Thinking about getting a macbook, how are they for gaming?

I was thinking about purchasing a unibody macbook and was wondering how they are for gaming. I am not talking about crisis or anything like that on them... but maybe Team Fortress 2, Warcraft 3, and a little WoW. How do you guys think the 9400m would handle those (I would be getting the 2.4 GHz CPU).

 

Well you would be playing it on the 9600gt, which normally isn't great on gaming, but it should be able to handle those games with medium to high settings at 1440x900. The 9400m could play them on low and lower resolution.

 

Like said.

MacBook's are mid-range gaming notebooks at best... with average cooling at best.

the 9600M GT (128-bit memory interface) will play games fine at medium/high settings at average resolutions.

a high-end card (256-bit) like Nvidia 8800M/9800M or ATI 3800/4800 will play games at high/max settings at the highest resolutions

FYI, high-end videocard (256-bit) will easily outperform a mid-range (128-bit) card by over two times.

 

I am looking at the macbook, not the macbook pro. The macbook has a max resolution of 1280x800 and only has a 9400m.

I was hoping for peoples general experiences with these games on a macbook (or average fps if anyone knows).

 

The 9400M GT is a low end card. As stated you'll be playing on low settings on that card.
Macbooks are not for gaming, not at all.

 

It's NOT a GT. It's integrated. To answer the OP's question, I can say with older games it plays wonderfully. The games you ask about however, I'm sorry, I have no idea.
@Gophn, I don't see where the OP was asking about high-end graphics cards (or the Macbook Pro ), he was asking how well the 9400M will play games.

 

yeah, I really would mostly be playing warcraft 3: tft (which is pretty old) and maybe a little TF2. I am NOT getting a macbook as a gaming laptop, I am looking at getting it more for portability. I just wanted to make sure that It would be able to handle a few older games on it.

 

You're right, it's a 9400M G, sorry for that typo. The 9400M G is still a low end card, still won't play those games well, and Macbooks are still not for gaming.

 

Blatantly wrong. The games that you mention will run fine on the MacBook. I have a a Dell XPS m1210 with a an nVidia 7400 that plays HalfLife2 on high settings at 1280x800. I'm guessing that TeamFortress won't be terribly different. WOW runs fine at medium-high settings on this computer. My friend who I used to LAN game with ran Warcraft 3 on an x60s - which had a low voltage processor and an Intel gma950. For the games that you're interested in playing, the MacBook will be fine.

Of course, there are more powerful computers for a similar price, if you're willing to deal with more bulk/size and a less elegant design.

 

And this guy is STILL wrong. Warcraft 3 has super low requirements and will run on lots of legacy equipment. I play DOTA (Warcraft 3 custom map) and know that low-end equipment will run the game. If your idea of gaming isn't FPS games with super high settings, the Macbook will be fine.

 

for a comparison, the integrated 9400m scores a 3dmark06 of 2000(and something). The dedicated 8600m gt scores ~3800. In my honest opinion, i think the 9400m is plenty powerful for future games to come. You won't be able to max them out but at least it will be playable and you will not suffer from serious lagging while playing latest games.

 

Don't be silly. Anyone that says integrated graphics aren't for games is wrong. It solely depends on how demanding the game is. For example, my previous macbook with Intel integrated graphics (x3100) played BF1942 quite well, no slow-downs what-so-ever, on low/medium settings. I can play it with my current macbook (9400M) on high with no slow-downs at all. Even BF2 plays great. So there you go.

 

Thanks a ton for all of your help guys

 

A 9400M G will not play TF2 well... yes, it will run TF2, but not well.
WoW will run fine in small areas, slowdowns will occur in large areas. Obviously WC3 will run fine, the game is like 10 years old.
I don't consider playing a game mediocre on low-medium settings playing a game well.

BF2 and BF1942 are also pretty old games.

 

People really shouldn't reply to these messages unless they have a macbook and have played the games you are asking about.

I do own a macbook 2.4 and it plays WoW between 30-40 fps at the native resolution and medium settings.

I cannot comment on the other two games as I have not played them.

Enjoy

 

Hello,

I purchased an Aluminium Unibody 13" Macbook this week, and it arrived today. I got the 2.0GHz model, equipped with 2GB of RAM.

