Computer guys, help a console gamer out

I'm graduating med school and my inlaws want to give me a new computer as a gift. I want to get the macbook pro. I have an ipad and iphone, and I'm pretty set that I'm getting a Mac. This isn't going to be a primary game machine, obviously, or I'd build a PC. But I was thinking if I wanted to down the line play Skyrim on it, I wanted to make sure I could. Especially when putting together the Pros/Cons of getting a macbook pro 15'', rather than just making do with my old laptop (not for gaming but for everyday use) or opting for the cheaper 13'' macbooks.

But I know nothing about specs and tech and I'm close to computer illiterate when it comes to the details and jargon of this stuff. Will you guys take a look and let me know if I'd be able to effectively run Skyrim, and maybe Battlefield on this machine? This is the one I'm looking at:

15-inch: 2.2 GHz
2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz
500GB 5400-rpm1
Intel HD Graphics 3000
AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB GDDR5

Will it do? Thanks for your help

I hate to be that guy but I have to.

If you plan to play real PC games on a computer you need a Desktop, or an Alienware laptop; but that's a waste of money. You might run it on VERY low settings, but I can't make any promises.

By real PC games I am not knocking anyone, just saying games that you install and buy at the store. L4D, CS, etc.

I would say your chances of running it are 5 out of 10 on low settings.

For the amount of money you will spend on a Mac you could get a much better and more powerful PC.

I don't recommend notebooks/laptops for gaming. They can, but not well. They aren't designed for it; and the ones that are are outrageously overpriced.

Are those the specs on the Mac?

You'll be able to play Skyrim just fine on that. Might not be the highest settings, but it'll play just fine.

Oh for sure, I agree. I'm not a PC gamer, and I would build if I really wanted to get into it. The Mac will suit other needs as a home computer, I'm just curious as it would be a nice bonus if I could run Skyrim on it. It's certainly not my primary goal, or a deal breaker.

Skyrim should. I don't think it's req's are too high, but BF3 is a hog.

You can play older games for sure. But newer games, I doubt it. Some yes, some no. BF3; I don't think so. It's just a hog.

As long as you know; some people think they can buy any PC or mac and play any game. Sadly, it doesn't work :( . Had to spend 1100 bucks to build mine.

AFAIK, the only way to play Skyrim on Mac's is to install bootcamp and install windows on another partition.

The new macbook pros might play it, but only on low settings. Skyrim can be pretty intensive on a machine.

But again, I don't think there's a mac version out (yet?), correct me if I'm wrong, I don't follow mac software.

I think Skyrim is gonna look pretty ugly if you try. Might be laggy too. That graphics card isn't great. But I would guess that it could play.

Its a low end pc, expect to play your games on the low end.

Even if your laptop run the game you have to worry about overheating. My brother was playing D3 on his laptop and it shut down in the middle of the game due to overheating.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on a gaming PC. The thing you have to look for is a decent graphic card. A graphic card around $100 will allow all PC game to play at a high setting. My PC that was upgrade around $500 three years ago with a $115 graphic card (now $50) still run most game on high setting.

Turn off or remove anti-virus programs because that's the number one thing that will slow down your computer. Turn off all unneeded background or services programs. Those can take up a lot of resource and CPU time. Type in msconfig for background programs listing. Type in services.msc for services listings.

I get all of my games from Steam now a day for $5 or less.

I used to raid 2 nights a week in World of Warcraft on a 15" Macbook Pro. It wasn't as beefy as the one you're looking at (it was a 2007 model 2.2 GHz dual core, 2 gigs of DDR2 RAM, 8600 GT Mobile graphics, 160 gig 5400 RPM HDD), but it did OK.

