Gaming on a Mac?

[Zytek_Fan]

What games work with Mac? I know WoW works...
Just a question out of curiousity... :up:

[3lfk1ng]

Age of Mythology, all blizzard games, almost all the Sid Meier games, Halo...

[Zytek_Fan]

Just slightly curious, because the Mac Pro's are sexy :)

Although if I got a dual socket system, I'd probably get a SkullTrail...

edit: Saw that any OpenGL games will work with Mac...

Driver wise for video cards, are the drivers pretty much any Linux drivers since OS X is Unix based?

edit2: NVIDIA site doesn't have Mac drivers listed so I assume that Apple does in fact use Linux drivers...

Quick look on Apple site confirms my conclusion.

[Deux]

ETQW is supposed to come out for mac. Spore is, and CoD4 is.

[Zytek_Fan]

With the configuration I like the Mac Pro is $3,419.00, then add in a 32GB iPod Touch, Asus 22 inch monitor, Logitech G51 speakers, and a 4GB FB-DIMM kit from Mushkin (total RAM becomes 6GB), the grand total is $4,601.85

Not a very attractive price...especially if I can get the equivalent in a SkullTrail system for cheaper...

edit: $4,282.81 for a SkullTrail-ish system with 8GB of RAM and 3870 X2 CrossFire :D

[Cupcake]

There are lots of games for mac http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=2E630EB&node=home/shop_mac/software/action_games

[mikenam]

do they play better on a mac?

[happychappy]

If you wanted to game, use Boot Camp and install XP/Vista

[[XC] gomeler]

do they play better on a mac?

Probably not considering how you typically have weaker hardware and no overclocking. I have a Macbook that I use for productivity.. gaming on a Mac is like racing an SUV.

[Omastar]

You can play 'selected' games on a Mac using Parallels 3.0.

"New! Run selected PC-only 3D games and graphics applications on your Mac"

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

[halcyon]

Why not install XP as a dual-boot choice via Bootcamp? You can play any windows game after that if you boot into Windows first, right?

[xlink]

do they play better on a mac?

noticeably worse.

think POS drivers.

[Shaz]

Aren't they a good couple of gens behind on their video cards too?

Just noticed you can get an 8800 in it now... The ATi cards that they have are a bit slow...

[private_tank]

I have a mac pro which I am in love with, even though I get alot of crap from the gaming community for having it. To tell you the truth Macs are good machines but the gaming industry has only recently only started aiming more towards macs. EA has signed on to make MAC games. I ran the new parallels 3.0 and it barely did CSS good, My frame rate sucked. It did not do Half life or Crysis. If you truly want no restriction on gaming, PC would be the way to go. Me presonallly i'm going to wait for COD 4 to be released for Mac in May. Only a couple weeks.... Okay more like three months. To all you mac users stay strong.

[WrigleyVillain]

private_tank;2782381']ITo tell you the truth Macs are good machines .

Yeah, especially the Pros, now that they're Xeon workstations. My work machine is one...

[Brian MP5T]

Friends don't let friends game on MAC OS

[scottc19]

Just build the skulltrail and then do a dual boot with mac/windows -I'm pretty sure that is possible, dont know about this new of hardware tho?

[Zytek_Fan]

Friends don't let friends game on MAC OS

True dat.

[Jamesrt2004]

yea bootcamp your mac with a xp installation =]

[Machinus]

this thread = lol

if you've decided to pay 3x market value for your hardware why are you interested in games? you should be investing in yahoo.

[furrylemmings]

this thread = lol

if you've decided to pay 3x market value for your hardware why are you interested in games? you should be investing in yahoo.

:rofl: I'd love to see an example of 3 times market value, seriously, please link me!

[Uberbob102000]

Yea, they are a little more expensive but you can attribute that to the case. I would also like to see an example of 3x market value. I would just get a skulltrail system if you want 2 sockets.

[ZOMGVTEK]

The mac pro isnt really that overpriced for what you get if thats what youre saying. Dual quads with fully buffered ecc mem, and 8 slots of it, dual independent FSBs and a kw psu... all with a warranty. And what some may say is the best case in the industry.

Now, youre not going to be gaming on the thing unless you install windows on it, but its a nice computer if you want something you KNOW is going to work for years, and if it dosent... take it to them and yell.

[Papu]

:rofl: I'd love to see an example of 3 times market value, seriously, please link me!

pretty easy

* 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 1680 x 1050 resolution
* 2GB memory
* 250GB hard drive1
* 8x double-layer SuperDrive
* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM

Ready to ship: Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
Eur 2,499.00
(Eur 2,065.29 ex VAT)

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=18996&agid=729

granted its not triple , but it is double the price of the MBPoo:yepp:

Similarly Speced Dell Laptop
InspironTM XPS M1730 (N03X7303)

* 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
* 17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam
* 2GB memory
* 320GB Free Fall Sensor Raid 0 Stripe - 2 X 160GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive
* Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
* DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX card
* Ageia PhysX Processing Unit Card
* Vista® Home Premium > OsX

Crimson Red with White LED Backlights

So basically the XPs is pretty Pro and the Mac book Pro is Pretty Poo.:up:

[Papu]

found 3X price If not more

Start building your Mac Poo with our suggested configuration:

* Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Harpertown” processors
* 2GB memory (800MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB memory
* 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive
* 16x double-layer SuperDrive

Ready to ship: 24hrs
Free Shipping
Eur 2,499.00 *
(Eur 2,065.29 ex VAT)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently Bought Inspiron 531

* 1 x Q6600 2.6ghz
* 3GB memory (667MHz DDR2)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB memory
* 500GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive
* 16x double-layer DVD
* 20" 1680x1050 Screen
Eur 720,000


now this is even more than 3 times if you factor in the monitor , sure it doesnt have 8 CORES OMG WFTFWNOOBCAKE
but what applications are that multi threaded? games at most take 4.




