I would like a 15 inch but it is just out of my price range. I have been really hesitant of buying a laptop with an integrated GPU and have made that mistake before and got an error message for every game I tried to play… with the exception of Halo… and games involving flash player. http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC700LL/A?mco=MjEyOTY3NTg
Specs:
2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Intel HD Graphics 3000
if not I would get the m14x
Specs:
Intel® Core™ i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.9GHz w/Turbo Boost, 6MB Cache)
1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus™ technology
I would use my own hard drive and ram. If I get the mac I would obviously be being ripped off pretty bad, but is it at least decent for what I’m paying?(they are both 1119$ USD)
Not all integrated is bad - AMD especially have some really nice stuff. (Lame compared to dedicated, but can play a surprising number of games at low/medium).
That said I don’t think the Intel HD 3000 is particularly hot… and since your asking on a game engine forum…
The GPU would be a step down and the rest would be a step up. It’s a waste of money and you’ll be better off getting a refurb Mac with a real GPU. Wait until the next refresh, when refurbs are really just the current models, or make extra money.
If you’re buying a macbook, you would likely not be happy with graphic power for gaming unless you purchased the model with the 6750M. Sometimes you can get them for less in the outlet store, or through an educational discount.
Is there any reason your going with expensive options?
Niether Apple nor Alienware are known for their pricing.
I’m in aus, so I’ll use local pricing:
$2,199 for ‘basic’ load out.
$2069.
Same CPU.
More Ram.
More/Better Storage.
High Res screen.
Better performance GPU.
Etc.
The Dell of course isn’t useless, it probably has better battery life and is smaller. Some of the parts may be better quality (screen, case etc.) But there is a trade-off.
I have a 2 year old macbook that runs the latest games fine at 20-30 fps. Any new macbook will run games smooth without any problem at all.
The very old macbooks didn’t have much in terms of decent hardware.
— this thing :S). Any recent one will probably be more than a match for crysis and any modern game.
However my pc laptop sucks balls. It was advertised as being faster/better more stats but barely crawls along, its still the wild west for pc laptops and you need to really drill down and investigate what a good one is.
@NSPF3000 Thanks, but I’m trying to stay in the 1,200$ and under price range. Would happen to know of any laptops with decent specs closer to that, preferrably with an i5 or i7? @hippocoder So I;m guessing we have the same generation :P. Do you have steam?
Read again, this is aussie land. I have no idea how the pricing is where you are, but I can guarantee if you google it there will be forums full of hardware enthusiasts willing to help you.
I googled the same thing and found it to be over 2000$ usd, but I did a little more research(newegg) and eliminated alienwares and narrowed my search down.
• Latest Intel® Huron River platform
• nVIDIA GeFore GTX 460M with 1.5GB GDDR5 Memory
• Visual stunning 15.6" Full HD LED-Backlit Screen display
• Up to 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory capable
• USB 3.0, eSATA and IEEE-1394a Ports support
it’s very close to your price range…
and I would never buy an acer, I’ve seen too many just stop working… But it could just be me, they might be the best thing since sliced bread!
No I mean, I got mine after that generation (it has an nvidia gpu) and runs everything just fine. But mine was one of the first to be properly hardware accelerated with full driver support, just the previous generation from that really sucked.
I held out until the intel driven ones weren’t for sale any more.
The current intel on-cpu gpus (the intel 3000 is on cpu not on mainboard) are fine too
But up to 555 its still a matter of 200-300% performance difference, which has an impact on gaming, higher quality game graphics and naturally if you do stuff that relies on gpu power otherwise (GPGPU - OpenCL stuff). For movie playback and movie encoding, just to mention, the intel one will win if movie is an important aspect
I don´t recommend a MacBook Pro, mine, a late 2008 model, was dead (mother board) without any reason after very little usage and the repair cost was 1000 euros (yes, you have read well, one thousand euros).
Of course I didn´t repair it and stay with a Windows laptop, much cheaper, more robust an much more powerful.
For 1200 bucks you can get a powerhouse of a laptop from asus. If you’re no mac-elitist, go find a laptop with windows for that price and it will ace even the 2000$ MacBook in performance. If you want Apple, you’ll have to fork out another 800$ to get an okay one running Crysis 1 at 35-40 FPS.
Apple doesn’t price them high because of performance, it’s because they can expect people to pay that much – and people pay that much.
