Is gameplay on the mac comfortable?

I've been told the macbook pro heats up when playing games through boot-camp.

If you are using the macbook on a desk, is the fan noise tolerable?

Overall, would you recommend the macbook as a gaming notebook? I am looking to play the latest games @ at least 30 FPS.

thanks.

 

MacBooks aren't gaming machines. You can play most games on medium with the new MacBooks. They do get very hot on the outside, but as long as you set the CPU at 80%, it and the GPU won't go over 85C.

 

I would not recommend the macbook as a gaming notebook. If you're goal is gaming, you can get a much (MUCH) higher performance computer for the cost.

Also, as a gaming machine, the macbook pro is not that great (even ignoring cost). Some games run on OS X, but most require booting into windows. You end up booting back and forth a lot.

 

You should be looking for a Windows machine if gaming is a priority, not a Mac.

 

Well I have done the underside case mod on my new Mac I7, applied Shin Etsu thermal paste and can comfortably game for hours. I have my GPU OC'ed to 650/900/1420 and never go above 85C. if I use a cooling pad underneath it stays around the high 70's. Been playing MoH the past week lol..

 

thats like asking if its easier ting standing up??

you'll be better off getting a much higher specd machine for gaming under windows for the same price

 

Yeah for sure. Windows money goes a whole bunch further.. lol..

 

From my experience with playing any games on Mac is an extremely temperamental situation. A MBP will heat up no matter what you are doing (I do loads of web browsing daily and the computer heats up). But if you do decide that you would like to do the dirty, then make sure you buy yourself a good cooling pad, I would say that money will go a long way.

If you plan on using a Mac for just games though, I will have to sway you away from spending your money on a Mac. Yes, a Mac is constructed great, and it has very pleasant hardware, but the specs are not intended for gaming use.

Good luck on your decision.

 

This is exactly why gaming on a Mac is silly. Look at all the hoops you've had to jump through!

 

"had to" is a bit wrong there... it was something that was chosen to do, the same as some people put in liquid cooling or anything else... its not a requirement.

 

I agree. Apple's unibody chassis is not practical for gaming purposes.

 

I've played a few RPGs and shooters on my MBP and it is comfortable. I have my GPU OCed but I still haven't seen it above 80C. The outside does get warm around the upper left side (where the charger goes) but I don't feel any warmth on my hands or arms when gaming, even when I play for 2+ hours.

Obviously though, if your aim is to just game on your laptop and you want to crank up the latest game's graphic settings at HD resolutions then you should consider a PC. But if you like OS X, if you like MacBooks, and you wanna do some casual gaming on the side, go for the MBP. I've yet to be disappointed.

 

I still don't understand why people think just because a laptop gets hot, it is bad for gaming.

If it gets hot, it gets hot, that's it. It's not like its going to catch on fire.

But performance is something else, youll get the same performance as a PC with the same parts in it.

 

This is my situation exactly. I already have a console for gaming, but I am looking forward on playing some games at modest settings.

Is the performance of gaming thorough parallels significantly lower than playing games via boot camp?

About the overheating, and please don't flame me, as I have had many laptops that needed to be replaced, but if you purposely overheat your macbook by playing games etc. and there is a malfunction in the GPU or the motherboard, will apple not replace the mbp if its under warranty?

 

Gaming through parallels/vmware will be significantly slower. For older games it wont matter as much, but newer ones it will. The best way is to just boot into windows and play them.

You aren't overheating your laptop by playing games, you're just using it. As long as you dont get a macbook pro with the 8600, you shouldn't see any issues with gaming.

 

I've tested TF2 in Parallel 6 and while it did load and I was able to navigate the maps and even get a kill or two it was not fluid enough for gameplay.

I have to agree with this statement. My MBP 13 2010 runs idle at around ~50c which is cool. In games it goes up to 80c. In comparison my 2 year old XPS 1530M C2D was running at ~75c while idle... That was with lots of air intake openings on the bottom of the system. In games this thing would be a scorcher...

My X200 gets hot depending on what I do... Notebooks (Many if not most) in general run warm, that's just the price you pay for having all those components in such small enclosure.

 

As these guys have said, you kinda need to use Boot Camp if you wanna game. It just takes too many computer resources to run OS X, a virtual OS, and a game all at once. I know it sucks spending like $200 on a copy of windows (if you don't already have one) but I don't regret doing so one bit. And like I've said, I find gaming very comfortable and the criticism MBPs get on gaming is a little exaggerated.

No pun intended?

 

In terms of sources not being available, wouldn't 8GB-16gb of ram be enough?

Besides the ram, what sources and in what quantities does parallels need to function most optimally ? I like the idea of playing windows games on the mac, but it can get kinda tedious if you have to reboot every time you want to game.

 

thats why you game with something Wine based.... it varies game to game what works and what works well, but you aren't running a different OS, just running the game directly.... and doesn't cost anything extra.