*Macbook Pro 13"; WoW Friendly?*

Hello My Trustworthy Mac Friends

My Specs;
Macbook Pro 13" (3 months old)
4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Nvidia Geforce 320M
Approx 290GB HD remaining.

So, a couple of questions WoW Related. I'm thinking about getting WoW this xmas, but i had a couple of questions;
1. So; Generally, will i be able to play WoW smoothly on my macbook. I'll be playing about.. 1 to 2 hours a day. Will i have issues with the graphics?
2. Will WoW eventually slow down my mabook? Eg. will it start to have a delay in opening applications that used to open instantly? Will it start to have an impact on my overall peformance?
3. I heard Catalysm is more graphic intensive then others.. Is Cata still gonna work fairly nicely on my mbp?
4. I also heard MBP's overheat quickly.. what affordable solutions are there?
5. And lastly. Is it tricky to install the um.. bootcamp or whatever its called to play wow on my macbook?

Thank you for your help, and sorry for all these questions xD!

1. Yes - No
2. Why would it unless you're playing WoW while simultaneously trying to do other graphic intensive apps. I've played a great many 6-8 hours sessions of WoW on my now 4 yr old Mac. The 320M has 3D benchmark scores 2-3 times those of the card in my machine.
3. ?
4. Not true. It heats up (not overheats) like any other graphics card while you're banging away at a 3D game. Affordable solution is to keep it on a desk or if you plan on playing with it on your lap, get a lap stand and keep the air flow around it clear.
5. WoW is Mac native. There is no reason to install Windows in order to play WoW. Try it yourself. Download the free trial they offer and give it a go. And if you do decide to install Windows, it's only tricky if you decide to do it without reading (and printing to follow along) the instructions offered right on the first page of the BootCamp Assistant.

bobtomay, thank you very much for you reply, it's made my day. To know you've had your mac for 4 years, and playing 6-8 sessions of wow. Very happy ;D And for question number 1, why do you say Yes - No?

Eperrine said:

bobtomay, thank you very much for you reply, it's made my day. To know you've had your mac for 4 years, and playing 6-8 sessions of wow. Very happy ;D And for question number 1, why do you say Yes - No?

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Depends on how your graphical settings. IE, High with everything turned onto Max.

Eperrine said:

...
1. So; Generally, will i be able to play WoW smoothly on my macbook.

Click to expand...

Yes

I'll be playing about.. 1 to 2 hours a day. Will i have issues with the graphics?

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No

I haven't played in over a year now, but never had an issue while playing WoW. Not sure if I ever tried everything at max settings or not. You may/may not need to experiment with them to get the best experience. And I never leveled up over about 45 or so. I'd get bored and start a new character about that time.

Lol Okay, Thank you all

And just to add, it is going to get hot. If you want to play with it on your lap, you will want a lap stand unless you like semi-permanent red marks on the top of your legs.

bobtomay said:

I've played a great many 6-8 hours sessions of WoW on my now 4 yr old Mac.

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WHAT?

Sheesh, make your way down under already for dinner, drinks, music, lots of chin wagging, and no computer games, or computers for that matter! ;P

lol - I'm an old hardcore gamer. That's what got me into computers in the first place nigh on 30 years ago. My favorite motto back then: Show me a game, and I'll whoop your .... at it. Put a little money on it, and I'll whoop ya twice as bad. Nowadays, the 11 year olds whoop mine.


Just as an idea - during a portion of my college years (there weren't any home computers yet), spades was the game. My partner and I took on all comers and played a minimum of 5 matches a day for 2 years. We never lost a match and lost a total of only 3 games during that time frame. I was the towns Risk champion while my partner was the towns Monopoly champion. We both made a comfortable living for college students from gaming. None of our friends would play poker with either one of us.

For the other hardcore players from that day, they'll remember the Avalon Hill games. There weren't that many hardcore gamers and most of those I had to play via mail (no, not email, regular old hand delivered letters). It could take a year to play through a game.

hehe... I grew up in pinny parlours (arcade game joints), with my "I'd whoop your .... at it" attitude, so much so, that back in the day, 20c (0.20 AU$) would last me a day in the pinny parlour
I totally understand, but we must move on my friend! Now I .... off my neighbours with good music, good smelling food, and no shortage of laughs between my friends and I here!
To those reading this wondering about all the typos.... no, neighbours, pinny parlours, and .... all have their place here

a new issue has arrised :l
downloading the trial.
Taking SUCH a long time. Atleast 2 hours, only 20%. I have wifi, ADSL+2, i can download movies from the net with in 20 minutes. Never had problems with speed. But now, wow is. I check my firewall. Its accepting incoming servers. So frustrating.