The only real problems I ran into were that it got hot in my lap (bought an active laptop cooler, cured that problem) and that the screen just wasn't quite big enough to really raid on (didn't stop me from doing it for 3 years). I replaced it with an 18.4" Acer with a Quad Core i7 processor, 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM, 5870 mobile graphics, a 500 gig 5400 RPM HDD (and a second bay to which I added a 750 GB 7200 RPM HDD) and a bluray drive. A couple of months after that, I stopped raiding. :P That beast still gets hot (way hotter than the MBP did), but it's so big that raiding from my friend's couch was no longer an option, so I raided from his dining room table instead.



L4D, CS, and all other Source engine games (HL2 and the episodes for it, Day of Defeat, L4D2, TF2) will run on a Mac (Valve officially supports the Mac platform). They ran on my MBP on medium just fine. They'll run on at least high settings with the machine the OP is looking at without a problem.

The real problem is that the game the OP specifically mentioned is Skyrim, and Skyrim is not directly compatible with the Mac. No big deal, really. Install Bootcamp, install Windows 7 (or Vista, if it's what you have, but don't waste your time with XP), install your game, and enjoy. He'll be a little short on video memory (meets the minimum, barely), but the rest of the stuff, he's GTG on. It should run, but may not run particularly well, or may not be pretty if it does run well (may have to run it on Low to make it playable).



Quite true. But there are people out there who are Apple people and prefer Apple products. Apple software running on Apple hardware is very stable (I use a 2nd Gen Mac Pro at work every day, and I ran that MBP for years), unlike a PC running Windows. Granted, Windows 7 (and post SP1 Windows Vista) are good operating systems and are much more stable than previous versions of Windows, but Apple still has them beat there, at least when running on their own hardware. A Hackintosh will crash if you sneeze in the same room it's in, whereas Windows will run on that same hardware with no problems.



If you can afford a Mac (especially a Macbook Pro), you can afford a Windows based gaming laptop. Actually, you can afford 2 Windows based gaming laptops, a Zune, and lunch at Sonic.

Yeah, WoW is chump change compared to Skyrim.

You may want to wait a few weeks since intel just released their new processors, so apple is likely to refresh their computers soon. So you can see what the new stuff is like, or get a discount while they sell off old stock.

You will likely be able to play those games at lower settings, but your computer is going to get very hot, so you may want to look into some additional cooling accessories

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834998685.

Get the matte screen, your eyes will thank you.

I don't doubt that. The point is that gaming on a laptop is possible even if it isn't designed for gaming. And while WoW may not be hard on a system, running it for a 6 hour raid does tax the system a bit, and shows you the real limitations of the laptop: Screen Size.

That model has integrated graphics doesn't it? If so, not gonna be good for gaming at all.

Specs he posted show Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512MB GDDR5. Not sure if it has both or if it's the option of one or the other. If it has both, it will use the Intel graphics chip for basic stuff and in low power mode, but the AMD/ATI chip when it needs horsepower.

That's what I've read. It uses the integrated in low power settings, but when higher performance is needed it automatically switches over to the graphics card.

The more I'm reading the more I keep seeing that new models may be coming out in June, so I may wait on it. Thanks for halls tips, hopefully I'll be able to play some games on it as a nice bonus, it would be a cool change of pace from the console

Oh wow, somehow I completely missed the AMD card in the post, disregard.

They claim it "auto" adjusts, but I have an alienware laptop that supposedly does the same thing....I have to manually do it lol. It's just a click on the system tray, doesn't take long to switch, few seconds.

The AMD 6750 is not a strong card at all, mostly subpar in terms of performance.

It was and still is based on old architecture and hell even the most up to date drivers do little to nothing to increase performance.
So no, I would not hedge my bets that having a AMD 6750 video card will allow you to play any modern game on even medium settings without any serious hiccups

BF3 will struggle with that system. I do not think it runs on OSX; you will need Windows.

Keep in mind the majority of PC games run on Windows, and if they don't, most of the OSX games are cut down and mods and whatnot might not work with them. In which case, you might as well stick to console gaming.