I installed Windows XP and have played Battlefield 2: Special Forces with no problems. You can check out gameplay footage that I recorded earlier today at: http://gallery.me.com/alvinc5#100000 (it will require quicktime). I just faced my camera towards the screen to capture the gameplay, so naturally the recorded footage is a little degraded, but it's clear enough nonetheless.

The in game graphics settings were set to high, with 2x anti-aliasing, and a resolution of 1024x768. Battlefield 2 wouldn't let me choose a resolution higher than 1024x768, but after recording the gameplay footage, I forced the game to run at the native res of 1280x800 (through command line options) and it was still perfectly playable.

I will be testing out some more games this weekend, and may shoot some more gameplay footage.

 

My Macbook runs Counter-Strike Source at high settings with HDR off (but bloom on) at native resolution as smooth as butter in bootcamp. 50+ FPS all the time, usually over 80. TF2 runs on the same engine doesn't it? If so, it will run beautifully at med-high to high settings. The 9400m outperforms the Nvidia Go7600 I had in my HP that was a discreet card with dedicated memory.

 

I currently have a Macbook, and it's great for my gaming needs! I can run Call of Duty World at War MULTIPLAYER at a medium resolution at 40 FPS, which is pretty darn good. No AA, and it'll be just fine. This card has more power than many people think, and deserves a lot more credit than it gets. I also ran WoW on low settings and it got a constant of 65 FPS, and would occasionaly jump to 75 when inside. Check out my thread about it, and it may answer some other questions you might have about the performance and power of the GPU and CPU.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=360543

 

Plays fine from what I have seen here

Also here tried some games out

Really can't say its not going to run good if you've never owned a macbook to try it. Once I tweaked WOW with low shadows and slightly lowered distance it runs 30-45 solid.

 

it doesn't run intensive tower defense under WC3 though; but that might not be the GPU's horsepower issue but the ram (love having over hundreds++ of swamps in some maps )

WoW's newest expansion will cripple 9400m given the advancement in graphical details

while it is true that users w/ actual 9400m should comment, but if i am not happy with 8600mgt in some games, give me a reason why i will be happier/as happy w/ a 9400m?

under mac w/ call of duty 4, i can only run medium setting at max resolution, but even my x41t plays world of goo beautifully

depends on what games you love and play, i guess.

 

WRONG! I play TFT expansion on an m1210 - with a 'dedicated' 7400 that runs 64meg dedicated memory and the rest is shared. There is no change/drop in frame rates when in TFT areas v. older areas.

As for that old troll that keeps downing on the MacBook...playing games at low/medium settings is playing the game well as long as you don't suffer from major stutter/dropped frames. We're talking about laptops, not a desktop with Crossfire'd 4870s that could heat a small room and suck more power than 10 laser printers churning out dissertations at the same time.

 

You do realize 10 laser printer when printing will use about 15,000Whr or 15KiloWatt hours of power. 1 laser printer when printing uses about 1500W of energy for a short period of time.

That much power could powerup more than 750 Macbooks idling without battery on AC or more than 30 crossfired 4870 gaming desktop machines.

 

@teknerd122
I see nothing wrong with what Hep! said at all.
1- The 9400M G is a low end card. (How obvious can that be?) Sure it's much better than the X3100, but that doesn't make it a high-end card.
Here is a list that would help you check where the 9400M takes place. (I know it's not there, but would help.)

2- He didn't say the Macbook will not run the games, but not well. And "not well" could mean different things.

If I don't get at least 60 frames/second at 1920x1200 on high settings, the game doesn't run well (for me). I know people who are happy with low settings and 15 frames/second.

We all have standards, and we all compare things to our standards. Also, the Macbook is not made for gaming. Last time I checked, Apple wasn't marketing it as a gaming laptop and even if they did, it doesn't qualify for the standards of gaming notebooks.

 

The 9400M is and stays a low end card. It will cut the cloth for most of today's games but i don't think it will handle crysis well.

 

Hey!

