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 > Enthusiast Zone > Gaming > Best PC games that will run on a CoreDuo MacBook?

Best PC games that will run on a CoreDuo MacBook?
Thread Tools
moonmonkey
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 21, 2006, 08:04 AM
 
It seems like most of the new PC games don;t run that well under Bootcamp on a MacBook,

I have the 2ghz Core Duo, can anyone suggest some of these great PC games that will work well in Bootcamp?

I like 1st Person games really, my favorite game ever was Deus Ex.

Cheers.
     
svtcontour
Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 23, 2006, 11:52 PM
 
I think you'll have a hard time getting most fairly new FPS games to run well on that machine due to the video capabilities or lack of. There just isnt enough horsepower unless you're willing to go with older games like unreal 2003 etc. Some new ones may work but with a lot of detail turned down.
     
Sbtrfuge
Baninated
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Secretland
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 24, 2006, 12:38 PM
 
Your video card is horrid. You won't be able to run anything requirign 3d acceleration. Even old 3d games like quake 3 will barely run on your system.
     
NightEyes
Forum Regular
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: NY
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 25, 2006, 12:48 PM
 
^ You're an idiot if you believe that and your username is apt.

I've played Quake III on my MacBook and average 90fps with settings turned up. The MacBook performs better than my PB with its dedicated video card in this area. Jedi Academy is also very fast as a universal app. It's true the MBP easily outperforms the MB and is the way to go if you want to play current generation games such as Quake 4, Doom 3, etc...
mb air, imac, iphone, touch, shuffle
     
Philip J. Fry
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Planet Express
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 25, 2006, 01:07 PM
 
Fan of RPG's? Dungeon Siege 2 played perfect on my MacBook.
     
©öñFü$íóÑ
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jan 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 25, 2006, 01:34 PM
 
I wish I knew if Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (not "elite force 2"), worked under BootCamp as well or not. I know that game is like 6-7 years old now..... but it's the only one that has the physics settings I like. I mean, forget realism..... I like strafe-hopping and gaining extra speed from every successive hop!

So... anybody tried it on their MP/MBP yet?

Don't bully me, I got an Uzi... HOO-HAH!
     
urzsite
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 8, 2006, 07:36 AM
 
I enjoyed Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne, on my Macbook, both Mac side and the better on PC side.

Don't underestimate the gfx card in the Macbook, it can manage more then you think, for such a low price ( design value included ).

Have fun!
Macbook Pro C2D / ACD 23" / Nikon D80 + 18-200DX VR = Having fun!
     
TheoCryst
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 9, 2006, 01:40 PM
 
Sims 2 runs like a dream via Boot Camp (not so much in OS X, even with the Universal binary). Halo is okay on both, though slightly better in Windows.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
thebunny
Forum Regular
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 9, 2006, 02:57 PM
 
Unreal Tournament baby!
     
bluekatt
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 13, 2006, 06:22 PM
 
you might wanna give vampire the masqurade bloodlines a whirl its a good game i dont know it it wil run with your video card though even with a ati radeon with 128 mb v ram the game stutterd at times
     
buddy1065
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: florida
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 14, 2006, 08:56 AM
 
Oblivion runs very well on a MBP C2D and you can play 3rd person but better to play 1st person when fighting in the Arena. The graphics on my C2D Macbook Pro 2.33 Ghz are truly mind blowing. I never imagined effects like water and fire could look so realistic. Plus you can design your hero/heroine from the ground up beginning with race to facial features; mold facial structures, right down to the eye shadow for your heroine. I think Brenton #3 looks a lot like Sandra Bullock, no?

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7573/fp12a9eb.jpg

Gallop around the country side on a nice paint, black or white horse. Buy a house. Fight outside or in caverns. Watch out for vampires. Practically everything about this game is simply amazing. I rate it 9.5, pretty much like many magazine reviewers.
( Last edited by buddy1065; Dec 14, 2006 at 09:08 AM. )
     
MattJeff
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 14, 2006, 10:05 PM
 
why dont the games work well? i was under the impression that boot camp and similar products made your computer into a super fast PC?
     
TheoCryst
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 15, 2006, 01:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by MattJeff View Post
why dont the games work well? i was under the impression that boot camp and similar products made your computer into a super fast PC?
Actually, Boot Camp just makes your Mac into a Windows machine with the same specs. As such, a MacBook Pro with an Intel Core 2 Duo @2.33 GHz and an ATI Radeon x1600 will play windows games just as well as an equivalent PC (which is pretty damn well for a laptop). However, that also means that the MacBook's GMA950 will fall quite a bit short for a serious gamer (though the CD and C2D chips still rock).