Apple tends to take a long time to update to newer hardware (for GPUs). Mobile cards improve slowly as well. This generation is awful price/performance wise to. We might have to wait until the next generation of cards to see similar price/performance to the GTX5** and HD6*** series. This will probably translate to higher prices for the mobile GPUs as well...

Agreed on this one. The desktop 6750 is old tech nowadays; the mobile version will be even slower.

OP, I did some checking for you on the 6750. Looks like Battlefield is playable but not great; even on low settings you are only going to be getting 35 fps or so. Skyrim should play on low or medium with acceptable, though not great, framerates it looks like. You aren't going to see anywhere near 60 fps on any modern game out there, I think.

If you keep the computer cool, it will probably play both BF3 and Skyrim, though it will be pretty hiccupy at times. But then again, that card is certainly not future-proof in any way. It's already at about the max it can do now; good luck trying to play next year's games.

ETA: Also as an FYI, load times on either game are going to be ass with a 5,400rpm HDD.

If you want to game, don't get a Mac. Unless you like paying double what you would to buy the same thing in PC flavor.

You get more for your money with even a stock PC over a Mac. You can build for even cheaper with better specs if you wanted to.

I just want to point out, it's a Sixty Seven Fifty, not a Fifty Seven Fifty.

Whoops. You are right. The info I posted is correct for the 6750, but I miswrote the number. I'll go change it.

Hey, thanks a lot guys.

It looks like I'll stick to my console for gaming, which is no loss for me I really enjoy it and have friends that I play on Live with. I probably wont try to run skyrim or these newer games on this laptop if I get it, maybe I'll try out some older stuff I've never played like dragon age origins or something less beastly like diablo 3 when it comes out. I was looking around and it seems as if this setup will run those well. If I'm wrong let me know. Again, thanks for the tips, i just don't have all the tech savvy and jargon down to figure these things out other than googling it and that always leaves me with about 50 different opinions going in 70 different ways with n real data to back any of them up.

Probably the best option. Of course, you can always experiment and see if BF3 or Skyrim play well enough to be acceptable; just don't expect it out of hand. There are still a lot of fun older games (DA:O like you mentioned, Mass Effect, the Orange Box, etc) that should still play on yours. Heck, even COD should play well enough to be fun. Just buy a laptop cooler as some others have said.

I would look at a MSI GT70-0NC-008U. I think they are released this week

3rd Generation Intel Core i7 Processors 2.3-3.3GHz, 22nm, 6MB, 45W (can be upgraded)
Operating System Genuine Windows7® Home Premium 64
Chipset Mobile Intel® HM77 Express Chipset
Main Memory 12GB DDR3 1600 MHz SDRAM, 3 x 4GB SODIMM (up to 32GB)
Display 17.3" 1920x1080 FHD Matte-Type (Antie-Glare, Matte-type)
Video Graphics & Memory nVidia GeForce GTX 670M 3GB GDDR5, DX11
Hard Drive 750GB 7200rpm 2.5" 9.5mm SATA II, 16MB
Optical Drive 8X DVDRW Super Multi
Card Reader SD/SDHC/SDXC/XD/MSPRO/MS/MMC (support SD 3.0)
Video Camera 720P HD web camera
Fax/Modem/LAN/WLAN Built-In Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Built-in Wireless ABGN
Bigfoot Killer LAN Gaming Network: 10/100/1000Mb
LED Status Indicator HDD
Power-on/Suspend
Capital Lock
Wireless on status indicator
Bluetooth on status indicator
Interface 1 x Microphone-in jack
1 x Headphone-out jack
1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
3 x USB 3.0 ports
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
1 x HDMI 1.4
1X eSATA Port
Audio HD Audio
Dynaudio Premium Sound System with 4 speakers

Price: 1549.00


Hard to beat at that price and they have the best speakers on the market, It will run with most desktops.

While I agree that that's a better option in the performance/value area, if OP wants a Mac, that's not gonna fit the bill. I'm a PC guy all the way, but it sounds like OP is pretty set on Apple.

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