Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
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I've been thinking long and hard about these things of late and I really, really don't think I'll be buying another iMac.
Under Boot Camp I guess my 17" iMac with X1600 128MB and 1.5GB RAM would have been a good gaming PC maybe 2 years ago. Now it just seems to have serious problems running anything. There are so many artefacts when I play any of the Source games from Steam and the computer doesn't seem to cope at all with having more than one monitor attached. 3D support is sketchy at best I'd say. But if you're considering a MacBook Pro I don't know why you'd want to. I've never been in a situation outside my home where I've thought "hey, you know I'd love to be playing a PC game right now". I've got a Nintendo DS or a PSP for gaming on the move and they're a lot easier to pick up and play on short train journeys etc. PC games just take up so much room with the extra mouse you often need and the big laptop. I would surmise that the iMacs that are coming on Tuesday are going to match the MacBook Pro's performance. They sure as hell need to, the X1600 is a tired old chip. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple might introduce a model with maybe an 8300 at the bottom of the range and then have a paid for upgrade to the 8600. This is not serious PC gaming territory. If you want to play PC games you can get a very decent gaming rig for well under $1000 that will totally beat the crap out of anything Apple spurts out with a built in display. Couple that with a MacBook non Pro and you'll have a nice setup indeed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to take photographs of my iMac ready for its eBay time. Last edited by neiltc13 : 2007-08-04 at 06:32. |
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Thunderbolt, fuck yeah!
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denmark
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As long as the iMac and Mac Mini are the only "consumer" desk-top offerings from Apple, I think that anyone looking for more than the casual gaming experience might as well get a Windows PC. Then you could have a MacBook for your mobile needs, and both machines would be able to serve you longer.
If, however, you don't want a notebook and still want a Mac, I would advise you to go for an iMac and just replace it frequently. They hold their resale price better than PC's and are much cheaper than a Mac Pro set up. If you have the funds and like to have all your stuff on one computer, I advise you to opt for the MacBook Pro. |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Something which people haven't touched on here is also the hard drive issues that come with a notebook. You need to spend an awful lot of money to get the storage you need to run Windows and Mac OS side by side with enough room for Windows to accommodate those game installations. Remember, these days games can take anything from 1-10GB of storage.
If you get a proper Windows desktop PC then you really have an infinite amount of storage available to you for a much lesser cost. It's common for modern motherboards to have upwards of 4 sockets for hard drives. |
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I second what's been said about plugging in an external mouse; most games just aren't optimized for trackpad use. As for the keyboard, I'm having a hard time finding a keyboard – desktop or otherwise – that's even as good as the MBP's, so I don't see how an external one would help you there unless you really need those extra keys (or, say, a proper num block).
The graphics mid-range territory, which is unlikely to change, but more than good enough for casual gaming. |
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: St Evenage
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I use a new MBP 15" for playing World Of Warcraft, and it runs great under Mac OS X. I haven't Boot Camped yet, but it reportedly runs better under Windows in Boot Camp due to DirectX apparently. I have thought about installing Boot Camp so I can run a couple of other programs like Guild Wars and MS Flight Simulator, but I'm still undecided.
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