MacBook Pro Santa Rosa 128MB vs 256MB - Benchmark compilation

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146973


I recently did some basic overclocking on my 128MB 8600GT-equipped MBP. Scores are basically the same as the 256MB model.

Granted, those are synthetic benchmarks, but I have yet to be disappointed with its gaming performance. If I was serious about gaming, I'd get a desktop.

 

Firstly - I'm a long time lurker on these forums, but its my first post.....

Now, here's my 2c on this discussion
So you are out to buy a new laptop. Like games? how much? how many hours a week average? if you game less than 10 hours a week, then yes,a notebook will probably suffice your gmaing urges, BUT you game more now, is it?
Well think of this
$2000 you get a laptop that will suit the needs of almost andy computer user. BUT, as a gamer, that is similar to buying apple stock the day they released the iPhone.
Ok, you up for $2500? well you get a better graphics card, but hey, its going to get outdated maybe 3 months after the 2K model.

Now chew on this
for $2000, get a macbook, and for the other $500, get a new console - which will work for the next 3 years without you having to drop down settings.

Yes, I know that gaming with a keyboard and mouse is a matter of choice and some may prefer that, but do ask yourself, is it worth the cost?

Now I'm not pro-console or any such crap like that... (look at my sig ) - this is just another angle to look at the numbers and see how they add up.....

Just my 2c,

Man, I can't wait till Aug 1st.....

 

Yes, console is a solution... especially bringing it with you during travel... or maybe not so much. There is a reason why people want gaming performance in a laptop, namely they are faced with situation where they are "mobile" and want to get their gaming fix on. I am not going to drag PS3 or Xbox 360 with me if I travel for a week, that's just insane.

 

Are there tuners out there through USB that will do lagless audio and video from a console? (playing Xbox 360 on your macbook pro)

 

Thought the 8600m GT has turbocache and will just take whatever more vram it needs from system memory.

 

I have similair thoughts but the thing is I don't like games where you sit in the couch for hours and play for yourself, I like RTS (and FPS with friends if I had any) where you only play for short burts, repeat if you want to but can leave at any time. (And in RTS I always play some kind of team games so I have someone to talk to.)

I can't do that on a console.

Also I'm a pirate, I've bought the game I play thought, WC3, and I will buy SC2 aswell, but I wouldn't buy lots of console games (atleast not until I knew I would play them a lot) and you can't pirate on the PS3 yet ;/

 

I have a DS lite ;/

 

thought i may as well add my benches, i have the 128mb DDR3 and got 2908 3dmark06's at 1440x900, using the 163.44 drivers.

 

can anyone confirm if graphics are running any better with the latest update? Or if the envidia site drivers are better?

 

It's usually just better to get drivers from laptop2video.com, I find..

 

I first owned the 2.2Ghz 128mb mbp last year and I immediately exchanged it for the 2.4Ghz with 256vram one after I connected it to my 23" ACD (which it felt like night and day and 256vram ran much much faster/better overall).

I dont game much either but I remember I tried to play this game called s.t.a.l.k.e.r. and on the 128mb vram version under windows I had set everything to minimum and it still ran choppy to where I couldnt really play it, like when you move the character he'll be at point a and you dont see him move because of major framerate skipping and he'll be at point b all of a sudden.

After I had gotten the 256vram mbp I installed windows again and installed s.t.a.l.k.e.r. and ran the game in medium settings and it was 1000x better. I can see the character moving just fine and it was more than playable and when set on minimum it was smooth to play.

Both were used with the same drivers at that time, we had to burn our driver discs using bootcamp, and it made a HUGE difference.