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ero2 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:16 PM

How would a macbook with 2 gigs of ram play WOW? Just curious, I really want to get in on the wireless N and a little bit more portable notebook, so I am going to sell my macbook pro and go with a Macbook and large LCD, but am concerned with how the graphics will look. Will I see a difference beteween my 1.83ghz MBP with 128mb ATI and 1gig of ram, vs the Black Macbook with its graphics card and 2 gigs of Ram?

jaydon34 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:31 PM

I have a macbook but I haven't tried to game with it. If I were you I would stay with the current Macbook pro over a Core 2 Duo Macbook. I think the gpu in the system would handle the game better than a meager processor upgrade and the addition of ram.

centerchannel68 · Jan 18, 2007, 10:40 PM

It will suck ass. The video card in the macbook is a joke, only good for photoshop and 2d work. In 3d it sucks worse than a 3 year old 9800 Pro.

Peter · Jan 19, 2007, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by centerchannel68

It will suck ass. The video card in the macbook is a joke, only good for photoshop and 2d work. In 3d it sucks worse than a 3 year old 9800 Pro.

Have you tried it? no?
Don't comment them Rob.

I've had rumours that it plays pretty well -- will try it out at work tomorrow

ero2 · 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by Peter

Have you tried it? no?
Don't comment them Rob.

I've had rumours that it plays pretty well -- will try it out at work tomorrow

That would be phenominal if you could try it out for me tomorrow and let me know. I have heard it plays pretty well on the MB even with the lower graphics card. You then, sir, will be my deciding factor tomorrow

Please let me know ASAP. I saw a mac mini pushing the 20 ACD and it looked fine, will it work on a 32in sharp aquos well too? Or did I just go from pushing it, to WAY pushing it LOL ?

Peter · Jan 21, 2007, 11:49 AM

hi ero2.
I'm in org, level 58 priest alt -- I'm getting ~25FPS!
there is at least 10 characters on the screen -- no slow down when jumping off buildings, casting spells etc.
Overall, very impressive performance!
Running it on max res with med settings.

ero2 · Jan 21, 2007, 02:51 PM

Thank you so much Peter, so if I am not a "hardcore" gamer I probably won't even notie a difference, right? Also, can I push a bigger LCD with the MB...22" samsung or a 32 Aquos LCD? I may just go with the MB now that you've let me know, thanks again for taking the time to do it!

Peter · Jan 23, 2007, 07:29 AM

no worries.
I'm a fairly hardcore gamer (in wow anyway

-- 3 level ~60 chars).
Doubt you'll be able to push a higher res with the MacBook without serious performance loss....
Try it though?

I can give you a european trial key -- I'm sure a US member will offer you a USA key.

Scifience · Jan 24, 2007, 12:12 AM

You'll get much better performance on your MBP.

I can get 50-60fps at 1440x900 with all settings at max on a 1.83 Core Duo Toshiba notebook with 1GB RAM and an NVIDIA 7800 mobile edition.

tinkered · Jan 30, 2007, 09:57 PM

I must admit, with my MBP, WOW doesn't test the limits of my core 2 duo at all, but the GPU could fry an egg. My CPU runs at around 30%-40% and even lower if I turn off the sound. Could someone with a Macbook comment on how processor intensive WOW is for them. Is WOW really taking advantage of the processor or is there a bottle neck keeping the processor from being utilized?

Chuckit · Jan 30, 2007, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by tinkered

I must admit, with my MBP, WOW doesn't test the limits of my core 2 duo at all, but the GPU could fry an egg. My CPU runs at around 30%-40% and even lower if I turn off the sound. Could someone with a Macbook comment on how processor intensive WOW is for them. Is WOW really taking advantage of the processor or is there a bottle neck keeping the processor from being utilized?

The GPU is definitely a bottleneck on the MBP. The Core 2 Duo is more or less state of the art, but the GPU is ancient and underclocked.

jdrumstik · Jan 31, 2007, 01:00 AM

You people need to realize that even 1.8GHz CDs run games fine and don't even struggle the losses are all in limitations of ram and mostly GPU. the 128Mb X1600 can play most anything they want pretty close to high settings, while a slightly OC'd X1600 with 256MB of memory could play anything it wanted on high settings.

So, I recommend that if you want to play games that you go with a MBP, if you are simply playing WoW and you don't care about graphics go with the MB.