I'd love to see an example of 3 times market value, seriously, please link me!


there your proof

[furrylemmings]

The mac pro comes with server proccessors and FB DIMMS => humungous price increase. So your inspiron doesnt even come close to 3 times the value. Price up an octo core dell server with a 2600xt.. then u can claim a fair comparison.

[Papu]

The mac pro comes with server proccessors and FB DIMMS => humungous price increase. So your inspiron doesnt even come close to 3 times the value. Price up an octo core dell server with a 2600xt.. then u can claim a fair comparison.

no , your claim is retarded , 8 cores : NOT NEEDED , Fully buffered Dimms :: NOT NEEDED

these are just in there to justify the Stupidly high price that apple charges for its products ,


So your inspiron doesnt even come close to 3 times the value.

it might not , But its 3X less , and makes more practical sense. unless 8 cores and fully buffered dimms turn you on.
if so please stay with steve


Price up an octo core dell server with a 2600xt

i could if i wanted , find a skulltrail system which would blow any MacPoo out of the water , but i could really be arsed , Since i've already won this argument

have a nice day.

[furrylemmings]

found 3X price If not more

Start building your Mac PRO with our suggested configuration:

* Two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon “Harpertown” processors
* 2GB memory (800MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
* ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics with 256MB memory
* 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive
* 16x double-layer SuperDrive

Ready to ship: 24hrs
Free Shipping
Eur 2,499.00 *
(Eur 2,065.29 ex VAT)

Now the equivalent dell offering:

*Dual Intel Xeon E5440 (2.83GHZ, 1333Mhz, 2x6MB,Quad Core)
*Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2
*2GB DDR2 667 MHz Quad Channel FBD Memory (4x512MB)
*256MB nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Graphics Card
*320GB (7,200 rpm) SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
*16X DVD+/-RW
*No Monitor

All for a whopping € 2,744.00 ex vat (€ 3,320.24 Inc Vat)

What was that about macs being overpriced?

[Papu]

Now the equivalent dell offering:

*Dual Intel Xeon E5440 (2.83GHZ, 1333Mhz, 2x6MB,Quad Core)
*Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2
*2GB DDR2 667 MHz Quad Channel FBD Memory (4x512MB)
*256MB nVidia NVS 290, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Graphics Card
*320GB (7,200 rpm) SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
*16X DVD+/-RW
*No Monitor

All for a whopping € 2,744.00 ex vat (€ 3,320.24 Inc Vat)

What was that about macs being overpriced?

\AHAHAHAHHAHa where did you find that? see i choose the cheapest mac configuration , you seem to have found the HOLEY grail of bad offers , srsly
if you cant find a bang for buck offer you really should stick to macs , at least theres a large userbase that will justify your stupid purchase with glossy covers simplistic os's and generally retarded design.

[furrylemmings]

Even if we took your argument that 8 cores arent needed, dell still charge more for an inferior (slower ram, worse graphics) product. Lol, go find out what ibm charge, it'll be astronomical. Stop turning this into a mac hating thread and grow up.

[furrylemmings]

\AHAHAHAHHAHa where did you find that? see i choose the cheapest mac configuration , you seem to have found the HOLEY grail of bad offers , srsly
if you cant find a bang for buck offer you really should stick to macs , at least theres a large userbase that will justify your stupid purchase with glossy covers simplistic os's and generally retarded design.

Lol, u didnt choose the cheapest mac offering, u "accidently" neglected to see the single quad option. U bash mac products and the os with absolutely no backup!

I selected the cheapest dell workstation with dual xeons, and actually took off the monitor and uber expensive graphics cards.. u didnt even try to make a fair comparison.

[Papu]

im actually older than you by 2 days so that argument is out the window :P


ell still charge more for an inferior (slower ram, worse graphics) product.

did you not see the macbookpoo vs Xps? im sorry in your shiny world a 8600m WTFPWNS a 8800gtxm sli config?

with the dell i was showing that for 3 times less the price you can get a practically better machine , that mac runs a 1 kw psu , so yeah energybill ++


Stop turning this into a mac hating thread and grow up.
lol every thread is a mac hating thread :D ,im just trying to enlighten people and not see them make stupid purchase decisions. i try to help people in all walks of life , im a nice guy

[Papu]

Lol, u didnt choose the cheapest mac offering, u "accidently" neglected to see the single quad option. U bash mac products and the os with absolutely no backup!

I selected the cheapest dell workstation with dual xeons, and actually took off the monitor and uber expensive graphics cards.. u didnt even try to make a fair comparison.

oh im sorry , i simply went to www.apple.ie , macpoo , buy , copypasta

like every other person who buys a mac.
you actually put effort into that? heh.

U bash mac products and the os with absolutely no backup!
ive terabytes of backup.:up:

[furrylemmings]

oh im sorry , i simply went to www.apple.ie , macpoo , buy , copypasta

like every other person who buys a mac.
you actually put effort into that? heh.

ive terabytes of backup.:up:

Lol, what genius logic! Your sweeping generalizations and terabytes of backup obviously make your argument so much better! As for the xps, u didnt give a price silly twit.