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
MattJeff
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 15, 2006, 11:30 PM
 
hmmm the macbook doent seem all that great,if it has a super fast chip whats it good for when it bottle necks at the VRAM?
     
TheoCryst
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 17, 2006, 01:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by MattJeff View Post
hmmm the macbook doent seem all that great,if it has a super fast chip whats it good for when it bottle necks at the VRAM?
Pretty much anything except gaming. I use it for programming, word processing, web, and a little Photoshop (even CS2 with its Rosetta-ness), and it absolutely screams. And like I'd stated earlier, it's a decent machine for casual gaming. Just don't expect F.E.A.R. to run at 60 FPS.

But if playing recent games is important to you, I would definitely look at a MacBook Pro. It has a Radeon x1600 which is sufficient for most modern games.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
tkmd
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 17, 2006, 06:43 PM
 
I wonder if you take the MB and compare it to a PC running the same internals - how much of an effect multi-threaded open gl plays? would the the MB running OS X actually be faster?
Pismo 400 | Powerbook 1.5 GHz | MacPro 2.66/6GB/7300GT
     
rhombus
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 17, 2006, 07:58 PM
 
Has anyone tried tom play Deus Ex 2 Invisible War on a Mac Book? Like the original poster, I was a big fan of the original, unfortunately the sequel never made it to Mac OS X. The demo of Deus Ex 2 crashes when I try it in Boot Camp unfortunately. Also, has anyone tried Half Life 2?
     
mutelight
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2006, 10:08 AM
 
Half-Life 2 is a gorgeous looking game and it runs well on the X1600. The source engine is a beast and can run on virtually any somewhat recent hardware. (Windows only) If you haven't played it I recommend you give it a try.

I have played it on our iMac 2.16 Core 2 Duo with a X1600 as well as on my friends MBP and at the native resolutions of the screen it ran great. However there's nothing like seeing the game at 2560x1600 resolution.

Dual 2.66Ghz Xeon Woodrcrests // 8800GT 512MB // 30" Apple Cinema Display // 8GB RAM // Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE // 64GB iPad LTE Verizon // Home Theater
     
TheoCryst
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 18, 2006, 02:52 PM
 
Surprisingly enough, HL2 runs very well on a MacBook with medium-ish settings (even at native 1280x800 resolution). Like mutelight said, the Source engine is very impressive!

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
Bollo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 19, 2006, 06:49 PM
 
so would a new mac bok pro-with max specs; 2.33GHz, 2GB RAM, Radeon X1600 run something like DoW dark crusade? and possible future releases?

I'm currently debating between a Mac book pro and an alienware notebook. I would like a mac but i also want to play decent games. Would a mac run games better that a pc with a similar processor (AMD turion 2.4GHz) but dual 512 Nvidia graphics cards?
Thanks
     
MattJeff
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Right here
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 19, 2006, 08:47 PM
 
Dual 512 Nvidia cards?? wow, isnt that a bit over kill? does it even help after the first 512?
     
1tuffchevy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 19, 2006, 08:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by mutelight View Post
Half-Life 2 is a gorgeous looking game and it runs well on the X1600. The source engine is a beast and can run on virtually any somewhat recent hardware. (Windows only) If you haven't played it I recommend you give it a try.

I have played it on our iMac 2.16 Core 2 Duo with a X1600 as well as on my friends MBP and at the native resolutions of the screen it ran great. However there's nothing like seeing the game at 2560x1600 resolution.
That's because the MBPro and the iMac have real video cards. The regular macbook has integrated graphics, which means it will play games slower than a 1ghz machine with... say... a geforce 4mx.
     
Bollo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 20, 2006, 08:26 AM
 
Dual 512 Nvidia cards?? wow, isnt that a bit over kill? does it even help after the first 512?
I dont know thats why i'm asking.
it probably is overkill but its not much more expensive. Also it might help when more demanding games come out.
     
buddy1065
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: florida
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 20, 2006, 11:06 AM
 
Here's a link to my newbee Oblivion homepage. This game is taking up all of my spare time as well as not so spare time. I am not usually an avid gameplayer but using the MBP C2D 2.33 ghz, these graphics are beautiful at 1280x768 with 2x aliasing. There is a little framerate slowdown now and then at that resolution but not enough to bother me.

