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JohnnyTheA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-03-21, 01:31

Situation:
1. Relatively new to Macs (alright I used Macs in the bad old days of MAC SE time-frame..),
2. Bought the Mini when it came out.
3. Like it and have pretty much decided to give up the PC thang (except for work ofcourse)
4. Also addicted to a game called "World of Warcraft". I have spent MUCH time in the last week playing this on the Mini. The Mini (mine is a 1.25 /512 MB) is BARELY playable.
5. Want to get a PowerBook because I am travel for my work like 35% of my time and want to play WoW over hotel High Speed Links...
6. Like the form-factor of the 12" (Small for travel, nice on Airplanes, etc)

Question: How will my playing experience of WoW on the 12" compare to:

a. The Mini which I have
b. The 15" (which will be better but by how much?)

For those that have played WoW, I get ~21 FPS on roads, ~12 FPS in towns, and less in big fights with multiple players.... Barely playable on the Mini... Maybe its my ISP too.... But I doubt it...

Thanks in advance for any ideas...

JohnnyTheA

P.S. Is there any way to change your name on the Board? I accidentally put in JohnnTheA instead on JohnnyTheA (which conforms to other forums..)?
  quote
alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2005-03-21, 01:47

I fixed your name.

As for WoW, I'm playing on a 17" consistantly and it's fine. I get about 28 fps on roads, 24 or so in cities. In big PVP battles though it will choke. I've noticed while playing that RAM is by far the biggest factor. The more RAM you have in your machine the better. When you're talking about a Mini or a laptop, it becomes even more important since any drive access will be to a slower, 4200 RPM drive.

The big difference between the 17" and the 15" and 12" models is that the 17" comes with 128MB video card, the other two come with 64MB. I'd see if you can get your hands on another model to see if you can test them out before buying. I should also note that from what I can tell, it's not the video card on my laptop that's the choke point, it's the CPU. Messing around with draw distance made a huge difference in FPS, and it's a CPU related chokepoint from what I understand.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
  quote
Wrao
Yarp
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
 
2005-03-21, 01:59

With 512 RAM WoW gave me a little guff in big cities, once I slapped a gig in there(bringing the total upto 1.25 GB) it gave me no guff at all, smooth sailing everywhere. I have a first rev. 15" aluminum 1.25 GHZ, 64 MB video card.
  quote
Gizzer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Hampshire (the original one)
 
2005-03-21, 09:29

Hi, I play WoW on a 15" Powerbook (1.5Ghz) with 512Mb RAM & a 128Mb graphics card. My harddrive is also a 5400rpm.

I've not experienced any problems at all and WoW is a dream to play on even with all the fancy effects switched on. I can check Frame rates when I get home if you like, but with all on, I vaguely remember seeing 22fps in towns when I first found out that there was a framerate display button.
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hyperyote
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-03-22, 12:01

Interesting thread.....

I'm currently looking into either a powerbook 12", pb 15", or iBook. And I am addicted to WoW on the pc. So having it portable on a mac would rock. So I am willing to spend a few extra to have it running better.

I'm personally more interested in the iBook versus the 12" PB on performance with WoW. The 15" is a little too expensive and maybe to big for my taste but i like the ATI video card better.
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2005-03-22, 12:06

from what i've seen the processor speed is the biggest issue, then RAM. both of which will be much better on the powerbook.

i play WoW on a PC and on my Mac laptop. the PC is less than three weeks old, and was built for gaming. it renders the game better than my lapotp, no question. especially when we're talking raids with 40 people on the screen.

that being said, if i'm going over to someone's house for an 8 hour WoW marathon session, i bring my laptop. it's not worth it to lug around the tower (he has monitors there) for the difference in quality. it's not the most quantitative comparison ever, but that's the best way i can describe the difference.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
  quote
Wrao
Yarp
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
 
2005-03-22, 13:57

My brother is able to play WoW on his 900mhz iBook g4 w/ 648 RAM I think he has to lower settings a bit, but generally it's playable for him.
  quote
JohnnyTheA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2005-03-25, 20:23

Thanks for all the responses. I just got back from a week-long trip and I was a Hotel that had Wireless Internet... It would have been great to have PB...

Are there any gaming specs listed anywhere where the 12" with the go5200 is compared to the 15"/17" with the newer and better GPUs?

Thanks

Johnny

P.S. alcimedes, thanks for fixing my name....
  quote
hyperyote
New Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
 
2005-04-29, 09:45

Reading this thread it doesn't resolve my problem....

I'm waffling with different Power Book models I am willing to get but it looks like 6pm today I will make the call.

I'm a soon to be born again Mac home user (I've been using Mac OS at work for years) and selling my PC Athlon 64 3200+ laptop. I plan on using the powermac for general tasks (email, etc) and my point of contact on the road.

While I do play some games on it the biggest game I do play is World Of Warcraft on it so it's important that it plays it well.

I'm price conscous and size conscous but the need of a Powerbook and ensure that I am happy will out weigh the size/price thing if necessary.


While I wold personally like to consider the 12" but the Geforce 5200 go makes me run screaming. The only way a 12" would be a choice in that situation is if I got a dual proc G5 as my desktop and some way to sync with the 12"

So I was posting to get people thoughts on the 15" Super drive (non BTO because of price difference with sales and amazon) versus the 17" with 128 megs of ram. For general gaming and more importantly WoW.

Any advice is appreciative and I'm happy to help Apple's bottom line and stock prices
  quote
alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Send a message via ICQ to alcimedes  
2005-04-29, 10:09

from everything i've seen WoW is CPU limited on the Macs, not GPU limited. if they have the same processor and RAM, they should play about the same. with either the 15" or 17" you should be fine unless you get 30 people in a raid on both sides, at which point it will bog down heavily. doesn't have a fast enough disk to access in and out for all the char. movements.

Google is your frenemy.
Caveat Emptor - Latin for tough titty
I tend to interpret things in the way that's most hilarious to me
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