New Mac for Starcraft 2

Here are the specs for the game:

Mac Requirements

Mac Minimum System Requirements:

* Mac® OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.2 or newer
* Intel® Processor
* NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT or ATI Radeon® X1600 or better
* 12 GB available HD space
* 2 GB Ram
* DVD-ROM drive
* Broadband Internet connection
* 1024X720 minimum display resolution

Mac Recommended System Requirements:

* Intel® Core 2 Duo processor
* 4 GB system RAM
* NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT or ATI Radeon® HD 4670 or better


Im not that good at computers and was wondering what is the cheapest macbook that has these settings. They also have an offer for a free ipod with a purchase of a Mac OS.

here is the one I am planning to buy:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

Im not sure if it has the starcraft 2 game requirements though: the graphic card says NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics and it is 2.4 Ghz. I don't think that is good enough for starcraft 2?

Thanks for the help.

According to some Googling, people are saying that the 320m GPU can handle it fine. As for the rest, the MacBook does have that type of processor. You would need to be sure to upgrade your RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB.

Philippine Mac Users Group - View Single Post - Starcraft 2

Philippine Mac Users Group - View Single Post - Starcraft 2

As an additonal note... Tom's Hardware specifically mentions that the 320M was custom made for Apple and is an improvement over the 9400M, which is in-between the minimum and recommended. So it should be in the ballpark for recommended.
Nvidia Custom-Made the 320M IGP for Apple

lifeisabeach said:

According to some Googling, people are saying that the 320m GPU can handle it fine. As for the rest, the MacBook does have that type of processor. You would need to be sure to upgrade your RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB.

Philippine Mac Users Group - View Single Post - Starcraft 2

Philippine Mac Users Group - View Single Post - Starcraft 2

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot man.

One question, any reason why I should upgrade it to 4GB instead of sitting at the basic 2GB minimum requirements? If its because its better performance overall, alright.

One last question for anyone, someone in another thread said starcraft 2 runs really badly on macs and far better on pcs, is there any water to it?(he didn't mention any reason WHY)?

Thanks again

irs88 said:

Thanks a lot man.

One question, any reason why I should upgrade it to 4GB instead of sitting at the basic 2GB minimum requirements? If its because its better performance overall, alright.

Click to expand...

I missed the minimum requirements being 2GB. Upping it to 4 wouldn't hurt, and it is part of the recommended requirements.

One last question for anyone, someone in another thread said starcraft 2 runs really badly on macs and far better on pcs, is there any water to it?(he didn't mention any reason WHY)?

Click to expand...

I've played the beta on my first-gen Mac Pro, and it runs quite well. Far better than what I would have expected on this machine, to be honest. Generally speaking, games run better under Windows because the graphics drivers are much better tweaked for performance. In OS X, Apple prioritizes stability and security. That's not to say that games run poorly in OS X... some are ported and coded better than others. Blizzard values the Mac platform very highly and pays more attention to performance on OS X than probably anyone else does. So whatever that crackhead said about Starcraft 2 running badly on Macs... he likely has never even used a Mac.

BTW... it should be said that you shouldn't expect the same level of gaming performance out of any laptop, MacBook's included, as opposed to a well-designed desktop PC. As for laptops... the MacBook Pros (15" and 17" models in particular), have much better hardware beyond those basic specs, and almost certainly will make for a better gaming experience. As with anything though, you have to make compromises on your personal needs and finances.

FYI

I recently installed Starcraft II on my MacBook Pro with the following spec:

2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB memory
GeForce 8600M GT (512 mb)

and I have to say I am less than satisfied with the performance, It can bearely keep up with the "normal" graphical settings at 1152x720 (keep in mind this laptops native resolution is 1920x1200). I have had to set the graphics to "low" so that the game is smooth.

Im looking at upgrading my macbook for the first time. I bought it in 2007. I know I need more memory, a new graphics card, and Apple said I need to buy the mac box set w/snow leopard since I never downloaded leopard when that came out.

Anyways. Im doing this cuz I want to play Starcraft 2. Can someone please guide me on which macbook memory "card" and which graphic card I should buy? Im not good at this kind of thing.

I would like to shop for whatever you guys lead me to on craigslist or ebay to save money
THANKS A LOT!!

oddtimer said:

FYI

I recently installed Starcraft II on my MacBook Pro with the following spec:

2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB memory
GeForce 8600M GT (512 mb)

and I have to say I am less than satisfied with the performance, It can bearely keep up with the "normal" graphical settings at 1152x720 (keep in mind this laptops native resolution is 1920x1200). I have had to set the graphics to "low" so that the game is smooth.

Click to expand...

*Just an Update* I recently installed StarCraft II on my Windows Vista partition and game is running A LOT SMOOTHER!