[Papu]

Lol, what genius logic! Your sweeping generalizations and terabytes of backup obviously make your argument so much better! As for the xps, u didnt give a price silly twit.
good glad you finally see it , i hope you burned your mboo

oh my bad

€2,599.50
Includes VAT & Shipping

you can cut that price back by 200 by just replacing the raid with a single 250 gig drive and taking out the Silly physx card , thats somthing that belongs in an apple product

[furrylemmings]

So yes obviously 3x better value if both lappys are at roughly the same price?

[furrylemmings]

The only difference is an sli setup with a (crappy and useless) agea phisx card
Also u cant take out the phisx card of that config, or the raid. its 2599 minimum

[furrylemmings]

Also that particular lappy includes a 300 euro discount if u look at the site again.

[Papu]

oh man 3 posts nice one , does osx not include an edit button?
gg i win 0/

[ZOMGVTEK]

there your proof

Macs are overpriced...

This is VERY well known.

But, its nowhere near 3x, or even really 2x. You obviously hate them, so you would never grasp why people pay more for a inferior device, even when they KNOW they can get a better one CHEAPER...

8 cores can be quite usefull, especially when you cant overclock them. Most applications where you need that kind of power know how to use 8 cores properly. And if somone buys a mac to 'game' on, they should be shot in the face. Although your 'gaming' laptop specs out worse than my macbook pro... Im sure its at least 1/2 the price, but i like everything about my macbook pro, other than the dam apple that lights up, but mines black and dosent light up anymore. :)

Im not trying to start a forum war here, just... get over it. If someone says how cool thier new mac is, saying nothing is better than saying how much they suck.

[Papu]

the thread is gaming on a mac , i was just trying to point out that its actually pants on the head retarded to buy a mac for gaming , as a Xps 1730 completely Whoops its ass in all walks of life

8 cores is genetically retarded for gaming especially when linked with the powerhouse 2600Xt :P

great if your the kind of person who Needs a mac because everything else is to complicated and not shiny enough.
but those kind of people cant tie their shoes less brag about their new 8 grand mac

the kind of people i shout macs suck at are the people who buy them to look cool / make a point about how their great and the mac cult/ethos is soo much better than the micro$haft way of life , they usually install it with 3 or 4 different operating systems osx(which is the best thing since sliced bread because in the networking the LOL pc comes up a bsoding POS) Some kind of l1nux , Ubon2 or gen2 or somthing of that nature , why? because haveing a l1nux operating system makes them soo much cooler,( ive nothing against l1nux or l1nux users , their generally hard core nerds and i learn allot from them , its the ones that use l1nux and windows together that are generally rhe Pain in the buttholio) and brag about how in ubon2 they have 50 different tabs to customize their bloody desktop clock , above all of that try to run games in parralls or whine or whatever , those are the kind of people i shout macs suck at.
you seem to have a nice gaming rig so i assume you bought your MBp to be on the move , but still i question why you would choose an inferior product and more expensive one at that.

im a bang for buck guy and i cringe when people waste money fruitlessly.

i also hate people who buy things to look cool , as i have said above.

[ZOMGVTEK]

the thread is gaming on a mac , i was just trying to point out that its actually pants on the head retarded to buy a mac for gaming , as a Xps 1730 completely Whoops its ass in all walks of life

8 cores is genetically retarded for gaming especially when linked with the powerhouse 2600Xt :P

great if your the kind of person who Needs a mac because everything else is to complicated and not shiny enough.
but those kind of people cant tie their shoes less brag about their new 8 grand mac

the kind of people i shout macs suck at are the people who buy them to look cool / make a point about how their great and the mac cult/ethos is soo much better than the micro$haft way of life , they usually install it with 3 or 4 different operating systems osx(which is the best thing since sliced bread because in the networking the LOL pc comes up a bsoding POS) Some kind of l1nux , Ubon2 or gen2 or somthing of that nature , why? because haveing a l1nux operating system makes them soo much cooler,( ive nothing against l1nux or l1nux users , their generally hard core nerds and i learn allot from them , its the ones that use l1nux and windows together that are generally rhe Pain in the buttholio) and brag about how in ubon2 they have 50 different tabs to customize their bloody desktop clock , above all of that try to run games in parralls or whine or whatever , those are the kind of people i shout macs suck at.
you seem to have a nice gaming rig so i assume you bought your MBp to be on the move , but still i question why you would choose an inferior product and more expensive one at that.

im a bang for buck guy and i cringe when people waste money fruitlessly.

i also hate people who buy things to look cool , as i have said above.

Oh ok... N/M i thought you were a :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana:. Turns out you just complain about the prices like most. And actually, you are correct nearly all around. 8 slower cores for games is currently quite stupid, and the people who generally buy them and say how cool they are and whatnot USUALLY suck, but often they just have no knowledge of computers. Macs work fantastic for stupid people, so just ignore them when they talk about how cool they are. They are now able to use a computer, that hasn't happened before, so they are excited.

