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jheath · Feb 3, 2006, 10:14 PM

I am soon to convert from Windows to Mac and I am extremely eager. After almost 10 years of Windows, I am itching to take on a new OS. I have also been recently been playing WoW, and taken an extreme liking to the game. Anyways; I have to make a decision between these two:

17" Powerbook
1.6Ghz
2GB PC2-4200 RAM
120GB HDD

---

1.83 Ghz Mac Book Pro
2GB DDR2 Memory
100GB 7200 HDD

Obviously the graphics component in the 1.83 Ghz Mac Book Pro is more likely to run World Of Warcraft smoothly in comparison to the powerbook. But the limiting screen size of the Mac Book Pro is a real let down for me.

What are everybody's opinions on this. What would you choose if you were in my situation? Both products work out to be around the same price. However I may end up buying a HD display if I convince myself to buy the Mac Book Pro!

mduell · Feb 3, 2006, 10:22 PM

As soon as a Universal Binary is out for WoW I suggest the MBP... X1600 is a huge step up from 9700.
Although by the time the Universal Binary is released for WoW, there could easily be a 17" MBP.

jheath · Feb 3, 2006, 10:27 PM

Im really only looking for a game to pass the time

.
Is WoW one of the only MMORPGS's to work on a MAC?
I'm a web-developer, so I crave a big screen (especially when its portable).
I think waiting for the WoW Binary and a 17" MBP will be more of a loss to me than it would be a oppurtunity. So; as I said, just need something to pass the time.
Any suggestions anyone?

Drakino · Feb 4, 2006, 04:07 AM

From personal experience, WoW on the Powerbook isn't going to be great at all. It will be playable, but not at the native resolution of the LCD. My 1.25ghz Powerbook with the Radeon 9600 runs WoW at 896x600 and still has to turn most things way down for a 20fps rate. I don't think the bump on the processor and the upgrade to the 9700 will change things too much, as one of the Blizzard developers seems to think the memory bandwidth and other limitations on the Powerbook cripple the game greatly.

The universal binary version of WoW is likely to be out in two weeks at most, as it is scheduled for the 1.9.3 patch. Right now under rosetta, the new iMacs are able to hit similar performance to my Powerbook. With the universal binary they easily hit 100fps with everything maxed.

If screen size is important to you and you really want the 17 inch, try to hold out. Apple is bound to make a 17 inch MacBook and it is going to be worth the wait, not only for WoW performance, but performance in other areas as well.

mduell · Feb 4, 2006, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by jheath

Im really only looking for a game to pass the time

.
Is WoW one of the only MMORPGS's to work on a MAC?
I'm a web-developer, so I crave a big screen (especially when its portable).
I think waiting for the WoW Binary and a 17" MBP will be more of a loss to me than it would be a oppurtunity. So; as I said, just need something to pass the time.
Any suggestions anyone?

There's always Puzzle Pirates.

But Drakino's comments about WoW performance in Rosetta and the UB coming out soon sound good to me.

jheath · Feb 4, 2006, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by Drakino

From personal experience, WoW on the Powerbook isn't going to be great at all. It will be playable, but not at the native resolution of the LCD. My 1.25ghz Powerbook with the Radeon 9600 runs WoW at 896x600 and still has to turn most things way down for a 20fps rate. I don't think the bump on the processor and the upgrade to the 9700 will change things too much, as one of the Blizzard developers seems to think the memory bandwidth and other limitations on the Powerbook cripple the game greatly.

The universal binary version of WoW is likely to be out in two weeks at most, as it is scheduled for the 1.9.3 patch. Right now under rosetta, the new iMacs are able to hit similar performance to my Powerbook. With the universal binary they easily hit 100fps with everything maxed.

If screen size is important to you and you really want the 17 inch, try to hold out. Apple is bound to make a 17 inch MacBook and it is going to be worth the wait, not only for WoW performance, but performance in other areas as well.

Only question is; how long untill they bring out these 17"MBP's? I need a laptop now, and unfortunatley I cannot afford to wait. I guess it is puzzle pirates for me.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Im gonna go drool at some of the setups in the Powerbook Desktop Pic thread.

Timetheus · Feb 6, 2006, 06:21 PM

The 15" MBP hasn't evn shipped yet, I wouldn't hold my breath for a 17" for at least few months.

dacalo · Feb 6, 2006, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Timetheus

The 15" MBP hasn't evn shipped yet, I wouldn't hold my breath for a 17" for at least few months.

Yea, I wouldn't expect the 17'' until June, with updates being made on the 15" as well.

