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Geofries · Jan 17, 2007, 01:49 PM

Silly of me right? A Mac, let alone a laptop, for gaming? Well, yes.

I have the Original base model MB, and it's cool. It even handles FFXI (the most demanding game I play) quite well, but I want to get into somethings like GRAW/GRAW 2, some new PC rpgs and things, and who knows what else depending on what comes down the pipe.

Assuming Apple updates the MBP's lineup before the year is out, I want to upgrade, and then just ride it out for the next 4-5 years.

Not sure if this belonged in the game forum as I'm not inquiring about a specific game, but for those who game on your MBP, is it a capable machine?

pra9ab0y · Jan 17, 2007, 01:53 PM

I would think so soon as it runs vista without a hitch!

Geofries · Jan 17, 2007, 01:57 PM

Thats another question I will pop out there. Can the current intels run Vista? Well future models be able to?

zaghahzag · Jan 17, 2007, 05:04 PM

i played AOE3 and the prey demo on mine. AOE never really slowed down on my 23 inch monitor at full settings. prey i played on the MBP screen at full settings (no AA) and it slowed down a few times, but not too bad. I'd imagine if i was going to play it more for real, i'd turn down some settings.

overall, i've been impressed with the gaming performance of this laptop. It can't compare to a desktop gaming rig, but it seems good to me for a lappy.

CheckMarshall · Jan 17, 2007, 05:51 PM

I play:
Battlefield 2
Flight Simulator X
Tiger Woods 07
Madden 06
Call of Duty 2
and a couple other ones

all with no slow down with full graphics (except FSX, that one is pretty beefy!)

2.33Ghz
2 Gigs RAM
ATi X1600 256mb video card.

Geofries · Jan 17, 2007, 05:53 PM

Hmm, I'm not too up to speed on my pc gaming, but isn't prey one of the more demanding games out now? If so, that's good news to my ears. Luckily I have my current MB and FFXI to tide me over until we see another release of MBP.

mojo5436 · Jan 17, 2007, 06:15 PM

Prey is gorgeous with highest settings... does slow down during some pretty hardcore scenes, but is sweet.

F.E.A.R. runs great at highest settings.

X-Plane (PC version) runs flawlessly.

Thats another question I will pop out there. Can the current intels run Vista? Well future models be able to?

Definitely runs Vista.

solofx7 · Jan 17, 2007, 06:20 PM

i wil give my 2 cents on this.
basically i tried vista and gaming, and besides the ormal tons of driver issues, vista was stinky.
the different file format that is in Vista is NOT compatable with all older programs and games.
by that i mean relatively new or old.
they ust do not install. that is sad because i have a ton of older, somewhat new games.
MS is screwing us on this one, but in any event i do not really use windows for anything so this whole game thing is not a big deal as i just install XP and called it a day, but be forewarned if you have a legal version of windows and want to run paralells and bootcamp for the best of both worlds, you are gonna have to double activate as windows sees too many driver changes between the two.

solofx7 · Jan 17, 2007, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

Prey is gorgeous with highest settings... does slow down during some pretty hardcore scenes, but is sweet.

F.E.A.R. runs great at highest settings.

X-Plane (PC version) runs flawlessly.

Definitely runs Vista.

what kind of macbook pro are you running that you are running on the highest settings fine?
thanks for the info.
i am currently running the MBP Core Duo 2 2.33, 2 gigs, 160hdd.... hmmm... i think that is it...

Geofries · Jan 17, 2007, 06:25 PM

Excellent info, now I'm really excited.

Well the whole Vista thing, you put my only fear to ease. My only concern was that it would be required for some games, but by the time VIsta is the only option (it will never be) I'll be old and dead.

And I've never been a fan of paralells, but bootcamp on my MB is very good to me with XP. XP sucks but my gaming needs will not go unmet.

solofx7 · Jan 17, 2007, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by Geofries

Excellent info, now I'm really excited.

Well the whole Vista thing, you put my only fear to ease. My only concern was that it would be required for some games, but by the time VIsta is the only option (it will never be) I'll be old and dead.