And as far as the macbook pro purchase goes, i looked... The macbook pro at $1,800 is the best value i could find to do what i want it to do. I must have 1440x900 or higher 15" glossy lcd, and at least a 2.0 core 2 duo, must have the capability for at least 400gb of storage, preferably dual 7200rpm drives, be light, get at least 4 hours of battery life, and small and silent enough to be used anywhere. And the 8600M gt is good enough to play UT3 cranked at 25 average fps @ 1440x900, so im good with that.

Seriously, the macbook pro is it.. I dont get it, and i dont know if i like that idea. At the time i bought my mac around 6 months ago, i found nothing better at that pricepoint. And im willing to spend hundreds more for something that isnt a 2" thick brick. And the backlit keyboard is fantastic.

[Papu]

Oh ok... N/M i thought you were a :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana:. Turns out you just complain about the prices like most. And actually, you are correct nearly all around. 8 slower cores for games is currently quite stupid, and the people who generally buy them and say how cool they are and whatnot USUALLY suck, but often they just have no knowledge of computers. Macs work fantastic for stupid people, so just ignore them when they talk about how cool they are. They are now able to use a computer, that hasn't happened before, so they are excited.

And as far as the macbook pro purchase goes, i looked... The macbook pro at $1,800 is the best value i could find to do what i want it to do. I must have 1440x900 or higher 15" glossy lcd, and at least a 2.0 core 2 duo, must have the capability for at least 400gb of storage, preferably dual 7200rpm drives, be light, get at least 4 hours of battery life, and small and silent enough to be used anywhere. And the 8600M gt is good enough to play UT3 cranked at 25 average fps @ 1440x900, so im good with that.

Seriously, the macbook pro is it.. I dont get it, and i dont know if i like that idea. At the time i bought my mac around 6 months ago, i found nothing better at that pricepoint.

well i'm happy as it sounds like you actually need your mac for somthing , and couldnt find anything else so your Mbp doesnt suck for you :up:
but people who dont consider their options and rush into a stupid purchase ...yeah...they suck..

the price is one point , the headuptheirarse selfimportant yuppie userbase is another thing that annoys me , as well with the simplistic design , and business ethos. but hey thats just me .

[Uberbob102000]

I agree with the comment about their user base, Most of them bug the hell out of me. I don't agree with your comparison though, You have to compare equivalent platforms as is true in any comparison. So Octal core and FB-DIMM to octal core and FB-DIMM.

[ZOMGVTEK]

I agree with the comment about their user base, Most of them bug the hell out of me. I don't agree with your comparison though, You have to compare equivalent platforms as is true in any comparison. So Octal core and FB-DIMM to octal core and FB-DIMM.

The problem with this isnt anything regarding physical performance. It usually never is. People look at the specs and complain about the price. And there isnt a whole lot out there to compare a mac pro to. Not quite so many dual quad 45nm computers out there...

[Uberbob102000]

That's true but the Mac Pro is about the right price for what you get.

[ZOMGVTEK]

That may be so, but it is nearly impossible for most die hard windows fans to reach that conclusion.

[Papu]

That's true but the Mac Pro is about the right price for what you get.

doesnt matter , a bugatti veyron is about the right price for what you get , but it is still obscenely expensive , who needs 8 cores , no one , no game utilizes it no app really utilizes unles your doing some serious encoding/rendering.

who needs fully buffered dimms , again no one really or else all machines would come with them just another gimmick to justify the price

you may think its about the right price for what you get , but a quadcore selfbuilt/dell machine for about 1000€ is only going to be marginally slower , while being vastly more versatile and upgradeable.


That may be so, but it is nearly impossible for most die hard windows fans to reach that conclusion.
you could say the exact same about Mac****s , they would justify buying


dont bring fanboys into this , because for some Mac owners it goes beyond this , it almost becomes a cult.

[Uberbob102000]

Well you can't say it's 3 times what a windows PC would cost even thought the comparable, hardware-wise, is the same price.
It is 3 times more than he needs to spend to get good performance however.

[Papu]

Well you can't say it's 3 times what a windows PC would cost even thought the comparable, hardware-wise, is the same price.
It is 3 times more than he needs to spend to get good performance however.

no tho what i outlined the xps1730 Vs the macbookpro it was 3x the price , even tho the macpro isnt it is still needlessly expensive , as i have highlighted

[ZOMGVTEK]

I dont really understand these 3x figgures.

Here is a near apples to apples comparison...

XPS - $1854.00

Core 2 Duo 45nm 2.4Ghz
2x 1gb DDR2 667mhz
Glossy 15.4" LCD 1440x900
2MP webcam
8600M GT 256MB Video Card
200GB 7200RPM HDD
Slot Load DVD +/- RW
HD Audio
Wireless B/G/N
56 WH Battery
Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
10/100 Ethernet
HDMI and VGA out
3x USB 2.0
8 in 1 card reader

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7176/xpsmb3.png

MacBook Pro - $1889.00

Core 2 Duo 45nm 2.4Ghz
2x 1gb DDR2 667mhz
Glossy 15.4" LCD 1440x900 w/ LED backlight
1.3MP webcam
8600M GT 256MB Video Card
200GB 7200RPM HDD
Slot Load DVD +/- RW
HD Audio w/ optical in and out
Wireless A/B/G/N
60 WH Battery
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
10/100/1000 Ethernet
DVI out
2x USB 2.0

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/544/applett1.png

So, Exact processor, Video card, HDD, Screen, Similar Audio card, wireless, slightly better battery life on the macbook pro, macbook pro also has a backlit keyboard, and whatever bluetooth 2.1 gives you over 2.0 and the macbook pro only has a 1.3mp webcam where the xps has a 2.0 . And the macbook costs... $35 more... Both have free shipping, and a 1 year warranty. And im sure most people would pay at least $35 to get a backlit keyboard in a laptop given the choice. And if you get down to it, the macbook pro has only 2 usb ports vs the 3 on the xps, the apple has gigabit ethernet where the dell does not, the apple has a led backlight compared to the dell's ccfl, and the dell has a built in card reader where the apple does not.

