Wannabe Switcher with Questions?

Ok, so I'm a wannabe switcher. I've not made the switch yet, but I'm getting ready to. The only problem is I have many unanswered questions, and people are telling me different things.

Hopefully you vet mac users can set me straight.

Ok, so my number one above all else concern. I play world of warcraft. That's about 75% of what my laptop is used for. I'm definitely getting a laptop, and not a desktop. My problem is on a windows computer to run the game even on poor settings you have to have at least 128mb graphics card.

So I went to the apple website and looked at the notebooks, and the price difference between the macbook, and macbook pro is enormous. So I started to chat with one of their reps. There reps told me that I could flawlessly play WoW on a regular macbook without any problems. How is this possible, it can't be possible. Yet that's what the rep told me. So I started looking around some more and I think I found the one I want:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834100023

It's a pro, with pretty good options, for like half what the apple site wants. It has a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card... does anyone know how much designated memory that has?

See I was reading the reviews on that laptop and many people had great things to say but many of them also said it wasn't going to have magnificent performance for gaming. So if this laptop doesn't have awesome performance for gaming, then the regular macbook there is just no darn way right?

Can anyone tell me if what the apple person told me was correct?

And does anyone know if the laptop I've seemed to choose would work for what I want it for. Also any other tips would be great.

Graphic
GPU Type NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Video Memory 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM
Graphic Type Dedicated Card

That is the graphics card. And about the regular MB. My friend has a regular white MB and plays WoW on it. I'll say it does not run flawlessly everywhere. He has it on lowest settings, but when he enters a major city it takes a while to get anywhere if it is a busy time (this applies to raids and instances as well). Otherwise, it works OK for just doing quests on your own out in the world (of warcraft). But, I would suggest getting the Pro as it has a dedicated graphics card and will be able to run the game much more smooth if you are thinking at all about performance. If you add another $300, you can get a 2.4 processor, 200gb hd, and 256 graphics card with education discount from apple.com store if you have that lying around.

The VRAM amount is only half the equation to a smooth game-play experience. The MacBook Pro is a good choice and could run this game with no issues at all. However, $2000 is a lot of cash just to play a single game. Even $1,500 is. Be aware that the model you're looking at comes with the 2 year old Tiger OS and the much smaller HDD of last season's MacBooks.

To be entirely honest, if your biggest concern is gaming, a MBP is a pretty extravagant choice.

so you think then a regular mac book would do the trick for what I want?

I guess I better say what else I do with it too then. I also use Adobe Photoshop CS3, download movies, and music etc...

If you are into your games, then the regular MB probably wouldn't do it as it has no dedicated video card. It will do the other things you mentioned just fine though. However, be careful. Mac's are nice in the fact that if they detect you downloading things illegally, it becomes un-waterproof and starts a rain storm in your house.

They are nice computers. But if you want games, go with MBP at the least. Maybe even take zoo's advice and get a different brand if mainly what you want is gaming. You can get a little nicer spec'd for same price, but then of course you'll have windows.

I certainly don't enjoy recommending Windows, but if 75% of your time really is playing games, and the rest is browsing, emailing etc, then Windows is the obvious choice.

A MacBook is not a great choice for any gaming as ogacon says. If you can get a MBP at a price you're happy with, then do that, otherwise get a lower cost generic PC.

Mac's are nice in the fact that if they detect you downloading things illegally, it becomes un-waterproof and starts a rain storm in your house.


.... what does that mean?

Corbri said:

Mac's are nice in the fact that if they detect you downloading things illegally, it becomes un-waterproof and starts a rain storm in your house.


.... what does that mean?

Click to expand...

I did wonder that myself.

Was a joke. Mac's are waterproof. Sorry for my lame humor.
Was just commenting on you saying you download movies and music, and you probably do that in iTunes, but just incase you didn't was giving you a disclaimer illegal downloading is bad!

Ok picked out a different one. What do you guys think of this one?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=FB075LL/A

Corbri said:

Ok picked out a different one. What do you guys think of this one?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nplm=FB075LL/A

Click to expand...

Very nice.

Looks good, says it's out of stock though, things go quickly from the Refurb store, you gotta act quick!

I will trade you that one for mine=]... ps wow is fine on mb