Maria's Homepage

These are screenshots of the actual game; not movie cut scenes.

I would guess Tomb Raider Legends should do well on the Macbook, since it runs reasonably on my little Sont T250 with GME 855 integrated graphics and only a 1.2 Ghz Centrino.
( Last edited by buddy1065; Dec 20, 2006 at 11:44 AM. )
     
mark.s
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Vienna, Austria
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 20, 2006, 03:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by Bollo View Post
so would a new mac bok pro-with max specs; 2.33GHz, 2GB RAM, Radeon X1600 run something like DoW dark crusade? and possible future releases?
My Rev A MBP CD 2.0 runs Dark Crusade at 1440x900 wonderfully.
     
centerchannel68
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 21, 2006, 12:29 PM
 
This thread is about MACBOOKS, not macbookpros. Please don't confuse the two.
     
Bollo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 21, 2006, 06:04 PM
 
Does it really matter, they are both apple laptops and i'm sure its useful to know which games run well on both. No need to be pedantic.
     
- - e r i k - -
Posting Junkie
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 21, 2006, 08:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by Bollo View Post
Does it really matter, they are both apple laptops and i'm sure its useful to know which games run well on both. No need to be pedantic.
It is necessary to separate because the MacBooks as opposed to the MacBook Pros have no graphics card and thus suck at gaming.

That is more than just a pedantic distinction.

[ fb ] [ flickr ] [] [scl] [ last ] [ plaxo ]
     
wake266
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Arden District, Sacramento, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Dec 29, 2006, 05:49 PM
 
im in the same bind, but go with warcraft 3, starcraft(the sound doesnt work on mine but w/e), halo, medieval- total war, and im going to try out iconquer(which is a risk-like game).
to my dismay rome total war, battlefield 2142 and battlefield 2 along whit oblivion will not work.....and try call of duty 2 on the os x side of the wall, it was a great fps, ive beat it on 360, mac and pc and its great everytime, so is the multiplayer.
     
centerchannel68
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 1, 2007, 12:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by Bollo View Post
Does it really matter, they are both apple laptops and i'm sure its useful to know which games run well on both. No need to be pedantic.
One has a deep fried donkey turd for a graphics card, the other has a real graphics card. So yes, there is a HUGE MASSIVE difference.

That's like saying a Corvette and a Cavalier are the same because they're both made by Chevrolet.
     
MacDuff
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 1, 2007, 01:00 PM
 
I'm playing Guild Wars - Nightfall on my Macbook 2.0 (1Gb RAM, 80Gb HD) and it runs perfectly fine. It takes a a minute or so to render the other characters when you enter your world but then it's ok.
     
centerchannel68
Baninated
Join Date: Dec 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jan 2, 2007, 01:26 AM
 
'perfectly fine' is not a real valid description. If it runs fast enough to play after everything has been turned down or off or on low, that isn't acceptable to a lot of people.
     
Mama
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 22, 2007, 01:33 AM
 
So Guild Wars works for you MacDuff?

I can't get it to work on mine.

I am using parallels, and can customize the virtual machine. I think it is a video card issue. I am not sure.

So it does work on bootcamp? I am not really wanting to go to bootcamp because of having to only use that or mac, one at a time. Parallels lets me have both run at the same time.

It just frustrates me because it is my favorite game.

Anyone else having issues with it? I may just have to use bootcamp if parallels is the one giving the problems.
     
mutelight
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 22, 2007, 11:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by centerchannel68 View Post
This thread is about MACBOOKS, not macbookpros. Please don't confuse the two.
Sorry I was thinking that the CoreDuo Macbook was the one that had a GPU. I didn't know there was a Intel Macbook which wasn't the Pro. My mistake, I am a first time Mac owner.

Dual 2.66Ghz Xeon Woodrcrests // 8800GT 512MB // 30" Apple Cinema Display // 8GB RAM // Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE // 64GB iPad LTE Verizon // Home Theater
     
TheoCryst
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 24, 2007, 01:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by Mama View Post
So Guild Wars works for you MacDuff?

I can't get it to work on mine.

I am using parallels, and can customize the virtual machine. I think it is a video card issue. I am not sure.