And down to more physical specs...

XPS - Starting at 5.78lbs
Width: 14.06"
Height: 0.93" - 1.38"
Depth: 10.34"

Apple - 5.4lbs
Width: 14.1"
Height: 1"
Depth: 9.6"

So, the macbook pro is all around smaller and lighter in comparison to the 15.4" XPS.

Now, be aware that this IS including the student discount on the macbook pro, i dont know what dell does as far as that goes but the prices are quite comparable as you can see. If you were to not get the student discount on the apple, it would be $200 addition, for a total of $235 more than the dell. Both systems are current and available for sale and capable of running windows.

[furrylemmings]

Yeah but paps specced an xps 1730. It is better value than the macbook pro but not 3x the value, they were a similar price but the xps had dual 8800's and a physx card. so maybe 2x the value at most. Though the macbook pros physical size slightly alleviates this there's admittedly still a big difference in price.

[Papu]

yes we dont all live in the us , and i cant make statements for your economy/prices , all i can do is compare the prices in our own ,

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2840673&postcount=24

as furry said , pricewise they are almost similar , however the xps does come with sli 8800m's raided hdd's , a full def monitor.

i was showing how at the same price the dell config was basically the very top of the line parts while the macbook is comparable to my 868 euro Xps 1530.

regards

[Vapor]

17" MBP - $3159
T9500 2.6GHz 6MB
2x1GB of RAM
250GB @ 5400RPM
1920x1200 17" display--Glossy or Matte, same price...LED backlit too
8600M GT 512MB
8x DVD+/-RW burner
802.11b/g/n + Bluetooth
OS X Leopard
1" thick, 6.8lbs
~3.5hr battery life for normal tasking

XPS M1730 - $3154
T9500 2.6GHz 6MB
2x1GB of RAM
320GB @ 5400RPM
1920x1200 17" display--glossy I think, not LED backlit
8700M GT 512MB
8x DVD+/-RW burner
802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth
Vista Ultimate
2" thick, starts at 10.6lbs
Some battery life (wasn't much on the Anandtech sample, but they had X9000 and 8800mGTX SLI, let's double-and-then-some it and say 2.5hrs tasking)

....one is meant for gaming and the other isn't, and it shows. Only real difference is OS, GPU, 70GB of HDD space, and size/weight/battery-life.
Click the little blue button in the "Quote" area to go to my original post. I'm being VERY generous for the m1730's battery life there too...giving it more than 2.5x what Anandtech tested on another m1730 using bigger GPUs. Above config does NOT have RAID either.

[ZOMGVTEK]

Click the little blue button in the "Quote" area to go to my original post. I'm being VERY generous for the m1730's battery life there too...giving it more than 2.5x what Anandtech tested on another m1730 using bigger GPUs. Above config does NOT have RAID either.

That looks realistic.

The MBP isnt really overpriced, and its not quite a POS, it has similar features for a similar price. But like any mac... You dont buy the thing to game on, thats just stupid. I can barely get 20-30 fps on my MBP in crysis on medium at 1440x900.

It gets great battery life, is small and portable, and has enough power to do nearly anything you could do with any other laptop, other than graphics power.

[furrylemmings]

Exactly, buying a mac specifically for gaming is downright silly.

[Zytek_Fan]

If anyone looks here and notices posts missing is because I ordered a thread cleanup due to all the Mac bashing.

I ask a simple question on a Mac and the majority of the responses are Mac bashing.

I'd like to thank the people that answered my questions with no bias and offered suggestions and their input on their Mac experience.

[furrylemmings]

Thanks zytec

[grimREEFER]

both dell and apple use decent hardware, but until apple starts giving the option of shipping vista with its pc's and having vista drivers for everything, just get a a dell xps/alienware if you must buy a prebuilt pc or a laptop for gaming.

[furrylemmings]

There are vista drivers for most things, its just some of the integrated peripherals dont work with 64bit versions of vista or xp. Its also not likely apple are going to ship vista with their pcs, they want their own os to sell. I agree that there isnt much point to specifically buy a mac for gaming tho.

[Zytek_Fan]

There are vista drivers for most things, its just some of the integrated peripherals dont work with 64bit versions of vista or xp. Its also not likely apple are going to ship vista with their pcs, they want their own os to sell. I agree that there isnt much point to specifically buy a mac for gaming tho.

OS X is picking up steam too, so I don't think Apple is going to offer it ever.
It would be nice if Apple and Microsoft would play nice and share technologies. But of course that won't ever happen :(

[Pressure]

The most interesting gaming on Mac OS X to come is the 2.0 software update for iPhone.

Casual gaming dwarfs the PC gaming market in comparison.

Although we are beginning to see more and more releases for the Mac.

Guitar Hero III plays nicely on the iMac with the Mobility Radeon HD 2600.

[ineedaname]

Not saying that u tried to skew the results or anything but when I went 2 build that dell this is what I got below.

$1550 with more ram and bigger hard drive.

