Gaming on a MacBook

soundsystem00 · Jan 5, 2008

I just have a regular macbook, its brand new though. I figure the graphics must be pretty good because expose' and all the other cool effects. Also, I ran vista great and played the old unreal tournament.

What I would really like to know, will the new Unreal Tournament for mac run on a regular macbook?

1gb Memory Intel dual core 2mghz.

If that didn't work, if I bought 1gb more memory would that help? does anyone have that game running on their macbook? I really want to buy it, but dont want to waist money. thanks!

Ulairi · Jan 5, 2008

soundsystem00 said:
I just have a regular macbook, its brand new though. I figure the graphics must be pretty good because expose' and all the other cool effects. Also, I ran vista great and played the old unreal tournament.

What I would really like to know, will the new Unreal Tournament for mac run on a regular macbook?

1gb Memory Intel dual core 2mghz.

If that didn't work, if I bought 1gb more memory would that help? does anyone have that game running on their macbook? I really want to buy it, but dont want to waist money. thanks!

No dice. The gaming computers that Apple sells are the new iMacs, MacPros (with the Ati card) and the MacBook Pro.

snoslicer8 · Jan 7, 2008

You could download the Unreal Tournament benchmark program and see if it runs. If so, then the game will run. You won't be able to turn up all the effects to max, but the game may very well be playable. Don't pay too much attention to a game stating you MUST have a certain gfx card to play a game...a lot of times they are just trying to avoid support phone call headaches of people who want to play Doom 3 on their IBM 286...dumb dumbs.

Village Idiot · Jan 7, 2008

snoslicer8 said:
You could download the Unreal Tournament benchmark program and see if it runs. If so, then the game will run. You won't be able to turn up all the effects to max, but the game may very well be playable. Don't pay too much attention to a game stating you MUST have a certain gfx card to play a game...a lot of times they are just trying to avoid support phone call headaches of people who want to play Doom 3 on their IBM 286...dumb dumbs.

But there is a huge difference in an integrated GPU with 64mb of memory and very little throughput in comparison with a GPU that has 256mb of memory and a much faster processor.

Memory comparisons in GPU's are just a small fraction of what determines performance.

Ricky55 · Jan 7, 2008

village idiot is totally right, its the GPU chip that makes the difference and onboard graphics are poor for modern games.

Zoolook · Jan 7, 2008

Village Idiot said:
But there is a huge difference in an integrated GPU with 64mb of memory and very little throughput in comparison with a GPU that has 256mb of memory and a much faster processor.

Memory comparisons in GPU's are just a small fraction of what determines performance.

Exactly, and it seems that Apple have gone out of their way to cripple the GMA950 and X3100 within OS X for gaming. I say that because it's amazing that games like Civ IV and Sims 2 in Windows run very well at max settings on the same hardware, yet crawl in OS X.

snoslicer8 · Jan 7, 2008

I wasn't really saying that the OP would have a great experience with the integrated gfx card...I said the game may run, and he/she would not be able to use max settings. It's just really a pet peeve of mine when someone automatically excludes the GMA from any gaming use whatsoever, when in fact it can run some games, and some it will actually run quite well.

On the other hand, I totally agree with the statement about the GMA vs. dedicated gfx card...there is no substitute for a dedicated GPU with its own RAM.

zero proxy · Jan 7, 2008

I hope us macbook users get a graphics driver update for the X3100. I'd rather have that, than a new ultra portable notebook. I'm content with my macbook

northy124 · Jan 7, 2008

You can game on the macbook perfectly well i'am go sims 2 running max settings/ First to fight also max settings.

You should be fine but use a demo first before buying any games