SLiMeX · Jan 31, 2007, 01:21 PM

I play WoW on my Macbook with 1GB of RAM THROUGH a 19" Widescreen external monitor. It runs extremely well. The fan kicks on, but nothing major. There's never any jumps or lags. I really don't know why everyone is talking crap about it, I have had wonderful luck.

zboy · Jan 31, 2007, 08:55 PM

I haven't done any serious testing, but WoW runs about as well on my macbook (core duo, not core 2 duo) as my dual 2 GHz G5 with the 128 MB 9600 XT.. so definitely playable.

Birchscott · Jan 31, 2007, 09:47 PM

I am running WoW: BC on a 2.0 ghz MacBook, Core Duo, with 1.25gb RAM. As the previous posters have mentioned, the GPU in these things sucks

, and really is the cause of the somewhat poor performance of this game on this machine. I have all of my settings at their minimum and typically experience 13-17 fps. The fan kicks on to full speed within minutes of launching WoW, and as I'm sure most of you know, these MB fans sound like a damn huey.
With the video options cranked up I'm lucky to squeeze out 5 fps...

I installed the game on my machine with the original 512 mb RAM and to be honest, the extra 1gb chip did little (or at least less than I had hoped) to improve perfomance.
Out of all the machines I have installed WoW on, the Intel iMac runs it the best; 30-50fps with beautiful graphics and hardly any lag. A couple problems exist with WoW on laptops. Firstly, the GPU is almost always subpar. They're simply not gaming machines. Also, laptop hard drives have lower RPMs than fullsize HDs, creating yet another data constriction. In addition, use ethernet to connect, if possible. I find that wireless doesn't quite cut it for network heavy WoW events, such as raids, PvP battlegrounds, etc.

Anyways...despite the low frame rates, gameplay is still tolerable. I'm too deep into this horrible addiction to stop...hell I'd play with 5fps if I had to.

bstone · Jan 31, 2007, 11:30 PM

I have the MacBook and 2GB of RAM. WoW runs just fine. I play it a bit too much.

There is some minor lag, but that happens mostly is really populated places like Stormwind (aka Lagwind)

legacyb4 · Feb 1, 2007, 01:10 AM

So it sounds like it'll play games older than WoW without much trouble. Man, I can't wait till I can actually open my laptop (I've been gone all week on business and my laptop is sitting still in box at my office...)

merloon · Feb 1, 2007, 03:10 AM

WoW is remarkably adaptive to hardware requirements. I've been running it without any major problems on a G4 iMac/800, which is below the stated minimums on the box. It only gets problematic in majorly crowded areas. When out in the wild, it's perfectly fine. If it runs this good on a system that by Blizzard standards shouldn't be allowed, I don't see why a Macbook couldn't handle it, even without a bona fide graphics card.

jtrwallace · Feb 1, 2007, 03:24 AM

i know my computer is a tad old, but i have a 1.67 ppc 15 inch powerbook with 128 mb vram in a radeon 9700. i play WoW in 1440x900 at medium settings which pretty much maxes out my processor and uses a lot of my 1.5 gb of ram. however, i get 25-35 fps with minimal lag on a wireless connection. i always assumed it would run terribly but i was pleasantly surprised

kildjean · Feb 1, 2007, 09:36 AM

At home we have 3 computers. 2 of them are macs and 1 is a pc.

Im going to start my comparison, with the PC it being the underdog. Its a AMD 64 3.2ghz with 1gb of ram and a 7600GS nvidia card w/256ram on vid card.

The laptop is a intel core duo macbook with 1gb of ram. (1st gen).

The other mac is a Power Mac G5 dual 2.0 with 2gb of ram and a standard ATI 9650 Vid card. I am running tiger 10.4.9

I play in my power mac WoW, because that is my machine. But my GF plays in the PC because the Macbook, athough it plays WoW just fine when you go on a raid, the lack of a video card is apparent and it is slow.

Although the MBP you have has a lesser CPU compared with the new MB's, Wow will rely better on the video csard than the slight CPU Upgrade. I say slight because the only real difference in that cpu, is that its capable of running in 64bit, and its of no use right now because leoplard has not hit the streets yet.

