The Time Has Come!!

Ok folks, its time for me to get that lappy i was on about, im going for a mac because i love you all lol XD, so heres the craic - i need it for university (multimedia and graphics course), my course will consist of photoshop, video editing software and sound editing software, studio mx (or latest pack) which is dreamweaver, flash and all those other cool programs used for modern graphic design and so on. i also want to be able to play World of warcraft, wc3 and other games like guild wars and so on. I need a light laptop so i can cart it around with me to uni and back.. so what do i go for?

Macbook - White or black? (I want white but can you get it with the 2G?)
Macbook pro?

What do you think? money isnt a option, iv bustedm y ass of saving up and iv got over 1500

 

well then you'll have to go macbook pro with those gaming requirements because the macbook options only come with intel integrated video card you'll need the dedicated card for those kind of games :x so looks like you'll be spending 1999.99 atleast :l

 

but iv seen people playing WOW on the macbook (white) 2g lappy and it runs perfectly fine?

 

well with the settings very low most likely. integrated graphics card is not going to get you veryy far at all in the gaming world no matter how fast processor is.

 

jesus even my pc can run WOW and this is the same computer since i was 11, im now 20. 512mb ram, settings on low obviously but that doesnt bother me. its really the other stuff im more worried about, just stuff for uni thats most important. and how do i get windows to run on a macbook? what do i need to buy and so on?

 

you will need bootcamp which is a free download. im sure you can just google it, you should compare wow to a computer with higher res and good graphics card with higher settings then play for a bit then go back you'd be surprised what you were missing i remember playing Counterstrike at lowest minimal settings then when i got a better card i could make the res much higher, higher settings, then i switched back just to see what i had used to play and it was unplayable and i was like whoaaa

 

hahaha XD, i totally understand what your saying about rockin WOW with high settings but i played it for half a year on the low settings and it didnt bother me at all, lagging up a bit in places like Ironforge but thats all, it usually ran smooth for me and id be happu if it just ran the same way. ok say i was going to buy the macbook online from the uk store, i would buy this one - http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/6094041/wo/zy1U3VaMG4b92iZGDEA2iYayeCq/2.?p=0 with everything that is tick there would i be ok? i mean ill run the games on low settings doesnt bother me at all, i just want to be able to run stuff for uni perfectly fine and so on. and also what about windows, ill deffinately install it, what do i need? just bootcamp? or would i have to buy another windows installation cd? i have xp.

 

PC Settings - 28th November 2005

Operating System - Windows XP Pro
System Manufacturer - QDIQDI
System Model - AWRDACPI
BIOS - Ver 1.65

Processor - AMD Athalon (tm) MP Processor, MMX, 3D Now. 1.3GHZ
Memory - 512MB RAM)
Page File - 231MB RAM. 1018MB Available
Direct X - 9.0c

GFX Card - NVIDIA Geforce 2 MX 200
Manufacturer - NVIDIA
Chip Type - Geforce 2 - 100/200
DAC Type - Integrated RAMDAC
Approx Total Mem - 64.0MB

Current Display - 800X600
Monitor - Hansol 710P/710D

Sound - VIA AC'97 Enchanced Audio

High Speed Broadband Internet

thats what WOW was running on for the past half year.

 

im not sure what your success will be like on WOW but for schoolwork im sure its fine as long as it doesnt require intensive 3d applications/graphics. Price is fine just make sure (if you can use the student discount if you were already) you'll need your own copy of windows obviously then bootcamp then theres directions im sure on the forums here on how to dual boot with the bootcamp i dont know how exactly

 

well the macbook there boviously has better settings than my PC right? so it should run WOW even at minimum settings fien for me?

 

well as far as processor speed yeah i dont know how that video card compares to the integrated one though i know usually integrated usually cant compare to dedicated cards you'll have to wait for someone who knows more about that issue, i know awhile ago i have an intel GMA900 i tried playing WOW it was really choppy and almost unplayable dont know about the 950 though, either way if you got that you could expect to never play any new games that came out that were 3d intensive thats for sure. If your a pretty avid gamer then i highly recommend getting a dedicated GPU notebook

 

im not a avi gamer at all, the odd game of WOW but thats it. WOW and WC3 and i dont care about anything else, as i said uni stuff more important, but if itll run a few games that arnt so hard on the 3d intense side of things i dont care. if itll run WC3 and WOW and let me do my uni work perfectly fine ill be very happy. oh and on another note what about the screen? is 13 too small for uni work and how does it fair for games? or do you not notice so much? and if i was to go for a pc lappy what would you suggest? (pc lappy...unlikely lol)

 

well it has the same resolution as a 14 and most 15" pc notebooks so the real estate is fine and as far as size i like it it i play with them at work alot there nice size imo, dunno about gaming though that might be a bit on the small side ;P ive never used a computer with the INTEL GMA950 only the GMA900 which im sure the 950 isnt too much better than the 900. I mean I play CS with this one, GTA3, and even have played Swat 3 fine at low settings im not much of a gamer either just the occassioanl game is fine for me. for uni work im sure its fine for gaming you'll probably need someone with more of that experience

 

Why don't you have a look at the Asus W3J if you want mobility and power.

 

Unless you are really constrained by price I'd suggest the MBP because you'll probably want the extra screen real estate for graphic design. If price is an issue you could also pick up as refurb MBP through apple.

 

Don't forget you will qualify for the educational discount. That will get you a 2.0 MBP for 1800. But don't buy it until next week, Apple are making announcements on Monday.

WOW and WC3 will run on a GMA950, but it won't be pretty, especially in big cities like org or ironforge.

 

yeah thats too much out of my price limit lol. i plan to buy the 2g white macbook and then buy some ram for it, how does it work? can i put 512mb in with the current 512mb. has anyopne played WOW on the macbooks? how does it look, play and is it easy to read messages and so on because of the small screen.

 

what i want to know - will this -

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...fm=2&sm=1&tm=2&sku=083706&category_oid=-27407

run WOW, doesnt need to be high settings, i never played it on high settings and i dont care, just as long as i 'CAN' play it. i dont care about the lag in ironforge it settles down after a few seconds which doesnt bother me.