And I've never been a fan of paralells, but bootcamp on my MB is very good to me with XP. XP sucks but my gaming needs will not go unmet.

i say hold off on vista for a bit there where too many issues for me there.
drivers, games not working. it was not worth the HASSLE...
i have office 07 and games on bootcamp and thats it...
Mac Rocks...

NateEssex · Jan 17, 2007, 06:48 PM

I'm going to get a new 15" MBP. I wasn't sure if I should save the $500 on the 128MB video card, or go for the faster 256 card. I want to play WoW. What do you guys recommend?
Which display did you go with? Matte or Glossy for gaming?

mojo5436 · Jan 17, 2007, 07:18 PM

what kind of macbook pro are you running that you are running on the highest settings fine?
thanks for the info.
i am currently running the MBP Core Duo 2 2.33, 2 gigs, 160hdd.... hmmm... i think that is it...

MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, ATI Radeon X1600, 100GB Hard drive, 7200 RPM

(In the sig

)

NateEssex · Jan 17, 2007, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, ATI Radeon X1600, 100GB Hard drive, 7200 RPM

(In the sig

)

So, how do you like the glossy?

mojo5436 · Jan 18, 2007, 12:44 AM

Fantastic. Haven't noticed any glare issues whatsoever. Pictures look amazing. Black is actually black and the colors are great. Wouldn't change it.

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by NateEssex

I'm going to get a new 15" MBP. I wasn't sure if I should save the $500 on the 128MB video card, or go for the faster 256 card. I want to play WoW. What do you guys recommend?
Which display did you go with? Matte or Glossy for gaming?

i say go glossy for the deeper blacks and more vibrant colors...
i love it.. i am playing and trying to finish fear, and it rocks...

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz C2D, 2GB RAM, ATI Radeon X1600, 100GB Hard drive, 7200 RPM

(In the sig

)

by highest settings what do you mean?
what game settings are you running on?

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

Fantastic. Haven't noticed any glare issues whatsoever. Pictures look amazing. Black is actually black and the colors are great. Wouldn't change it.

i second that...

mojo5436 · Jan 18, 2007, 12:36 PM

by highest settings what do you mean?
what game settings are you running on?

Dont have the MBP with me at work. I had FEAR setup to run at the display resolution (at least 1600x1200, cant remember if it supported the actual maxed out resolution the display can handle) and all the rest of the graphics settings were put to the highest they'll go. Runs fantastic.

Prey was a different story. Had to tune the settings down a bit, but still running at native resolution (prey runs at the max display resolution of the 17" MBP). The games is still stunning and extremely fast. I did download the Prey Demo for OS X and noticed it did run faster for some reason. I turned up all the settings on the OS X side and it ran better than it did through XP.

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

Dont have the MBP with me at work. I had FEAR setup to run at the display resolution (at least 1600x1200, cant remember if it supported the actual maxed out resolution the display can handle) and all the rest of the graphics settings were put to the highest they'll go. Runs fantastic.

Prey was a different story. Had to tune the settings down a bit, but still running at native resolution (prey runs at the max display resolution of the 17" MBP). The games is still stunning and extremely fast. I did download the Prey Demo for OS X and noticed it did run faster for some reason. I turned up all the settings on the OS X side and it ran better than it did through XP.

hmm, i tried fear on the max, on a macbook pro core 2 duo 256 x1600 and it was acting funny...
anythoughts?

mojo5436 · Jan 18, 2007, 01:14 PM

Acting funny as in dropping frames? My experience is that FEAR runs much more faster than Prey did. I know FEAR settings are definitely maxed out on my system. I can double check later tonight.

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by mojo5436

Acting funny as in dropping frames? My experience is that FEAR runs much more faster than Prey did. I know FEAR settings are definitely maxed out on my system. I can double check later tonight.

thanks, i just checked and everything is nearly maxed out, i have maxed out the resolution to 1400x whatever... and it is running very good and looks great, but the problem is that it skips every so often... that is cool though... i also went into advanced setting and took a look and nearly maxed everything out...
so it is going well except for the skipping...

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 01:26 PM

ps. anyone gaming with vista in bootcamp?
if so what games are running good for you?