From my recollection, their download does take several hours. Start the download when you go to bed, making sure to turn off sleep mode.

Oh okay, so the trial does take several hours? Wait... then maybe i should just wait til i buy the official battlechest? I mean, does the trial download count to anything? Or will i have to re download everything when i get the real games.. Thanks for your time, again.

1. yes you can play wow on it no problem on very decent settings.
2. it doesnt really slow down the macbook at all. I haven't formatted in years and it still chugs along fine.
3.Cata should work fine. i'm playing now at 60fps on just under max settings with shadows down and we have most of the cata patches installed now since the game comes out in 2 weeks.
4.my macbook pro does get hot. i control the fans with smc fan control and a laptop cooling pad. I run at 83*c
5.why install windows when it runs fine in mac os x? Unless you want to play windows only based games you should have no need for windows.

In short. yes it runs great and runs in macos x fine as its designed as such from our great developers at blizzard.

Eperrine said:

Oh okay, so the trial does take several hours? Wait... then maybe i should just wait til i buy the official battlechest? I mean, does the trial download count to anything? Or will i have to re download everything when i get the real games.. Thanks for your time, again.

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Downloading the trial is approx 4-8 gigs + patches which are also another 5 gigs. it took me 3 days to download the patch on my 60kbs wireless internet provider. I'd much go buy the game, then again gamestop for a while gave them out free but it was the original only not with bc/lk/cata expansions.

Since your downloading it it will take a while. after you install it you wont need to do anything but put in the cata disk and click install. it has all the versions on the one disk. you may need to have the other expansion keys installed though to play cata. You won't need to remove and reinstall the game. Note after you install the game you will need to download patches the size of the game you just downloaded in order to play. there has been a lot of new content.

Yep, as viper pointed out, even with the disc, you'll be frustrated before you play because you'll have to download all the updates - another several hours.

Their content upload servers are slllllooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww.

rippingviper said:

Downloading the trial is approx 4-8 gigs + patches which are also another 5 gigs. it took me 3 days to download the patch on my 60kbs wireless internet provider. I'd much go buy the game, then again gamestop for a while gave them out free but it was the original only not with bc/lk/cata expansions.

Since your downloading it it will take a while. after you install it you wont need to do anything but put in the cata disk and click install. it has all the versions on the one disk. you may need to have the other expansion keys installed though to play cata. You won't need to remove and reinstall the game. Note after you install the game you will need to download patches the size of the game you just downloaded in order to play. there has been a lot of new content.

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Thanks vipa. So; i'm a bit confused. So your telling me; if i buy Cataclysm, it'll mean i wont have to buy the burning crusade, and all the others games. So Cataclysm will include all the games in one. Or are you saying that if i download the trial, i wont have to go through that long process if i buy the WoW battlechest, for example. So, it'll technically save me time if i download the trial? Hahahah sorry, im confusing myself now.

Just another voice.

I usually play on a Win7 desktop, but I have a MBP 15in 2.66Ghz Core i7 w/ 8GB RAM.

Just got the MacBook Air 13in this week (which also has the 320m) and it plays WoW on mostly Good settings just fine. The current patch has the graphical ehancements that most of Cataclysm will have. I am tempted to sell my 15in MBP because the air plays just fine for when I am mobile and not at home.

Go for it, you won't regret it.

Eperrine said:

Thanks vipa. So; i'm a bit confused. So your telling me; if i buy Cataclysm, it'll mean i wont have to buy the burning crusade, and all the others games. So Cataclysm will include all the games in one. Or are you saying that if i download the trial, i wont have to go through that long process if i buy the WoW battlechest, for example. So, it'll technically save me time if i download the trial? Hahahah sorry, im confusing myself now.

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I have lich king. All I do is put in the lich king disc and it installs everything. Cata will be the same. I've had the game from vanilla and have always upgraded. Now i'm not too sure if you need the other cd keys in order to play but I do know for a fact all you need is the Cata disc in the drive to install EVERYTHING. Even after that you'll still need patches though cause after every new expansion theres patches galore.

To add , upgrading thru the expansions takes a lot longer and is actually more chance of a problem happening then just fresh installing right from the latest disc. SO technically downloading and installing the original from the website then upgrading will take longer then just installing straight off the cata disc.

Your WoW experience on your Macbooks

Hi guys!
I have recently purchased a new MBP;
2.66GHZ, 320M gfx, 320HD.

I am considering playing WoW; (The 8 week summer holidays are coming) and i'd just like to ask; whats your general experience with WoW on your macbook, or macbook pro. How are the frame rates? Is it smooth? Any tips you'd like to add?

It's all greatly appreciated Thanks!