Wow on Mac: Better with OSX or Windows

I just bought a new Macbook Pro 17" with 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4MB shared L2 cache and ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM. I know that Mac now has the Bootcamp software to let Macs use windows and Mac OSX. I want to play World of Warcraft and was wondering if there would be a difference if I used windows or mac osx? I know that WoW is a universal game but I read some stuff that said otherwise.

Thank you very much!

 

WoW should run fine for you on the OS X side, but you probably will still see somewhat better performance on the Windows side (this has more to do with just the performance of DirectX, etc. on Windows vs. OpenGL on the Mac).

Blizzard has been doing some work lately though to improve Mac OS X performance using multithreading, etc.

I would say go ahead and install WoW on the OS X side, and if the performance is suitable to you (and it definitely should be, it should run pretty well with the specs you have), I wouldn't worry too much about installing Boot Camp and booting into Windows just to play WoW on the Windows side. Having said that, it's nice to have Windows installed as well to be able to use it for other games you might want to play, and as long as you have the space for it, there isn't any harm in having WoW installed for both OS X and Windows so you can play it no matter which OS you are booted into.

 

Do not double post on the forums please; your other one has been deleted.

 

I don't understand. You said not to double post, but if I have a different question how do I ask it without "double posting"?

 

Chaz probably meant creating two threads on the same topic, either in different subforums or in the same subforum.

 

Alright I'll ask it on here. I was wondering if you can upgrade the gpu in a macbookpro to something better. Right now it has a ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, which is pretty good I think. But better chips will come out and I will want to get those eventually. Is this possible, or is swapping them out hard on a mac? Also, is there a way to increase the gpu dedicated memory, or is 256mb maximum i'll ever get?
Thanks

 

There isn't a way to upgrade the GPU.......... this isn't that uncommon though, the GPU's on many laptops aren't specifically upgradeable (or even if they are, the actual options for upgrading the GPU's aren't that realistic).

Aside from that, the form factor of the MacBook Pro doesn't give you a ton of room for something that would be that much more powerful than the X1600; as it is, the X1600 even in the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros is underclocked a little bit from stock speeds (although it can be overclocked to stock speeds and beyond without too many problems).

The dedicate memory of the GPU also isn't upgradeable (I don't believe this is unique to the MacBook Pro either).

 

Ok, I'm good on the basics of WoW, but now on a completely different subject. I want to get wireless internet so I can play anywhere in my house (right now I have wired cable). I was wondering what is the best wireless router for gaming. I wanna get optimum speeds, and it has to be compatible with Macs. Apple is releasing their AirPort Extreme Base Station, boasting that it offers "five times the performance and up to twice the range of 802.11g wireless networks." I guess it's compatible with the new 802.11N, which is supposed to be way faster than G. Would this be a good choice, or would I be better off with ones such as Belkin Wireless Pre-N router?
Thanks

 

Yeah, the Airport Extreme Base Station is an 802.11n router. I would say that it would probably be a safe bet, especially if you will be pairing it up with MacBook Pro. It should conceivably handle other pre-n hardware you might have on other computers you have, but you'd probably want to see what other people's experiences are in terms of compatibility.

In terms of optimum speeds, I'm not sure how much it will matter with 802.11n. I remember that a few companies (I think dlink in particular) released "gaming routers" that were supposed to be optimized for gaming, but I don't know that it really caught on so much.... and whatever issues were involved there, 802.11n I think gets rid of most of them.

 

Back to my original question. After reading up I discovered that on windows people were getting 40-45 fps but on OSX it was around 30. I was wondering if I should get the new Vista or the XP windows version? Which would give me a better fps?
Thanks

 

Also I forgot to ask above will I need to buy the full version or just the upgrade version?

 

At least until some of the driver issues get sorted out with Vista, it sounds like performance wise you are better off with XP.

If you do get Vista, you could get the upgrade version, but you'll need to install Windows XP first before upgrading to Vista.