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 03:03 PM

the gaming is now rocking along steady with the occasional skip, but it is good right now...

solofx7 · Jan 19, 2007, 09:47 AM

i have installed half life 2 and it runs rather impressive. once again there is random skipping.
i am going to find out the reason for this eventually.
i thought it would be video drivers, but that does not appear to be the case.
the video drivers that are loaded on the unit appear to be the only ones that can be used as i go to ATI/AMD and it will not allow me to download the new ones for the hardware that i have.

solofx7 · Jan 19, 2007, 09:49 AM

is anyone running Vista on Bootcamp and gaming on a Macbook Pro?

solofx7 · Jan 19, 2007, 01:34 PM

interesting read on Vista and gaming....
Gameplay Stinks with RTM Vista and Current Drivers | Tom's Hardware

TailsToo · Jan 19, 2007, 11:08 PM

I'm not even gonna try Vista for a while... maybe a few months (and if I can get my contacts at MS to get me a copy

fuzzball963 · Jan 20, 2007, 03:46 PM

I play call of Duty 2 on the Mac side and it plays without a hitch. I also play BF2142 on the Windows side with everything enabled and 2xAA and it works quite well. An occasional slowdown but not bad at all

amanmann · Jan 20, 2007, 08:52 PM

hey fuzzball 963.. what specs is your mac... ?
I ordered a MBP 2.16/2G RAM and was wondering how would COD2 run on that..

mojo5436 · Jan 20, 2007, 09:30 PM

Older game (as in whats out now). Runs perfect, guaranteed.

solofx7 · Jan 22, 2007, 06:05 PM

i think that Vista will be alot more immpresive when you can play games on it good and the file system is not so selective as to older programs it will allow to run...
i would be very angry if i paid 99 - 600 for Vista in its current version and after the legnthy install it would not allow me to install my current software or games.
then you have to go through a reinstall/activation of XP.
essentially wasting time and money.
i will give Vista that it looks pretty...

Simon · Jan 23, 2007, 04:25 AM

I played CoD2 on my 2.33 GHz 15" MBP and I was surprised by the speed and level of detail. It's by far the best gaming experience I've ever had on a portable Mac. Just for fun I also installed CoD and ran it through Rosetta emulation. It ran very well too.

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 10:50 AM

is COD2 on the mac yet?
what is a good resource for mac games?

buddy1065 · 11:41 AM

I've been playing Oblivion on my 2.33 Ghz 256 MB GPU MBP core duo 2. Seems to handle it pretty well at 1280x768 no anti aliasing. There is some slowdown with multiple characters but not enough to really annoy me.

Screenshot of my Character Lara using my C2D Macbook Pro:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ssBowWings.jpg

Of course I use Boot camp with Windows XP to play it. Best game ever IMHO. You actually create your characters face, race, gender at the beginning of the game.

Generally though the graphics quality of this game is nothing short of amazing on my MBP, and you can switch between 1st and 3rd person perspective at the click of a button.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...UmbraSword.jpg

Simon · Jan 24, 2007, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by solofx7

is COD2 on the mac yet?

Yes.
A demo is available too.

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by buddy1065

I've been playing Oblivion on my 2.33 Ghz 256 MB GPU MBP core duo 2. Seems to handle it pretty well at 1280x768 no anti aliasing. There is some slowdown with multiple characters but not enough to really annoy me.

Screenshot of my Character Lara using my C2D Macbook Pro:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ssBowWings.jpg

Of course I use Boot camp with Windows XP to play it. Best game ever IMHO. You actually create your characters face, race, gender at the beginning of the game.

Generally though the graphics quality of this game is nothing short of amazing on my MBP, and you can switch between 1st and 3rd person perspective at the click of a button.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...UmbraSword.jpg

where did you get that armor? in the second pic. it is pretty sweet.

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

Yes.
A demo is available too.

sorry, i meant cod3

fuzzball963 · Jan 24, 2007, 01:50 PM

It's the 2.1Ghz Core Duo with 2GB RAM and 100GB 7200 RPM drive and the 256 MB ATI card

buddy1065 · Jan 24, 2007, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by solofx7

where did you get that armor? in the second pic. it is pretty sweet.

