Your Opinion - Should I replace my PC with a Macbook Pro?

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Durtyrice

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Heres the deal. I'm in a computer graphics class and they require us to have our own mac laptop. At first I planned on getting a powerbook but I decided why not get the macbook and I'll be able to use bootcamp. Then I looked at the specs of the Macbook Pro and saw that they were quite nice. I thought why not replace (meaning selling my PC to fund the macbook pro) my midrange gaming pc desktop with the macbook pro.

My question to you is. . .Will the Macbook pro preform as well as my current desktop with games running with bootcamp?

My desktop setup is as follows:
Athlon64 3500
1Gb 4200 DDR ram
PNY 7600 GT (PCI-E)

I'm sure the games running in OSX will run fine such as WoW, but I do enjoy playing games that are only on PC such as HL2, FEAR, and Oblivion. If it makes a difference as well I dont play at really high resolutions due to the fact that I play on a large HDTV at its native resolution size of 1280 x 768. Any advice/ information would be appreciated.
 
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hatim

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It should perform on par with it. The X1600 maybe slghtly slower but not much of a difference. For higher resolutions, video memory does make a difference. How much on your 7600GT?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
iMac 17" Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz 512 MB Ram 128 vRAM 60GB HD
the MBP should run faster and better than your current desktop, depending on how you upgrade it, but standard MBP's should run at least equal to.
 
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Logan

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i'd say wait. Intel MBP right now is having a lot of testing issues, it seems the biggest one was an overheating problem from not removing a plastic sheet on the back of the MBP. It's a new model distribution so wait till the second release or all the bugs are fished out.
 
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Durtyrice

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Any idea when that will be? I need a macbook by the beginning of the fall semester in August.
 
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Logan

Guest
Well you can get it any time and press your luck.

As you see here

Whining is reported (75,000 views on this second link), overheating, if you plan to only run OSX be sure you have the neccessary universal binaries especially in Office products, games, and adobe products (photoshop) are supposably running laggy until the new release of CS3.
If you plan to run Bootcamp remember it's public beta, so don't rely on it hugely, honestly you see a rare problem here or there but I personally think if you want it and understand the above potential issues have at it! :) Lessen the price so I can get one later :D

There's of course people who believe these problems are RARE and you should buy the product anyways, I think it's ultimately your decision.

Oh, also remember OS X 10.5 is supposed to come out pretty soon (how soon? I'm not sure) so if you buy your product now there is a possibility you may be before this update. That's about all I can think that is potentially negative for you, if you see all this and still really want to get it right now, go buy one sir! :)
 
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Durtyrice

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You make alot of good points Logan but time is of the essence. Besides. . .My desktop pc which I may replace is really noisy (multiple fans and vented case). Overheating could be an issue but as long as the macbook is not turning off or slowing down due to heat I can live with a hot case. I'm not sure I fully understand the universal binaries that you mention. . .I thought OS X downloaded those updates for that? Please correct me if I'm wrong (I'm still a rookie to the mac). Bootcamp is a big question mark right now! That is my biggest concern, but hopefully when OS X 10.5 is released and it is integrated with the OS maybe any/all kinks will be worked out.

One can dream anyway ;)
 
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Logan

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Hehe, yes, it is. What I implied with the Universal Binaries is: You may see some performance lag on a few key programs I mentioned. Eventually when they become universal binaries (which is REALLY easy to do if the company wants to) you will see this huge boost in speed when this happens.

10.5 is still a big question mark from what I see, and may not even be that large of an update anyways.

If time is of the essence, I say go for it. Buy the product. :D

You'll love the sucker I bet.
 
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Your 7600GT will outperform a regular mobility x1600. Since the x1600 in the MacBook Pro is underclocked you will not see nearly the same performance I suspect. And I doubt 10.5 will be here before January. My advice is to run 3dMark05 on your desktop. The MacBook Pro scores about 2800. Campare that to what you get! Good Luck!

**EDIT** Also, I have been running MS Office, Dreamweaver and Fireworks all through Rosetta, and after they load they are not bad. Not as quick as they could be, but more than usable. If you have enough RAM Rosetta actually does quite well. I cannot comment on the rest of the Adobe apps.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
G4 Cube
Durtyrice, just a FYI - I installed XP & Boot Camp on my brother's MacBook Pro (2ghz/128mb x1600) and Half-Life 2 runs flawlessly at 1440x900 with default settings (medium I think). It should really fly at 1280x768 on your HDTV!
 
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Durtyrice

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Cashmonee what were the specs on your Macbook Pro when you ran it? Amount of ram, processor speed, and what not. My Desktop did surprisingly better than I remembered but I did just buy this video card not too long ago. It scored 6122 on 3dMark 05.
 
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I must confess I have not run 3d Mark 05 on my system yet that came from a very reliable review over at notebookreview.com. The specs for that system as I recall were 2.0Ghz, 1GB RAM, and 256MB VRAM. The video card you have on your desktop is a very nice desktop and will not have an equal in the 15.4" notebook market. You would have to go to a 17" with a 7800 or better to find something as good or better. I will be running 3d mark on my system in a day or 2 and will let you know what I get.
 
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Ok, ran it on mine and I scored a 2586. My system is a 2.0 with 1.5 gig RAM and the 128MB x1600. So the extra VRAM seems to give you 300 more points(2866) in 3DMark05, which should translate to probably 3-6 fps in most games. Not much considering it is basically a $500 upgrade. The point is it is nowhere near your desktop.
 
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Durtyrice

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Well. . . I'm still going to have to get a macbook. Just looks like I will have to keep my PC a bit longer. Such a toss between macbook and macbook pro though if i am keeping my desktop. If I'm just using Adobe's CS2 due I really need a video card? I know I just hated onboard video on PC's, its the pits! But thanks for posting some feedback about the 3DMark 05. I couldn't find anyone on the net who had posted one for macs.
 
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If you are just using the Photoshop part, then a GPU makes no difference. I am not sure if there is an advantage in Premier.
 
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Harryc

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Durtyrice said:
Well. . . I'm still going to have to get a macbook. Just looks like I will have to keep my PC a bit longer. Such a toss between macbook and macbook pro though
My question to you is. . .Will the Macbook pro preform as well as my current desktop with games
You keep mentioning 'Macbook'. If you are into gaming at all, the 'Macbook' is the wrong choice. It has integrated Intel graphics (Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory) which won't come close to a MacBook Pro's x1600 (ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory) in 3D gaming performance.
 
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Harryc said:
You keep mentioning 'Macbook'. If you are into gaming at all, the 'Macbook' is the wrong choice. It has integrated Intel graphics (Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory) which won't come close to a MacBook Pro's x1600 (ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory) in 3D gaming performance.

I think there are 2 forces at work here. The first is Apple's terrible names, MacBook and MacBook Pro. It is a pain to type out or say MacBook Pro!

Second, I think he is in the dilemma that many have. If you are not going to take advantage of the GPU is there any real reason to spend the extra $500 or so for the MBP instead of MB?
 
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Durtyrice

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Woot! Finally bought one from ebay! Good deal too (which is rare these days for me). Now the dreaded wait!
 
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Durtyrice said:
Woot! Finally bought one from ebay! Good deal too (which is rare these days for me). Now the dreaded wait!

Congrats!! Ordering, the easiest part and waiting the hardest. LOL!! :p
 

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