been mentioned; your hopes of an amazing resell value in particular is a pretty important piece of advice that I think you really should consider.

And as a final bit of advice:

Forget a mac. Go buy an alienware if you want a strong laptop.

Alienware laptops are strong, but ridiculously overprices compared to other, equally strong, laptops running Windows unless you value the Alienware design above all.

[Jinto]

I have a rMBP 15 but I don't game on it. If gaming is your primary objective it is not a good investment. That said though the GT650m on it is decent (it is really a GTX660m). As for resale value a 5 year old mac can realistically get you around $500-600 if you take good care of it.

[Danno]

If gaming is your main priority and you want a laptop, I would advise not getting a Macbook Pro. I purchased an early 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro for school since a relative gave me a substantial Apple gift card for graduation, and it does have fantastic battery life and the build quality is great, but its cooling is pretty bad. When I used bootcamp on it, the CPU would consistently hit 90c+ while doing intense gaming. On top of that, you can get much better hardware from buying a gaming laptop from say Sager instead.

I'd only buy a 13-inch Air for school now since it's so portable...but there are tons of Window ultrabooks now that are very competitive against it. Apple doesn't have that market dominated anymore.

[Mr. Casual]

i play wow on my mbp from 2 yrs ago and its fine, on fair graphic settings, but it gets hot as fuck

[Auberdeen]

my girlfriend plays WoW on her 15" Retina Display 16GB RAM SSD Intel i7 and its HANDS DOWN the most beautiful and free moving and tear-less performance i have ever seen. spell effects are BEAUTIFULLLL