[Jeraflux]

Hi -- brand new member. I'm new to Macs completely, but not to Apple. I have an affinity for Apple going way back to my elementary school days learning on an Apple IIc. I've had PC's for a long time, but finally decided to switch since many more games are available to the Mac nowadays

Anyhow.....I'm new to laptops as well. Never owned one; it's been all desktops for me. When I buy a MacBook -- shortly -- how well does gaming work with it? Also, will I need an external mouse to play games that require a lot of clicking, like say, Diablo? It seems to me that a trackpad would be awkward for quick, reflex-type clicking. I appreciate all of your advice. Thanks in advance.

-M

[Apfhex]

The MacBook uses Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics chip, so 3D gaming performance isn't going to be all that great. But don't trust my opinion—I would go looking for some benchmarks on a site like www.xlr8yourmac.com and see if it's any good. But even the late model iBooks which had real graphics cards in them didn't perform too well with games. If you want a Mac gaming laptop you're going to want a MacBook Pro, those are some pretty powerful machines.

Certainly you'll want an external multi-button mouse for some games. I would recommend one. But it's up to you, what you're comfortable with.

[imitchellg5]

Like Apfhex says, the MacBook has 64mb integrated graphics. It plays games like Jedi Academy fine, but a more complex 3D game like Diablo would be sluggish. A MacBook Pro would be good for 3D games.

[FurionStormrage]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

Like Apfhex says, the MacBook has 64mb integrated graphics. It plays games like Jedi Academy fine, but a more complex 3D game like Diablo would be sluggish. A MacBook Pro would be good for 3D games.

1) Get yourself an external mouse for playing Diablo/Diablo II. It will save your trackpad in the long run.

2) I don't think that Diablo/Diablo II would be slowed down all that much by the integrated graphics. I have a 1 GHz PowerPC Titanium Powerbook (with Radeon 9200go if I recall correctly) and it has no problems playing either Diablo II expansion Lord of Destruction nor its far more demanding cousin Warcraft III. I may be completely wrong but I don't imagine the new iBooks as performing any worse than a 2+ year old PowerBook even though it doesn't use integrated graphics. Now, WoW plays like a pig on it...

[Helmling]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

Like Apfhex says, the MacBook has 64mb integrated graphics. It plays games like Jedi Academy fine, but a more complex 3D game like Diablo would be sluggish. A MacBook Pro would be good for 3D games.

It doesn't even really have 64. It borrows that from system memory.

[ael719]

do people still play diablo 2?

I remember playing diablo 1 with the duping and crazy ass cheats that could actually alter other players stats... lol

[Scooterboy]

The MacBook is not meant for games. The integrated Intel graphics are optimized for playing DVD and HD video. For gaming you really will want a dedicated 3D graphics chipset with dedicated memory. The MacBook Pro with it's Mobility Radeon X1600 / 256 MB DDR RAM should be a good gaming laptop well into the next couple of years.
My PowerBook 1.5 GHz G4 with Mobility Radeon 9700 / 128 MB DDR RAM performs quite well for all but the newest games, despite being hobbled by a comparitively s-l-o-w CPU.

[icruise]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

Like Apfhex says, the MacBook has 64mb integrated graphics. It plays games like Jedi Academy fine, but a more complex 3D game like Diablo would be sluggish. A MacBook Pro would be good for 3D games.

I think you're confusing Diablo with something else (perhaps Doom 3?). Diablo is not 3D and should run fine on the MacBook.

[imitchellg5]

Your right I did get confused. Sorry about that. Scooterboy, your since when is a 1.5GHz PowerBook slow? Maybe you should get RAM.

[Scooterboy]

I only meant that the G4 is slow compared to the Core Duo. It's plenty fast for everything I do including all the games I've played. It has 2 GB RAM. And of course, it has a very good GPU, especially for when the PowerBook was made. And my games are installed on a 7200 RPM FW800 hard drive, so I've had no real complaints yet.

I haven't tried Quake 4 or Doom 3 or anything newer than KOTOR, where I did have some problems on large, outdoor maps (Dantooine!).

When I'm ready to upgrade, I'm looking at the MacBook Pro with it's Radeon X1600. The MacBook with integrated graphics would be a step forward and two steps back, especially for some of the games I'd like to play.

[imitchellg5]

Ah. I really like the last of the PowerBooks. I was sad to see them go. I love KOTOR by the way but for some reason it runs kinda slow on my iMac.