Looking at a MBP

[ToXic]

So I finally ditched my portable desktop in favor of a lighter, more scholastically inclined laptop, and im looking at probably a 17" macbook pro. The reason im after the 17" is because I do some graphic design and photography, so I need some decent power, and the 1920x1200 screen is a welcome guest. My only question is will the HD 6750M be sufficient for a little side gaming on travel if I bootcamp (would be GREAT if I could run homefront). The fact steam came to mac may have had a bit of sway on me

Thanks for the advice.

[lcdguy]

i had a MBP once (the 13".3 2009 model) i kept it for all of one month. The biggest issues had with it were the following.

No Beveled edge when typing
get's way to hot for my comfort.

Also at 17" your not going to get a very portable laptop. (but i do understand the need for the high res display.)

[Crandall]

Originally Posted by lcdguy

No Beveled edge when typing
get's way to hot for my comfort.

I had the same issues with my 17" Macbook Pro. It was a nice machine, but I used it in University and it was a pain in the ass to lug around. Honestly if you had to get a Mac I'd probably go for the 15" with the higher res screen.

[Keltron 3030]

Originally Posted by Crandall

I had the same issues with my 17" Macbook Pro. It was a nice machine, but I used it in University and it was a pain in the ass to lug around. Honestly if you had to get a Mac I'd probably go for the 15" with the higher res screen.

I'd have to side with crandall on this one; def look into the 15-inch. You'll thank yourself later when your walkin around campus with it on your back or arm

Also, if your gonna be gaming, make sure you get at least 4 gigs of ram, cuz for some games you need more ram on a mac then you would need on a pc (example: Starcraft 2 recommends 4 GB or RAM to play it on a mac, where 2 GB is recommended on PC)


About GPU performance, you can use these tools to compare the 2 GPU's available in the 15" and 17" model

Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech
Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

[lcdguy]

have you considered the offering from asus as they have some laptops with killer specs. If it were me though i would have a high end desktop and a small netbook for the class stuff like note taking, etc. And use the desktop for any serious work or rendering.

[ToXic]

Originally Posted by lcdguy

have you considered the offering from asus as they have some laptops with killer specs. If it were me though i would have a high end desktop and a small netbook for the class stuff like note taking, etc. And use the desktop for any serious work or rendering.

Just sold a Asus G73JH and a 1201N.

The 17 is really that bad? Cant be as bad as the 8.8LB of G73JH I had. I honestly cant use laptops under 17", I have no idea why, though iv tried the 2006 15", and it was decent, but it just left more size to be wanted.

will probably have 8GB of ram in it.

Looks like the 6750M isnt the most impressive card, but should be fine. Would be happy as a bee if it could run homefront well. Though the charts seem to show its 4% worse then a 5870M, and having had one, that doesnt seem like much worse performance.

On a side note, when I go to the Apple store, i'll be sure to check out the high res 15", the lower res vs the 17" would probably also help the video performance.

[Neolithium_Wpg]

I'd definitely hit up the Apple store first and compare them side by side; I was looking at the 17's for a while until I actually sat with one and thought GOD DAMN THIS THING IS HUGE. Hell I'm still looking into switching my 15" to a 13" LOL.

[ToXic]

Originally Posted by Neolithium_Wpg

I'd definitely hit up the Apple store first and compare them side by side; I was looking at the 17's for a while until I actually sat with one and thought GOD DAMN THIS THING IS HUGE. Hell I'm still looking into switching my 15" to a 13" LOL.

Looks to only be 6.6LB, but will have to check it out. It's still hard to switch to Mac for me, I keep thinking crap I won't be able to play some stuff, but I keep forgetting I have a desktop, and can prob also ru stuff in bootcamp.

Is yours a 2011?

[Neolithium_Wpg]

Originally Posted by ToXic

Looks to only be 6.6LB, but will have to check it out. It's still hard to switch to Mac for me, I keep thinking crap I won't be able to play some stuff, but I keep forgetting I have a desktop, and can prob also ru stuff in bootcamp.

Is yours a 2011?

No, mine is a 2010 15" Base Model. Runs WoW, SC2 and my Steam games just fine natively in OSX, I don't game much in bootcamp, however I've looked over enough benchmarks on the MacRumors forums to realize that it's a very viable option for a lot of people. The MBPs get a little warm while gaming, however the 2010 and 2011 revisions have been way better than previous generations with regards to burning someone's pubes off.

[ToXic]

Originally Posted by Neolithium_Wpg

No, mine is a 2010 15" Base Model. Runs WoW, SC2 and my Steam games just fine natively in OSX, I don't game much in bootcamp, however I've looked over enough benchmarks on the MacRumors forums to realize that it's a very viable option for a lot of people. The MBPs get a little warm while gaming, however the 2010 and 2011 revisions have been way better than previous generations with regards to burning someone's pubes off.

Sounds good! Will probably have bootcamp for stuff like Homefront, hopping I can run it. But if the 6750M can do crysis on medium 40 FPS on a 15 inch's native, then Homefront shouldn't be to bad, it's not as much of a graphical beast. Should probably check how my 580 does on it, but even the recommended specs on it or 3D weren't very high (460).