I find it obvious that macs are typically more expensive than a pc with the same specs but the statement that it's 3x more expensive is grossly exaggerated.

The reason why they're more expensive is cuz ppl are willing to pay more for how they look and their brand name. Whereas when I hear dell a bell somewhere in my head rings "cheap" (at least compared 2 some other brands like sony).

Don't get me wrong I think mac's are great but don't try to tell me that you're buying it simply for the value. (not pointing to anyone specific)

[vengance_01]

With the configuration I like the Mac Pro is $3,419.00, then add in a 32GB iPod Touch, Asus 22 inch monitor, Logitech G51 speakers, and a 4GB FB-DIMM kit from Mushkin (total RAM becomes 6GB), the grand total is $4,601.85

Not a very attractive price...especially if I can get the equivalent in a SkullTrail system for cheaper...

edit: $4,282.81 for a SkullTrail-ish system with 8GB of RAM and 3870 X2 CrossFire :D Do you really need to spend that much?

45nm Quad
4GB Ram
8800GT's OCed and in SLI
A few Large HD's
Nice 24inch Monitor

Easy under 2K. Probably close to 1600-1700$. Never understood why people spend so much on computers. Oh well there money. Much rather put that money into a car, or other things.

[furrylemmings]

If money was a problem, id suggest a hackintosh, if u look around you'll be able to find the right hardware.

[grimREEFER]

alienware's new 15in notebook looks fantastic if your planning on gaming. 8800m pwns all other mobile cards so hard.

[Zytek_Fan]

Anyone know of a music mixing program for PC that's as good as Logic?
And please, don't mention FruityLoops. I hate that.

[furrylemmings]

For gaming on a mac, apparently crossover games works well, im downloading atm, will post results tomorrow.

[Zytek_Fan]

For gaming on a mac, apparently crossover games works well, im downloading atm, will post results tomorrow.

Hmmm...kinda like Wine?

[furrylemmings]

Yeah, it basically is wine, its more efficient than running it through the apple implementation of x11 or so ive heard. It aint working for me, but thats probly cos im on a macbook, the exact same thing happens to me under ubuntu, loading screen of a source game loads, then locks up =(

Damn intel integrated graphics!

[Andrew LB]

doesnt matter ,who needs 8 cores , no one , no game utilizes it no app really utilizes unles your doing some serious encoding/rendering.

Hate to break it to you, but 8 cores and fully buffered memory are extremely useful to the people who tend to buy the Mac Pro. If you're having a hard time following... I'm speaking about professionals who do graphic design, video editing/rendering, and high end audio work.

A few months ago when my father who is a graphic designer (with 3 Cleo's i might add) bought the 8 core Mac Pro.... i gave him crap and told him pretty much the same idiotic rhetoric you've been saying here in the Mac forum. Only after doing some research, running some of the software he uses, and spending a few dozen hours using his Mac Pro... was I able to realize I was wrong the entire time.

I thought my quad core @ 3.6 and 4gb of ram was the holy grail. Well... maybe it's better at gaming... but not for professional work.

If i was in a career field that utilized the capabilities of a Mac Pro, I would without question own one.



dont bring fanboys into this , because for some Mac owners it goes beyond this , it almost becomes a cult.

While there is a general perception that Mac owners are cultish, there is also a very clear and distinct outlook on people like yourself. ;)


and fyi... i'm not a Mac owner.

[furrylemmings]

Anyone know of a music mixing program for PC that's as good as Logic?
And please, don't mention FruityLoops. I hate that.

Ive heard REASON is meant to be good.

[ZOMGVTEK]

Hate to break it to you, but 8 cores and fully buffered memory are extremely useful to the people who tend to buy the Mac Pro. If you're having a hard time following... I'm speaking about professionals who do graphic design, video editing/rendering, and high end audio work.

A few months ago when my father who is a graphic designer (with 3 Cleo's i might add) bought the 8 core Mac Pro.... i gave him crap and told him pretty much the same idiotic rhetoric you've been saying here in the Mac forum. Only after doing some research, running some of the software he uses, and spending a few dozen hours using his Mac Pro... was I able to realize I was wrong the entire time.

I thought my quad core @ 3.6 and 4gb of ram was the holy grail. Well... maybe it's better at gaming... but not for professional work.

Agreed, the mac pro performs extremely well for its intended use. Its nowhere near a gaming rig, dont make it that... Most people will never understand...

[Pressure]

Agreed, the mac pro performs extremely well for its intended use. Its nowhere near a gaming rig, dont make it that... Most people will never understand...

And a gaming computer is nowhere near a workstation in professional applications, neither in performance nor stability.

The idea of being forced to use another computer to video-edit than, say, my Mac Pro I would probably kill myself. Ok, perhaps not kill myself but I am sure it wouldn't be pleasant time spent ;)

Having said that Apple Inc. still need more options in regards to what graphic cards they have available if they are to be taken seriously in the PC/Mac gaming market.

They are bound to dominate the handheld market with the iPhone, so hopefully some of that will change some things on the PC side.

[private_tank]

Crossover is nice but it can not run direct X 10 yet. And my Stalker could not run on that at all. It seems to me that the Mac gaming is starting to come alive but that might take some time. I am still a firm believer in the mac operating system. Its so stable, I play UT 2004 now on my mac and can't wait for COD 4 to come out.