So it does work on bootcamp? I am not really wanting to go to bootcamp because of having to only use that or mac, one at a time. Parallels lets me have both run at the same time.

It just frustrates me because it is my favorite game.

Anyone else having issues with it? I may just have to use bootcamp if parallels is the one giving the problems.
Unfortunately, you'll find that no 3D games work under Parallels, as it does not give Windows access to the physical GPU. However, I'm pretty sure that it'll run fine under Boot Camp on a MacBook, but I haven't tried it personally.

Any ramblings are entirely my own, and do not represent those of my employers, coworkers, friends, or species
     
Scooterboy
Senior User
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Minneapolis for now
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 26, 2007, 01:48 AM
 
I'd guess that Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight / Mysteries of the Sith and Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast would run well. Then you'd have nearly the whole Kyle Katarn Jedi epic. There's no Mac version of Dark Forces 2 JK.
Scooters are more fun than computers and only slightly more frustrating
     
simonm
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 26, 2007, 11:05 PM
 
Here's to that!! Deus Ex was indeed the best game ever imo!!! Pity they never made it OS X compatible and didn't release DE2 on the Mac

You could try Unreal Tournament 2004. The graphics are well optimised for the Mac and you can turn some of the settings down if it doesn't cope.

Originally Posted by moonmonkey View Post
I like 1st Person games really, my favorite game ever was Deus Ex.

Cheers.
     
MacDuff
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Oct 2006
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Feb 27, 2007, 05:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by Mama View Post
So Guild Wars works for you MacDuff?

I can't get it to work on mine.

I am using parallels, and can customize the virtual machine. I think it is a video card issue. I am not sure.

So it does work on bootcamp? I am not really wanting to go to bootcamp because of having to only use that or mac, one at a time. Parallels lets me have both run at the same time.

It just frustrates me because it is my favorite game.

Anyone else having issues with it? I may just have to use bootcamp if parallels is the one giving the problems.
Sorry for taking so long to reply! TheoCryst is correct. Guild Wars plays on my Macbook (core Duo, 2.0 w/ 2Gb RAM) when run on Windows using Bootcamp. The fan on the Macbook works hard and I wouldn't want to play it for hours on end but for occasional play it's not a problem. Movements are fluid until you get into a large group fight and then you may experience some hesitation. My settings are on medium-high (custom).

For myself, this is acceptable since I play GW on both my home PC and on my Macbook while at University. When on the Macbook, I normally only do the smaller missions and leave the heavier stuff for my PC since it has the heavy-duty graphics card.
     
nationwide
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 5, 2007, 08:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Mama View Post
So Guild Wars works for you MacDuff?

I can't get it to work on mine.

I am using parallels, and can customize the virtual machine. I think it is a video card issue. I am not sure.

So it does work on bootcamp? I am not really wanting to go to bootcamp because of having to only use that or mac, one at a time. Parallels lets me have both run at the same time.

It just frustrates me because it is my favorite game.

Anyone else having issues with it? I may just have to use bootcamp if parallels is the one giving the problems.
You're having problems because parallels is like virtual pc, it's emulating a pc computer as where bootcamp runs windows natively on the hardware. although parallels can emulate a fairly decent pc processor it can not emulate a highend video card which most modern pc games requires. With bootcamp your performance is only limited to the hardware of your computer. so if you mac has a highend video card you'll you games will excell using bootcamp.
     
The Ancient One
Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: My mind (sorry, I'm out right now)
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 10, 2007, 10:51 AM
 
Originally Posted by MattJeff View Post
hmmm the macbook doent seem all that great,if it has a super fast chip whats it good for when it bottle necks at the VRAM?
True, but it can surprise you. According to Freeverse, Heroes of Might and Magic V, which just shipped for the Mac, will run at 60fps on a MacBook (with the graphics set low) while it will not run acceptably on a PC with the same specs. Freeverse says they have some Mac-specific programming tricks. BTW, HoMM V is Intel Mac only.
The first commandment of ALL religions is to provide a comfortable living for the priesthood.
     
alain_30_alain
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Mar 11, 2007, 09:58 PM
 
Hey guys I'm planning to buy a 15" MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with the ATI X1600 128 MB graphic card. Do you think it's good for playing most of the recent games?

Thanks in advance!
alain.
 MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo
 20-inch Cinema Display
 iPod Shuffle 512MB
 iPod Video 30GB
     
   
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 09:21 PM.
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.,