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Kdog01 · Nov 20, 2004, 05:03 PM

I have been shopping for a new computer for about 4 months, and I am sold on the mac. I REALLY like the powerbook and I think I am going to go with that over the single 1.8 tower. Even though I consider myself a fairly active gamer.

My question is, what type of REALISTIC performance can I expect from a new 1.5 GHz powerbook with 512Ram when it comes to World of Warcraft? I have heard many different powerbook owners say that get bad fps while others say good. Can I play WOW if I buy a powerbook?

azdude · 05:55 PM

Originally posted by Kdog01:
I have been shopping for a new computer for about 4 months, and I am sold on the mac. I REALLY like the powerbook and I think I am going to go with that over the single 1.8 tower. Even though I consider myself a fairly active gamer.

My question is, what type of REALISTIC performance can I expect from a new 1.5 GHz powerbook with 512Ram when it comes to World of Warcraft? I have heard many different powerbook owners say that get bad fps while others say good. Can I play WOW if I buy a powerbook?

Not sure about WOW, but Call of Duty runs superbly on my 1.5GHz (1.25GB Ram). I have the 64MB VRAM version.

However, any "fairly active" gamer would likely fare better with the PowerBook he *knows* he wants, and a cheap, mid-grade PC for gaming. Even die-hard Mac-heads like me admit to the platform's defeat in the gaming sector.

jamil5454 · Nov 20, 2004, 10:24 PM

That's correct. What most mac users think of good performance, us PC gamers can't accept it. For the the price of a powerbook, you can buy a high-end PC that would run any game at 1600x1200 on high settings. But, if you still insist on getting a mac, I'd suggest getting a cheaper iBook for computing and then a mid-range PC for games.

Hopeful_Monster · Nov 20, 2004, 10:29 PM

I've just finished the WoW beta with a pretty new 1.5GHz, 512 RAM, ATI 9700 w/ 128 RAM video card, and I'd say that WoW (right now) is playable, but not great. I'd get roughly 20 fps usually, but would slow to a crawl in large-scale PVP situations.

The big caveat here is that apparently Blizzard is waiting on Apple/ATI/nVidia to update their Mac OpenGL drivers (i.e. I think a lot of the graphical features for the WoW Mac client aren't enable or optimized right now). So hopefully things get better.

Altogether, totally playable, but not spectacular.

Halfloaf · Nov 21, 2004, 05:20 AM

I have noticed a shift in trend where games thesedays require more MHZ and ram for the Mac than PC. This was the reverse about 2 years ago...

WoW requires 800mhz Pentium whereas on a Mac it's 933Mhz G4. And 256mb ram for PC vs. 512 for Mac...Sad...Very sad...Me thinks the G4 has run out of steam.

Sad, sad, sad!

-HL

tooki · Nov 21, 2004, 12:42 PM

You'll want more than 512MB of RAM, though. I consider 512MB insufficient for office work, never mind games.

tooki

wuzup101 · Nov 22, 2004, 03:08 AM

You definitely might consider the iBook and a mid price SFF PC to do your gaming on. My powerboook plays games at decent frame rates for the most part. However, it can't hold a candle to my PC which was built specifically for gaming about a year and a half ago. Unfortunately I can't stand to do much on my PC anymore b/c of lack of OSX

... but it does game very well!

Kdog01 · Nov 23, 2004, 12:43 AM

How well would Warcraft III and C&C Generals play on a new 1.5 Powerbook?

filmmaker2002 · Nov 23, 2004, 12:47 AM

Originally posted by Kdog01:
How well would Warcraft III and C&C Generals play on a new 1.5 Powerbook?

Uggg, not very well. WCIII works ok I guess, but C&C Generals is barely playable and when it is, it is painfully so. I have a 128MB GPU in my powerbook with 2 GB RAM, and it still runs like crap. Can't wait for my new Power Mac Dual 2.5 with the 6800 to get here

Kdog01 · Nov 23, 2004, 12:58 AM

Man that is not good news for me. I wanted the 15in Powerbook, and would only really be playing Warcraft III, C&C Generals, and hopefully WOW.

Doesn't sound good. Maybe I should rethink things.

filmmaker2002 · Nov 23, 2004, 01:40 AM

Quake 3 based games however run great. Jedi Outcast, COD, MOH:AA, good stuff. Damn, even Halo runs playable. It's just the real time strategy games that seem to tax everything. Like I said, WCIII plays ok, even pretty well, but C&C is atrocious.

wuzup101 · Nov 23, 2004, 02:16 AM

Most of the people on this board has stated that the 15" powerbooks play WOW fairly well... and performance is only getting better as the game matures. I was a member of the open beta and it seemed to be fine for the little bit that I played. WC3 also played fine on this machine...

Luca Rescigno · Nov 23, 2004, 02:50 AM

WC3 should be like butter at max settings on it. I've played it on numerous setups, including a G3/800 iBook, a dual 450 MHz PowerMac, and a single 1.33 GHz PowerMac. And from what I've observed, WC3 simply needs 64 MB of VRAM to run well. The dual 450 with a 32 MB card was terrible, as was the iBook, but when I put a 64 MB card in the dual 450, it made it nice and fast. Switching the processor over to the 1.33, I noticed no difference in performance. So if you have 64 MB of VRAM, you should be fine.

C&C played like crap on all the setups, by the way. I wouldn't expect anything out of it.

crazeazn · Nov 23, 2004, 11:39 PM

so what games play reasonably fine on a rev. B 12" powerbook.

t4r1q · Nov 24, 2004, 12:44 AM

I've played WC3 and it runs fine on mu 1.33Ghz 12" PowerBook

Marid · Nov 24, 2004, 04:24 AM

I'm using a 1.5 GHz, 15", 128 MB VRAM, 1 GB RAM PB as my main computer. I've been playing WC3:FT on max settings. I haven't noticed any slowdowns, but I'm only playing SP.

I've recently played Homeworld2 through a couple of times also on max settings. No problems.

I also played quite a bit of UT2k4 online. It has been a lot of fun, but it isn't "butter smooth."

To sum up, unless you have to play the latest shooters at top performance, you should be plenty happy with a PB. If you want to play Doom3 or the like, get a G5 or (shudder) a PC. That said, having the freedom to play your games anywhere in your house or at your friends is amazing. I'm using wireless networking, an Apple BT keyboard (very nice), and a BT MX900 mouse (crappy battery life). FREEDOM rules!

Oh yeah, and get 1 GB of RAM. It makes a big difference, especially in load times for new levels in UT2k4 and ST:Elite Force2.

Scooterboy · Nov 24, 2004, 12:09 PM

I think the 5400 RPM hard drive option really helps in load times. I've only plaed FPS games (Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, Halo) on my PowerBook. These games run great, with decent framerates at high settings. You do need to fine tune settings for the best compromise in performance/eye candy.

The PowerBook is a surprisingly good gaming platform considering that it's a Mac and it's a notebook. However I'm thinking of buying a desktop solution for gaming sometime in the near future, or an X-Box.

I wonder how a PowerBook G5 will game?