Macbook Pro vs HP envy 17

Hello, I will be getting a laptop this summer and am having trouble choosing between the new line of macbook pros that will be released and the HP Envy 17 3070 nr. I will be using my laptop for school work via microsoft office, and will also use itunes, hulu, youtube, and other media sources frequently. I want to be able to play games casually, including: Diablo 3, Skyrim, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. I am also interested in knowing about the benefits of boot camp and how well torrenting works on hp envy 17 vs MBP.

Jimbo4998 said:

Hello, I will be getting a laptop this summer and am having trouble choosing between the new line of macbook pros that will be released...

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Yes it is kind of hard to decide...since neither you, I, or anyone else knows exactly when or what specs the next release of MacBook Pro's will have.

Jimbo4998 said:

I want to be able to play games casually, including: Diablo 3, Skyrim, and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

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We generally suggest folks that want to do a lot of gaming (especially newer game titles)...stick with Windows computers. But Mac's will run many titles well...frames rates may not be as good.

Jimbo4998 said:

I am also interested in knowing about the benefits of boot camp and how well torrenting works on hp envy 17 vs MBP.

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If you're talking illegally downloading software via torrents...we do not discuss this at Mac-Forums.

One question for you...how much Macintosh computer & Mac OS X experience do you have? If little or none...you should definitely get more familiar before deciding.

- Nick

As Nick has already stated, we really don't know when the new MacBook Pro machines will be released nor do we know what capability they'll have. However, I am familiar with the HP Envy you mentioned. It's a very nice machine and certainly should be able to run the applications you wish including games.

As far as using torrents to download - assuming what you're downloading is legal - torrent download speeds depend on many factors not just the machine so that part of your question is difficult to answer.

I'm not that familiar with torrenting, but I can see no particular reason why you would think there would be any difference between the platforms on that point. My understanding is that it is about as platform-independent as something can possibly be.

My view on gaming is that it's a bit silly to spend thousands of dollars on a laptop primarily go do gaming. To me this is like paying more for a motorcycle than for a car because how annoying loud it can get is your primary buying factor. I enjoy games on the computer but I have always felt that consoles provided the best experience and cost soooo much less. You do give up some portability and some titles on consoles currently but I suspect that both of those disadvantages will be lessened in the future (there's really no sound reason, for example, why Steam couldn't be incorporated into consoles).

You won't find a nicer all-around machine than the MacBook Pro out there, and you won't find an operating system superior to OS X. To me these are stronger reasons to buy than gaming, but YMMV and the MBP is perfectly capable of playing even today's most-demanding games. The MBP is never going to be the best possible gaming platform, however, because that's not Apple's focus.

pigoo is right. If you want to game, especially the new titles, then get a windows computer because they always have better specifications than Macs do and for less money. I'm strictly an Apple fan and I do not care about computer gaming as I have a Xbox 360, which is one of the reasons I always go for MacBooks because they're much better than windows computers in everything else .

If it's any help, I have an Envy 17 and it's a pretty good machine. It runs Diablo 3 well (and other games). It will also handle the other activities you mention easily.

That said, I am switching to Mac when the new MBPs come out (hopefully next week!) as I'm fed up with the overall Windows experience.

My understanding is that Diablo 3 runs just fine on recent (by this I mean 2009 and up) Macs which have discreet graphics cards.

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