[Vryada]

Hate to break it to you, but 8 cores and fully buffered memory are extremely useful to the people who tend to buy the Mac Pro. If you're having a hard time following... I'm speaking about professionals who do graphic design, video editing/rendering, and high end audio work

QFT. Personally, I was astonished with the performance I got while doing extremely heavy multithreading (multiple protools sessions with loads of plugins, cakewalk sonar, adobe premiere, adobe photoshop, multiple instances of sound forge, etc.) in a dual quadcore computer w/buffered memory. So yes, I you get one of those setups JUST for gaming it’s ridiculous; but for working, it kicks ass more than you can imagine.


Oh, and one last thing: I haven’t seen ONE mac topic without Papu’s bashing. I would deeply suggest the mods to ban that guy from this subforum.

[tiro_uspsss]

Oh, and one last thing: I haven’t seen ONE mac topic without Papu’s bashing. I would deeply suggest the mods to ban that guy from this subforum.

lol - i havent seen a thread where, if anyone suggests to run anything Papu doesnt agree with, he bashes it :yepp:

[furrylemmings]

lol - i havent seen a thread where, if anyone suggests to run anything Papu doesnt agree with, he bashes it :yepp:

He'll pretty much disagree with me if i post anything, i go to school with him and he hasn't talked to me since i bought a macbook lol. oh, and if you look at his sig, pink floyd and radiohead are my two favourite bands.. papu's a jerk..

[tiro_uspsss]

He'll pretty much disagree with me if i post anything, i go to school with him and he hasn't talked to me since i bought a macbook lol. oh, and if you look at his sig, pink floyd and radiohead are my two favourite bands.. papu's a jerk..

aahhh.. that explains a lot! :D :up:

edit: hold on, he hasnt talked to u at all, just cause u bought a MBP??? :confused:

[furrylemmings]

aahhh.. that explains a lot! :D :up:

edit: hold on, he hasnt talked to u at all, just cause u bought a MBP??? :confused:

Yeah, we used to be friends, i bought a macbook, now all he does is ignore me.

[tiro_uspsss]

Yeah, we used to be friends, i bought a macbook, now all he does is ignore me.

words cannot describe an individual so lame :shakes:

[furrylemmings]

Yeah, hes a bit of a hypocrite, hates apple and its "business policy" but upgrades his ipod every time a new one comes out.. i dunno what his problem is.

[tiro_uspsss]

Yeah, hes a bit of a hypocrite, hates apple and its "business policy" but upgrades his ipod every time a new one comes out.. i dunno what his problem is.

:shocked: hates MBP but has an ipod wtf??? :rofl: *no comment* :D

[ZOMGVTEK]

Yeah, we used to be friends, i bought a macbook, now all he does is ignore me.

wait... I thought you hated apple?

[furrylemmings]

wait... I thought you hated apple?

No, thats papu.. i was the one posting the dell/mac comparisons where the MAC was better value..

[Uberbob102000]

Wow, There is nothing to describe someone so ridiculous. My mom has a Mac Pro and that thing flies using the right software.

[ZOMGVTEK]

There is little need for discussion, it is obvious that mac's are not designed for gaming. Who buys one to game on? Ive heard of a few people who are into WoW but not so much windows, get a Mac Pro with a 8800GT and they say it pegs the vsync on a 30" display. But there is only a small portion of games that are moved over to mac, so clearly you would need to run windows. And gaming in windows on a mac is... silly.

[furrylemmings]

Well, you obviously dont buy a mac specifically for gaming, but if you prefer the mac os, and are interested in gaming, theres nothing silly in that. Id be prepared to sell my pc and buy an imac if i had the money to make the difference, because i love mac os and the appearance of the imac, why shouldnt i ask if i can game on it too though? Theres nothing silly about gaming on a mac. You dont need to run windows either, darwine, cedega and crossover games together will run almost all old titles and 50% of recent (2004 onwards) games.

[xanvincent]

Friends don't let friends game on MAC OS
So true. haha. It just isn't a system intended for gaming. Their answer to gaming is bootcamp which well... installs XP or Vista.

[stocius]

There are games for Mac? And people actually play them?

[ZOMGVTEK]

There are games for Mac? And people actually play them?

Yes, and yes.

I have UT04 for my laptop when im out and about and dont feel like going through the surprisingly large hassle of rebooting into windows just to play a game for a little while.

[xanvincent]

I think he was being sarcastic.... I hope.

[conzymaher]

lol papu is an angry person!

I still <3 u furrylemming's :D

But buy a PC if you want to game, Buy a mac if you like Arts + Crafts and other such girly jobs hobbies :D

[ugp]

Steam keeps saying over and over again they want to bring there stuff to Apple but Steve never returns their calls more or less. I would love to see the Steam platform come to Mac. That would open the door for a lot of games. A lot of games are being released via Steam anymore and it would run very nicely I think. I think Apple is missing a big opportunity here with this. What does everyone else think?

[biftek.]

I have to agree, they have been upping their video cards lately, and could probably manage to play quite a few games now. It'd give Apple a new edge.
If I could I would buy the mac pro with a high(er) end video card and just consolidate my work and gaming machine :P

Those 8 core mac pros just scream for working environments, and with the right video cards, they could rock pretty hard for gaming too. Although ATM they'd suffer the same issues as Skulltrail in the gaming league.

Maybe come Nehalem, Apple will become more gaming friendly, since the Work and Enthusiast parts will be on the same platform (IIRC)

[Moto7451]

There's some irony in his thumbs down to famboys that he keeps in his sig....