Typing this on a new Macbook Alu 2.4 + 4GB RAM (upgraded myself) + 320GB 7200rpm HD (also myself, also very easy)

I play HL2, TF2, Portal, Oblivion and WoW. I am very particular about FPS and all these games play SURPRISINGLY well. WoW runs 60fps with lows of 30-40FPS consistently. My settings are MED with shadows at MIN. The Valve games run really well, and again, I am VERY particular about FPS. Oblivion runs well once tweaked, but I do get stutters with grass and too many trees. I would say Oblivion is the upper end of what this hardware will handle. Overall I am REALLY pleased with this laptop.

I run my games in Vista HP x64 with the stock Apple drivers. I didn't use bootcamp to dual-boot, but did the work myself using rEFIt.

Trust me, I think you'll be pleased running the games you mentioned on the macbook!

jwb

 

try newer drivers,you ll see performance boost!

 

What is your experience with crysis?

 

Haven't tried Crysis... Probably won't, either. I've got a dedicated gaming rig and Crysis brings it to its knees....

I've seen a video of Crysis on a macbook 2.4, everything LOW getting frames between 20-35, but turning into a slideshow during explosions, particles etc...

 

Drivers? Do Tell! Can I just get the latest nVidia drivers and mod the inf with the Apple hardware ID? Or has somebody already done this for me?

Thanks!

 

www.laptopvideo2go.com

 

Do yourself a favor and put 4GB of ram in it. You will be glad you did.

 

I had not tried Crossover Games in awhile. it's basically WINE optimized for OS X. So you can run Windows games without installing Windows. I run Counterstrike Source on a 1680X 1050 monitor quite well.

 

I has already been done. Just copy and paste.

 

definitely the more RAM the better. I've also played Counter Strike on my MBP and it runs very smoothly.

 

If your looking into gaming (and considering even mild/casual gaming) I'd say look else where.

But the macbook CAN pump out the bare minimum when it comes to gaming.

 

From my experience, and considering I only just bought the unibody MacBook (2ghz, 4gb RAM) barely a month ago. And I jumped straight into installing some games I've been dying to play for a while now.

I can give you my opinion about it perhaps.

I play;
Sins of a Solar Empire - Damned well. Settings all on high, no AA but with Bloom, whatever the heck that is.

Empire Total War - Well enough. Settings are on low and it still does get a teensy-weeny bit choppy in large scale battles. But 100% playable.

Oblivion - Well enough. Settings are at medium, but the graphics are still plenty gorgeous and the only instance I got lag on was cursor lag while making my character.

I know these aren't the games you want to play, but it can be a guideline and I do know someone with the white MacBook who plays DoTA(with high settings) on it, so I guess that could be a good baseline for WC3 TFT?

I think if you look into the MacBook for whatever needs other than gaming and try a few games from time to time, you will be pleasantly surprised. I know I am. True, I did mention installing games right off the bat but I bought this Mac with the sole intention of a pretty, portable, and powerful computer for work and school. Games were just a bonus and 9400M regardless of it's standing amongst other cards, holds it's own pretty well.

 

not everyone games in Windows...

 

Os x games are too rare. I prefer gaming on windows. If only apple could release more games natively.

 

Sounds like that could be a new Mac slogan... Now if only more games were ported to Mac.

 

Wait the NVidia notebook drivers don't work on mac os x?

 

no they don't. Driver is designed for a specifiic OS.

 

@ MKang25: The other poster was talking about windows driver i believe

 

I was referring to the Mobile Nvidia drivers on Nvidia.com SEems like they dont have any for mac os x only windows and linux.

 

there is no driver for os/x i believe; there aren't any games for mac anyways.

games don't run as smooth under mac though, but i guess steve mobs has other priorities...

while 9400m isn't a bad GPU, don't expect to run games more than medium/low settings at native resolution.

 

There are some games such as call of duty 4, battle field 2142, spore. But most games are released for windows. Laptopvideo2go.com doesn't offer drivers for mac.

 

Here's a pretty good chart that plasma posted to get an Idea of GPU performance for gaming with the 9400 and the 9600, as well as other GPU's.

Even though these results are on PC's, your results should at least be similar.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=336958

-Rob

 

If you actually want to do some gaming buy a 15" macbook pro.

 

Or......see below.

 

Well there are better alternatives than the 15" mbp for gaming but the OP clearly seems like he wants a Mac.

 

I got that. Hence, the GPU chart I linked referencing the 9400 and the 9600.