PC gaming on a Macbook Pro? Help me decide between Mac or HP

Hi folks,

First, I'm not a gamer and I don't plan to be. 98% of time on a computer is spent writing, handling basic desktop publishing tasks, basic web design, surfing the web, and watching movies (DVD & Netflix). However, later this year I plan to purchase a game for only the second time in my life: Deus Ex Human Revolution. (The original Deus Ex is the only game I've ever played and I loved it.) So, that future game has been inhibiting my ability to choose between a loaded HP laptop for about $1,000 or a Macbook Pro... but I need some Mac questions answered:

• Generally speaking, is PC gaming enjoyable on a Mac or are there quality/performance issues?
• Which is the least expensive Macbook Pro model that will be able to handle Deus Ex (game's system requirements are below)? (I think it's the 15" with the 256mb Radeon, but wonder if the 15" with the 1GB Radeon is significantly better.)
• Restating my question above, would I see a significant difference between the two 15" models with the 256 vs. 1gb Radeon cards?
• Does anyone have any truly compelling reasons why I shouldn't just stick with what I know and buy a loaded HP laptop for $1k that will serve all of my needs for several years? ...versus buying a less powerful Macbook Pro for close to the same amount of $ or perhaps spending twice as much for the top 15" Macbook Pro model? (I know you folks are biased toward Apple, but I'm truly interested in a thoughtful response to this. I do have a budget, after all.)

Any other thoughts that can help be decide to go Mac or stick with HP?

Thanks for your help. Cheers.

BTW, here are the system requirements on Deus Ex Human Revolution:

Minimum PC Specs:
OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 with DirectX 9.0c
PROCESSOR: 2 GHz dual core
RAM: 1 GB RAM (Windows XP) / 2 GB (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series or ATI Radeon HD 2000 series or better
REQUIRED DISC SPACE: 8.5 GB

Recommended PC Specs:
OS: Windows 7
PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom II X4 or Intel Core 2 Quad or better
RAM: 2 GB
GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon HD 5850
REQUIRED DISC SPACE: 8.5 GB

Actually, if i'm honest with myself, my budget is about $1k which doesn't quite get me the Mac i really want, so i guess i'm trying to convince myself i'll be alright with less so i can finally start breaking away from PCs. That's the nutshell.

Well with the proposed mac you can run windows and the Mac Os, either through bootcamp or parallels. So you can have the best of both worlds. For gaming pic the best video card available on the Mac. For everything else there wont be much difference in performance. Apple systems have a reputation (well earned), for longevity and reliability.
Your Mac will last for many years with little or no trouble. The same can't be said for windows based machines. I've been on both for over 20 years and can tell you from experience that for a machine that just works go Mac

Mini_mi said:

Well with the proposed mac you can run windows and the Mac Os, either through bootcamp or parallels. So you can have the best of both worlds. For gaming pic the best video card available on the Mac. For everything else there wont be much difference in performance.

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But you're not aware of any performance issues when gaming via bootcamp or parallels?
And as for the video card, the best is nice for sure, but that's a $1000 difference. I wonder how many in my situation would say it's worth the extra price.

Thanks for your help though... i've been going 'round n round with this in my head for three days now and need to make a decision. Maybe i'm waiting on a windfall...

Running windows in boootcamp mode is no different than running windows on any computer, so there won't be any performance issues

L*F*A said:

[*]Does anyone have any truly compelling reasons why I shouldn't just stick with what I know and buy a loaded HP laptop for $1k that will serve all of my needs for several years? ...versus buying a less powerful Macbook Pro for close to the same amount of $ or perhaps spending twice as much for the top 15" Macbook Pro model? (I know you folks are biased toward Apple, but I'm truly interested in a thoughtful response to this. I do have a budget, after all.)

Click to expand...

Nope...I have no compelling reason to convince you to buy a Macintosh computer...if you already have the thought process quoted above.

The experience, simplicity, and reliability of using a Macintosh computer & the Mac OS is something you can't put a dollar sign on!!!

If it's just about "Dollars & Cents" then get the HP!

- Nick

I agree with pigoo3. For me, it was worth paying the extra to get a computer that I know I can rely on the for the next 4-5 years rather than 2-3. You really can't put a dollar sign on the experience that a Mac gives you.

In terms of gaming, if you do decide to go for one of the Macbook Pros, I would recommend getting the one with the 1GB graphics card because even if the lower end one is able to play the new Deus Ex, it doesn't mean that it will hold up when the NEXT one comes out. It's great to have a machine that will still be able to hold up when games start coming out here in 1-3 years that might have some higher requirements.

