Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > MacBook Pro and Games/Video

MacBook Pro and Games/Video
Thread Tools
Chinasaur
Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Out West Somewhere....
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 4, 2008, 09:21 PM
 
Thinking of getting the GF a 2.4Ghz MBP for Wow/online video. She currently has a 15" CoreDuo HP and the fans do NOT make any noise. I want her to have as silent an experience as possible.

Using WoW, would the fans be noticeable AT ALL?

Also, she watches online video and that also makes my MacBook fans spin up while the HP remains silent. Would she get a silent experience watching say, hulu.com, on a MBP?

Thanks in advance, those of you with MBP's, for your experiences.

**Mods, I thought long and hard about where to place this post..if it's not in what you consider a suitable location..Please move.
iMac - Late 2015 iMac, 32GB RAM
MacBook - 2010 MacBook, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM
     
mduell
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 4, 2008, 11:13 PM
 
A Mac laptop running OS X is not the machine you're looking for. The fans will be noticable in WoW (demanding game on the CPU/GPU) and playing even tiny/low quality flash video (OS X flash player is very poorly executed, uses 100% CPU for any non-trivial flash element).
     
Chinasaur  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Out West Somewhere....
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 5, 2008, 05:51 PM
 
A MacBook Pro IS the laptop we want her on. Not looking for a gaming laptop..but an OS X laptop can "can" play games.

The questions remains..on a MBP I can buy refurb'd now..do MBP owners notice the fan noise when playing games or watching DVD's?

TIA
iMac - Late 2015 iMac, 32GB RAM
MacBook - 2010 MacBook, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 5, 2008, 07:19 PM
 
When watching DVDs? No, I don't notice the fans at all. But I don't play WoW, which is, as mduell points out, a very demanding game. Remember, the MBP throttles the fans depending on thermal production, so with just DVDs, there's not much to do, but with all the CPU and GPU action in a game like WoW, let's just say that "headphones may be appropriate." Not that I think it would be really horrible, just that you'd probably hear them in spite of the game's music and sounds.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Xarthan
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 5, 2008, 07:20 PM
 
my fans kick on when i play wow and the unit gets VERY hot. if the room is hot say 78 or more the fans are very loud, but i useheadphones so i don't notice em.
Macbook Pro 2.16 C2D | 2GB | 160 HD
Mac Pro 3.0 | 4GB | 1.5 TB | 30" ACD
     
mduell
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 5, 2008, 08:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by Chinasaur View Post
I want her to have as silent an experience as possible.
Originally Posted by Chinasaur View Post
A MacBook Pro IS the laptop we want her on.
You need to decide which you're going to follow... the MBP in OS X is going to be noisy in WoW or playing flash video.
     
tiger
Forum Regular
Join Date: Jun 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 02:52 AM
 
Game performance under windows is much better than under OSX,

I play Crysis, which is by far a more demanding game on my 2.4 macbook pro and its great, but under osx even a simple game like halo makes the fans spin up... not that loud though, but noticeable enough
     
Randman
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: MacNN database error. Please refresh your browser.
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 03:06 AM
 
Keep it ventilated, take the battery out and it's very playable on a MacBook Pro.

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
Simon
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 04:18 AM
 
If you're interested in performance, taking out the battery is about the last thing you'd want to do.
     
Randman
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: MacNN database error. Please refresh your browser.
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 04:21 AM
 
With the battery on in a raid, my MBP 17 gets up past 75c. If I take out the battery, it drops to around 60-64 and I can 10-20 fps.

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 09:23 AM
 
With the battery out, doesn't the MBP automatically LOWER the CPU clock? That would explain Randman's lower temps, but that's at the cost of CPU power. That doesn't sound like a good tradeoff for game playing to me.

Instead, I'd recommend putting the MBP on a stand (my Targus X-stand is an example) on a tabletop so that the whole thing gets plenty of air circulation and can thus play cooler.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Simon
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: in front of my Mac
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 10:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
With the battery out, doesn't the MBP automatically LOWER the CPU clock? That would explain Randman's lower temps, but that's at the cost of CPU power. That doesn't sound like a good tradeoff for game playing to me.
Yes. When you remove the MBP's battery it automatically drops its CPU clock to 1 GHz. No wonder his notebook gets cooler. Amd this is also why I said you don't want to remove the battery if you're concerned about performance. And most gamers I know are pretty much concerned with performance.

Obviously running at 1 GHz will make for a cooler MBP. Also, if your battery happens to be charging it will cause additional heat. It's no surprise running w/o the battery is cooler. For performance reasons I however prefer a decent stand and SMC Fan Control. Or actually not using a notebook for gaming altogether.
     
mduell
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 12:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by Simon View Post
When you remove the MBP's battery it automatically drops its CPU clock to 1 GHz. No wonder his notebook gets cooler.
And disables all but one core.

I don't understand this insane policy that Apple forces Mac laptop users... fortunately no one else has followed it.
     
Chinasaur  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Out West Somewhere....
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 03:55 PM
 
Good info..thanks! Are MBP's afflicted with the overapplied thermal paste issue?
iMac - Late 2015 iMac, 32GB RAM
MacBook - 2010 MacBook, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 7, 2008, 07:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by Chinasaur View Post
Good info..thanks! Are MBP's afflicted with the overapplied thermal paste issue?
It's possible, but I certainly haven't taken mine apart just to look at it.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
JoshuaZ
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Yamanashi, Japan
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 11, 2008, 07:28 AM
 
Maybe get her one of those stands with little fans on the bottom? Or have her play WoW in an ice box?

Does she live in Canada? Then just open the windows. It will help things cool down.
     
junglejay
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jul 2008
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 3, 2008, 06:38 PM
 
Are the comments regarding poor gaming performance (high heat) on the MBP strictly related to OSX? In other words, would the MBP play games better if those were loaded using Bootcamp/XP Pro?

Thanks.
J.
     
bballe336
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: MA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 3, 2008, 08:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by junglejay View Post
Are the comments regarding poor gaming performance (high heat) on the MBP strictly related to OSX? In other words, would the MBP play games better if those were loaded using Bootcamp/XP Pro?

Thanks.
J.
Games run great in windows, however I am still able to get around 80FPS in CS:S emulated under crossover in OSX.

The macbook pro seems loud because the fans are constantly spinning up and then back down, which seems pretty stupid to me, I just use smcFanControl to set the fans to a higher minimum RPM when I'm doing something intensive and the machine doesn't get hot enough for the fans to need to spin all the way up.
     
mduell
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 3, 2008, 09:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by junglejay View Post
Are the comments regarding poor gaming performance (high heat) on the MBP strictly related to OSX? In other words, would the MBP play games better if those were loaded using Bootcamp/XP Pro?
The gaming performance is pretty good for a laptop; any poor performance is because it's a laptop and games generally run worse on OS X. High heat is unrelated to poor performance. Yes, games run better in Windows.
     
Ozz_man
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Land between the Lakes!
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 4, 2008, 09:24 AM
 
Games run better in Windows? I wonder why? I have Doom 3 and the Sims from Aspyr running on OS X now I just wonder I see it in the bargain bin at Wal Mart for $20 just how much better it would run if it would be worth installing XP?

This is all good info this thread is
     
mduell
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 4, 2008, 09:32 AM
 
Originally Posted by Ozz_man View Post
Games run better in Windows? I wonder why? I have Doom 3 and the Sims from Aspyr running on OS X now I just wonder I see it in the bargain bin at Wal Mart for $20 just how much better it would run if it would be worth installing XP?
Better video drivers, sometimes different APIs, more effort put into the platform.
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:14 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,