I think what you should do, is either:

1. keep the MBP and drop more ram into it.
2. sell the MBP, and buy a new 15" MBP
3. kep the MB, buy a new imac core duo 2 with 2gb of ram and the 24" option. It will run WoW amazingly well and with a good framerate.

The only way the macbook will run with 25fps is by running in the lowest setings. and you dont want that... if you are dumping money in a nw laptop its to run stuff at the best setings.

that is just my opinion....

For the horde!

Sietepestes, Lvl 61 Shammy @ Malganis

tbenning · Feb 1, 2007, 11:10 AM

The MacBook is by no means a gaming machine. The video card does suck. But, WoW does run acceptably on it. I am getting 20 - 25fps with the default settings at full 1280x800 in the Ghostlands. It is good enough for a quick fix, but I will not give up my fully loaded 24" iMac for it.

Tim

OtisWild · 12:28 PM

Since 2.0.0 (and possibly earlier), WoW on Macbook has improved dramatically. Before the patch, I was getting 3-5fps in Ironforge, after the patch (and before the Burning Crusade neutron bomb hit IF) it was between 12-17fps.

All you need is a proper 3-button mouse and keyboard and the Macbook is a moderately decent WoW machine.

BTW, this is with the 2ghz Core Duo + 2GB RAM.

(Oh, and to whine: I want a Mac that can do 50fps in IF on a 56" 1080p HDTV and it costs less than $1500. Just like my handbuild.)

Saint_Stryfe · Feb 1, 2007, 12:37 PM

I tried WOW with BC running the most recent patches on my mother's Stock 1.83 Core Duo MacBook (no extra RAM, basic HD, the lowest-end Macbook released so far), and with settings turned down I got very comfortable 24-30 FPS in field, and 40 or more in caves. The only slow down was on incredibly busy areas like IF AH or in high-graphics areas like Exodar. Even then, it's playable (~15 FPS, with occassional drops to 9 FPS if I'm swinging the camera). It's as good as my iMac G5.

Get a gig of RAM (remeber, Internal video feeds on RAM) or more, and I personally like a faster HD (page outs are faster). The only other thing to consider is your fans will run a bit.

For the Alliance!

JasonM · Feb 1, 2007, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by ero2

How would a macbook with 2 gigs of ram play WOW? Just curious, I really want to get in on the wireless N and a little bit more portable notebook, so I am going to sell my macbook pro and go with a Macbook and large LCD, but am concerned with how the graphics will look. Will I see a difference beteween my 1.83ghz MBP with 128mb ATI and 1gig of ram, vs the Black Macbook with its graphics card and 2 gigs of Ram?

I play wow on my Macbook, it works great. Full graphics enabled and all.

Bobby · Feb 1, 2007, 02:28 PM

My MacBook Core Duo (1st gen, not core 2 duo) with 2GB RAM runs WOW prettty well. I don't have all the video settings cranked to the max, but with the defaults that were pre-configured, it seems to run perfectly fine...

I do have to admit though, that I haven't played it much, but the time I did spend it seemed fine. I can only assume that current MacBook's will only run it better...

kildjean · Feb 1, 2007, 08:35 PM

most of you are comparing, your experience on a macbook with 25- 50 frames, but the settings are cranked down.

with an mbp you can do all that, with the setitngs way up... it still would run it faster than on a macbook coreduo 2....

k.

11011001 · Feb 5, 2007, 10:27 PM

ero2:

I have a MBP C2D 2.3 Ghz. Playing WoW on an external 24" is pretty bad (~10-15 FPS). I usually have to run it in window mode. So, the MB is probably going to chug along pretty bad on an external monitor (at full res).

Off topic: Since they introduced multithreaded OpenGL, switching from full-screen to window-mode seems to unload all the graphics. To get everything smooth again, one has to rotate the camera 360°. It used to be so nice to switch out of full screen and then back in, without any wait or gitters.

alain_30_alain · Mar 20, 2007, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by 11011001

I have a MBP C2D 2.3 Ghz. Playing WoW on an external 24" is pretty bad (~10-15 FPS). I usually have to run it in window mode. So, the MB is probably going to chug along pretty bad on an external monitor (at full res).

Man, it's not the MacBook Pro that is slow...

It's your 24" screen that is slow. I bet it's an old one.. or a Sony, Hitachi, LG one. Dell makes nice big screen with very low FPS, because they make computers --> gaming computers.