Either way, take care!

Code

P.S. I forgot to mention that in my experience, there have been little to no hiccups when dealing with Windows over bootcamp. I haven't had to do anything different on bootcamp that I wouldn't have to do on a Windows machine.

Don't bother with the 256MB video. It isn't worth the money to downgrade that.

When it comes to processor and video, always get the best you can afford at the time, especially with a laptop, because you cannot upgrade them at any time.

As for gaming on a Mac, yes. It is doable and enjoyable. I even run Steam (which others hate) for my Team Fortress and a few other games. "Bootcamp" is only Apple's word for "Dual Booting" and there is no performance degradation for Win7 in Bootcamp. The only way you would notice degradation in performance is if you use "virtual machines", which is just running a window running Windows7 (or other OS) while booted in OSX. At that point you are running 2 operating systems at the same time sharing the hardware.

Like Nick said, if it comes down to pure $, get the HP. However, if you have the money set aside, is it possible to put off the purchase a month or 2 and raise the extra money to get the MBP?

-EDIT-
For the record, I came from a high-end HP laptop (2007) into the OSX world just a few weeks ago. I run bootcamp for various pieces of software not available for Mac. The switch was a piece of cake and I have been liking finding the differences and reworking the brain to think different.

Thanks for the feedback. Your comments echo what my gut says, which is to hold out higher end 15". Starting to look at some refurbished models, but also starting to dig for change in the sofa cushions.

Cheers.

...but despite the previous comment about buying as much as I can afford, which of the following two machines would you choose based on the specs and price? Is the 2011 machine really that much better for my needs and worth the extra $454?

Refurbished MacBook Pro (April 2010) - $1,569
15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display (1440 x 900 pixel)
2.66GHz Intel Core i7
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

...or...

New MacBook Pro (2011) - $2,023
15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display (1440 x 900 pixel)
2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm
Intel HD Graphics 3000
AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

In my personal opinion, yes. For one thing, you are looking at a major upgrade in processor. Second, and I speak from experience, the video cards on the 2011 set up the wait is you will see a marked difference in battery life. The big card only kicks in when needed, saving your battery. That extra 512 mb of memory makes a difference when rendering video and in playing games. Run full res as opposed to medium.

When you add up the cost of the additional VRAM, CPU you come very close to the difference in price.

Besides, give a few more weeks or a couple months, you may see the 2011 version in the reverb section.

The longevity of Macs is widely recognized. While my old Windows desktop was surely starting to show signs of slowing down after three or four years, my 2008 Macbook Pro is just as fast as the day I got it with no antivirus software running and very little maintenance. And I edit HD footage and transcode video for hours and hours on end all while doing all my other regular work. I work this machine to the max and it's still fast and stable.

Factoring in this kind of longevity along with a more reliable OS and all the far-above average software that comes included, and the price difference suddenly seems rather negotiable.

Oneironaut said:

The longevity of Macs is widely recognized. While my old Windows desktop was surely starting to show signs of slowing down after three or four years, my 2008 Macbook Pro is just as fast as the day I got it with no antivirus software running and very little maintenance. And I edit HD footage and transcode video for hours and hours on end all while doing all my other regular work. I work this machine to the max and it's still fast and stable.

Factoring in this kind of longevity along with a more reliable OS and all the far-above average software that comes included, and the price difference suddenly seems rather negotiable.

Click to expand...

Aye, that's what I'm thinking. I'm ready to switch. My mind is made up, but now I just need to get my $$ in order. Thanks.

I am not a Mac user, yet, however I can read hardware.
The 2011 machine has five major advantages over the 2010 machine (listed in order of importance IMO):
1) 1GB GDDR5 instead of 512MB GDDR3
2) i7 Sandy Bridge.
3) 7200 rpm HD instead of 5400 rpm.
4) 6750 ATI instead of 330 nVidia.
5) 1333MHz ram instead of 1066MHz.

Any one of the above items would increase the "response" of the machine. Add all five together and you have a winner. Ram speed should not be over looked neither should the HD speed. Also you gain an extra "generation" of the CPU and GPU by going with the 2011 model.

For the price difference v/s performance difference I would go with the 2011, if you can afford it. If you cannot afford the 2011 then the 2010 should do what you need for a good while.

*edit - for gaming purposes, on either machine, you will be GPU limited long before you are CPU limited. Given that you are playing an older game though both machines will do just fine.