Chuckit · Feb 6, 2006, 08:08 PM

I can get an average of probably 20 FPS on my PowerBook 15" 1.5 GHz. More like 14 FPS in a big battle, more like 25 FPS if I'm just running through Duskwood alone or something. It's passable, but kind of meh. I expect the next-generation 17" would be a little better. MacBook Pro sounds like a fantastic gaming machine, but like everyone else said, it won't be out for a couple more weeks yet.

parsec_kadets · Feb 7, 2006, 09:19 PM

Blizzard released the UB today along with update 1.9.3. It wasn't the UB that was holding things up, but other updates in 1.9.3. Anyway, you can read this report:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...mp=1#post17123

And more reports can be found in the Mac support forum:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/bo...c-tech-support

lookmark · Feb 7, 2006, 09:23 PM

For WOW, you want the MacBook Pro.

jhogarty · Feb 8, 2006, 01:24 AM

I can confirm that, perhaps in today's (Tuesday) patch, I'm now running a universal binary. Doing a Get Info on the World of Warcraft.app shows:

Kind: Application (Universal)
Size: 14.9 MB

So, uh yeah, go with the MacBook Pro. Waiting for mine.

J.

terigox · 09:51 AM

FYI the universal binary patch did come out yesterday

It's official! I'm anxiously awaiting my MBpro as well

I can't wait to WoW on it... and I'll be losing my Mac virginity... goodbye windows

surfratt · Feb 8, 2006, 01:49 PM

On the Ars mac forum, some people who downloaded the Universal Binary patch and are playing on an intel imac say its night and day difference from their older mac. Where it was like a slide show flying into IronForge, its now smooth as silk. I can't wait for my MacBook pro 1.8 with 100gb 7200 rpm HD and 2 gigs ram. It will be soooo much better than my aging Ti 867 with 512 ram(which is below min specs, but is barely playable) Come on, Feb 15th can't come soon enough!

mduell · Feb 8, 2006, 02:51 PM

Unreal Tournament also released a Universal Binary yesterday. It's good to see companies releasing UBs so quickly.

shunsuke · Feb 9, 2006, 01:47 AM

oh goody!!!!!!

analogika · Feb 9, 2006, 04:51 AM

hep: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

" Hi Mike, WoW 1.9.3 on an iMac Core Duo is fantastic, outclassing previous Mac versions on any PPC Mac shipped to date.
I have run this game on everything from a Dual G5 (6800 Ultra) to an Athlon X2 running at 2.6GHz with a Geforce 7800 GTX 512MB card, and this is the first time the Mac version is just as enjoyable for me as the PC version.
My settings have been as follows:
Everything in-game at maximum except for Fullscreen glow (off) and Anisotropic filtering (off), with Antialiasing set to 2X, Multisampling, VSync off, and resolution set to the native 20" display of 1680x1050.

FPS generally ranges from 40-100 FPS, with ~50 being typical even with the demanding settings I have chosen. Crowded areas drop to rates similar to what I experienced on the AMD setup. This is a massive improvement.

There are still some hitches: Turning is still sometimes not as smooth as on the PC, especially if there are NPC dwellings around. (see report below for PowerPC mac user report on this also-Mike) There are a couple of areas (just outside the Mystic Temple area in Ironforge for example) where there is clearly some sort of limit being hit, and framerates plunge from ~60 down to the low teens or below until moving from the spot. This could be a CPU or VRAM limit being hit -- I'll know more when I can visit the same area on my (coming-soon) 256MB VRAM iMac. (He has a 2GHz model with std 128MB VRAM - the 256MB VRAM is a $75 BTO option. I'd spring for it if I were ordering one.-Mike)

All in all it's a terrific accomplishment by Blizzard, Apple, ATI and Intel, and at the same time a blistering indictment of previous G5- based gaming performance. There is just no comparison.
here is a link to some screenshots showing framerates and in-game settings:
http://web.mac.com/ciparis/iWeb/Wow/intel.html
cheers, Michael F. "

Randman · Feb 9, 2006, 08:12 AM

Damn, now I need to upgrade for sure as I'm playing on my PB17 (1.5ghz, 2GB of ram).

terigox · Feb 9, 2006, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

hep: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/

Beautiful!! Thanks for the post analogika!

Gig103 · Feb 9, 2006, 05:53 PM

I have a powerbook 15" with 768mb ram. WoW does not play well at all. 4fps in ironforge and MC, not much better outside. Oh, that is at all low settings, windowed mode of 640x480.

Universal Binary support was added Tuesday with 1.9.3.

I'm actually looking to get a new macbook pro so that I have WoW when on the road (yes i'm that addicted).