The following is a SPOILER with the following link map to the place where Umbra's armor is:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...raLocation.jpg

but first you must defeat Umbra; she is pretty tough unless difficulty settings are turned to easy.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...facesUmbra.jpg

This is said to be perhaps the 2nd best armor in the game. You can get it as early in the game as you want as long as you are able to defeat Umbra.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...aUmbraSide.jpg

If you have the game let me know how things turn out.

buddy1065 · Jan 24, 2007, 02:49 PM

Keep in mind these are screenshots of the actual game on the MBP. Here is my character in the dining room of her Skingrad home. Check out the video quality.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...ngradHouse.jpg

Although you can create additional main characters you cannot play your characters simultaneously with each other, but you can start separate games with each one. Here is one of my newer characters I created named Jemima. I created her face without mods, just the ingame tools.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...emimaremix.jpg

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by buddy1065

The following is a SPOILER with the following link map to the place where Umbra's armor is:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...raLocation.jpg

but first you must defeat Umbra; she is pretty tough unless difficulty settings are turned to easy.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...facesUmbra.jpg

This is said to be perhaps the 2nd best armor in the game. You can get it as early in the game as you want as long as you are able to defeat Umbra.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...aUmbraSide.jpg

If you have the game let me know how things turn out.

do you have ichat?
i have some game related questions for you.
how much did you pay for it?
where did you get it?
i have the game, but i have it on my x360...
i am a chunk of hours into the game, but i have not progressed that much.
i bought all of the downloadable content other than the knights of nine... i want it, but i have not gotten it yet....

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by buddy1065

The following is a SPOILER with the following link map to the place where Umbra's armor is:

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...raLocation.jpg

but first you must defeat Umbra; she is pretty tough unless difficulty settings are turned to easy.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...facesUmbra.jpg

This is said to be perhaps the 2nd best armor in the game. You can get it as early in the game as you want as long as you are able to defeat Umbra.

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...aUmbraSide.jpg

If you have the game let me know how things turn out.

is that in the city where you found the armor?
i gotta try that tonight...

buddy1065 · 06:30 PM

The armor is not in a city.

It is in the catocomb or tomb, whatever, called Vandesal as It's marked it on the map. Check the map I posted again for Vandesal. It won't show up on your XBOX map until you discover it.

Just for kicks I tried to recover the armor with my newer level 1 character (from Umbra) and Umbra was wiping the floor with her so I took off with Umbra chasing. I swam across to the waterfront district hoping to find a Centurian which I thought would kill her. Indeed she chased me across the river into the waterfront district but the Centurian I found arrested me instead; perhaps because I struck Umbra first. Fortunately my current character, Lara beat her and she's only level 3, so at least I have her armor with Lara as you can see.

I bought the game at a local Target store in Hollywood, Florida, I forget how much, but I don't think it was on sale.

Advancing in the Arena probably helped my character the most.

Here are some forums which may help

Planet Elder Scrolls Forum

Canadian Ice & Howndog's Place - Index

Also if you had the PC version there's loads of cheat and item codes.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion PC Give Item Codes - Oblivion PC Codes

You can download the codes to give you as much money as you want so you can buy any house or horse or you can download any weapon...including Umbra's sword I think, although I defeated her for her armor and sword. You can't win the game in a day, but really it's such a cool looking game who would want to?

Here's some Armor Lara got on her own.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...T99/LARA7c.jpg
This Glass Armor was gotten from a player.additem code:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...lassArmor2.jpg

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o...lassArmor3.jpg

solofx7 · Jan 24, 2007, 10:52 PM

thanks, i got the armor.. it is on my male charachter though... hehe...
do you have ichat?

buddy1065 · Jan 25, 2007, 12:02 AM

Nah, sorry; no iChat.

solofx7 · Jan 25, 2007, 09:12 AM

thanks alot for the info. i am contemplaying getting this for my xp side of my mac.
i am still having trouble leveling. but i guess i will have to look into that at some point.

buddy1065 · Jan 25, 2007, 02:01 PM

Yeah, when you see the message that you need to "sleep, rest and contemplate" that means find a bed and sleep and you will be shown a level up stats board. You must sleep before leveling up, so don't ignore the message pop-up while you are gaming.

solofx7 · Jan 25, 2007, 02:55 PM

i dont get that much...

solofx7 · Jan 26, 2007, 11:41 AM

ok, i finally sucked it up and got oblivion for the PC.
what are the setting that you run ?