I run CS:S through Wine. Runs fine in DX7 or 8 mode depending on the map. Wine support through OS X isn't perfect but works well.

Besides that the PC takes care of gaming just fine.

[Mk]

There are games for Mac? And people actually play them?
+1 :p:

[Zytek_Fan]

If only Apple could make a deal for a DirectX derivative of some sort...

[furrylemmings]

Ha! Never gonna happen.. pity though..

[ugp]

I say we start a petition for Apple to let Steam come to OS X

[vengance_01]

I hate to say it, but I am still close to buying a refurbished Imac 24inch. Today I was trying to install SP1 on Vista and it hosed my box. at 1399$, the 24inch Imac looks very decent. Add another 2GB stick of ram and its good to go. I don't game much anymore except for Valve and Bizzard games which both run fine on the HD 2600. I am really just looking for a change of pace.

[WrigleyVillain]

Go for it. And congrats on 1000 posts you addict. :)

[vengance_01]

ahaha I am. Wow that took a while.

[lowfat]

I hate to say it, but I am still close to buying a refurbished Imac 24inch. Today I was trying to install SP1 on Vista and it hosed my box. at 1399$, the 24inch Imac looks very decent. Add another 2GB stick of ram and its good to go. I don't game much anymore except for Valve and Bizzard games which both run fine on the HD 2600. I am really just looking for a change of pace.
I don't think you'll be disappointed with the purchase. As long as you like OSX.

[Zytek_Fan]

My mom's iMac came on Thursday and everything runs seamlessly :)
Even with 1GB of RAM everything runs fine.

[vengance_01]

My mom's iMac came on Thursday and everything runs seamlessly :)
Even with 1GB of RAM everything runs fine. was it the 24inch? Also a new one or the older ones? I am not sure the 8800GS is worth the extra 500$ over the 24inch refurb with the 2600 Pro.

[Zytek_Fan]

She got the 20 inch with the 2.4ghz Core 2 and HD 2600 Pro

[ZOMGVTEK]

was it the 24inch? Also a new one or the older ones? I am not sure the 8800GS is worth the extra 500$ over the 24inch refurb with the 2600 Pro.

You dont NEED the 8800GS, but it will allow the thing to play pretty much any game you want, besides crysis. In windows of course...

And if you plan on actually using the computer, i would never consider lower than 2gb of mem. I run 4 in my MBP and i run out often, when dealing with large images in photoshop and mulpt apps are open. Just hop on newegg and get the cheapest stuff they have. Should be about $60-80 shipped for 4gb.

[WrigleyVillain]

You dont NEED the 8800GS, but it will allow the thing to play pretty much any game you want, besides crysis. In windows of course...

And if you plan on actually using the computer, i would never consider lower than 2gb of mem. I run 4 in my MBP and i run out often, when dealing with large images in photoshop and mulpt apps are open. Just hop on newegg and get the cheapest stuff they have. Should be about $60-80 shipped for 4gb.

Good advice. Especially on RAM. That you should not buy from Apple.

[vengance_01]

Oh I know. I am going to grab 4GB from newegg if I grab the refurb from apple. The HD 2600 is still respectable. Nothing mind blowing, but will get the job done. Should handle Source based games just fine and World of Warcraft. I just need a break and a change. Gaming is becoming meh to me. Probably because I have been doing it for so long. Also O/Cing is just not the same any more. Everything is so easy. Its just not fun anymore. I remember my Tbrid 1.33GHZ core and 8500LE, those were the good old days. I find myself enjoying my 360 more and more. Kick back in a comfy chair, HD TV, and good surround sound. I am also thinking of getting into Photography. Newegg has the D40 for under 500$. The next game I am really looking forward to is Starcraft 2. Will still dual boot XP Pro with SP3 and use VMware Fusion to access my boot camp partition.

A question for you guys, can you run a LCD that supports portrait mode in this mode on MAC OS-X?

[ugp]

I am debating on getting 4GB in my iMac and then throwing the 2GB in it now into my laptop. How big of a difference is 4GB over 2GB?

[Makavre]

I am debating on getting 4GB in my iMac and then throwing the 2GB in it now into my laptop. How big of a difference is 4GB over 2GB?


sorry to jump into this thread out of nowhere
but ... the ram difference only becomes noticeable
if you use final cut (specially live type) and Logic Pro
the rest of stuff, goes unnoticed (even if u have the CS3 suite)

[ugp]

sorry to jump into this thread out of nowhere
but ... the ram difference only becomes noticeable
if you use final cut (specially live type) and Logic Pro
the rest of stuff, goes unnoticed (even if u have the CS3 suite)

Thanks, So I guess just buying 2GB for my laptop would be better and well cheaper of course. The laptop is a Compaq with 1GB and Vista. It was a free laptop so I can't complain really. I do really miss my MacBook I sold to my brother though.

[private_tank]

It all depends on what software you plan to run on your machine. I disagree with things going unnoticed like CS3. Because I run most of the time, two of those programs in the suite together and I have several open projects at once while I work on things. Right now my system is using 533 MB alone and that is just for the operating system. This does not include however the host of programs that I run in the background. I myself only have 3 gigs and I plan on obtaining around 8 by the end of the summer because of the plans i have for my system. You will not regret the higher amount of RAM if it fits into your budget. Good Luck