[jeremychoi]

So obviously it's not practical to replace a video card in a Mac Book Pro. What's the next best thing? Is there a way to optimize my video card, the Radeon X1600?

I just got the Starcraft 2 Beta a few weeks ago, but all the settings are on low... and it's still laggy. That ain't right. I want to see my zealot's psi blade tear through my opponents zerglings in high def!

[Big Mac]

You're not going to want to read this, jeremy, but the unfortunate fact is there's nearly nothing you can do to increase your video performance. Your MBP is still a great computer I'm sure, but old by mobile gaming standards, and its GPU wasn't that strong even at release. I have a Dell of similar vintage with a GPU one tier lower (the x1300), and I would never dream of trying to run Starcraft 2 on it. The game doesn't even run that well on my Penyryn MBP with its 8600GT GPU - medium settings at best. And it's not only impractical to replace the video card on a MBP, it's impossible since the card isn't a separate card, it's a part of the logic board.

My brother and I built an i7 PC with a beefy graphics card in part so that our gaming wouldn't be limited. See my lounge thread for more details.

[mduell]

4 generation old GPU + mobile version + derated by Apple = not going to deliver good performance in today's games

[jeremychoi]

big sad face

[Big Mac]

Here's the best way to optimize your system: Sell it. Macs have good relative resale value. Sell it and get or build a new computer with the proceeds, one with the video performance you need.