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Seriously considering new Macbook Pro 15"

M

mingsoup

Golden Member
I am seriously considering buying a new Macbook Pro. I am pretty heavy into Garageband and my hackintosh works pretty well (Inspiron).

I was hoping to dual boot with Windows 7 to hopefully use it for lan parties too, so that I would no longer have to lug my desktop around. It would also be very ideal for travel. I was hoping to be able to play The Old Republic and maybe some other FPS games on it when I am away from my desk (BF3?). However the 6770m. Has me worried. In your opinion is the 6770m worth the extra cash compared to the 6750m? Should I just throw away the idea of gaming on a new MacBook Pro?


I am also torn on whether I want the matte screen (which comes with more res) for an extra 150$. My gut just tells me to buy the standard screen for two reasons. 1) Gaming is going to be hard enough as it is on that GPU, more native resolution is the last thing I need and 2) Apple must have known what they were doing by making the screen they made default default. I don't deliberately sit out in the sun with my laptop. However, there are those times on planes when you are on the sunny side of the plane, etc. IDK.

Thoughts on my two questions?
I know I can get twice the computer for half the price if I just didn't go Apple, but I would really like to run OSX and also garage-band. I'd like to run OSX the way it was meant to be run. I will never know how well my hackintosh runs it. I also have an IPad 2. My Inspiron 1525 is a clunker but has served me quite well and even hackintosh's very nicely. My Inspiron 1525 is also an ugly clunky train wreck with crap integrated Intel graphics. It can't even run Minecraft.

I wish Apple had a 560m version. Apple might refresh with a much better GPU. How awesome would a Thunderbolted 6790 for home and luggable be. Unfortunately it seems the current version of Thunderbolt wouldn't be able to support such a GPU, I guess?
 
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You can overclock the 6750M using ATI Tray Tool to get the same performance as a stock 6770M, or even better, so I don't think the 6770M is worth it at all. To that end, BF3 is about the only game I know that they have issues with (approx. 30fps on Low quality). Most other games you can still enjoy Medium to High quality at native resolution, and perhaps with a bit of AA.

But definitely go for the lower res if you are gaming, if for nothing but that you get more consistent frame rate at lower res. Also there's that texts look larger under Windows and all.

Neither the antiglare or the glossy screen fare that well when the sun is hitting them directly, so it's down to preference, really. I prefer glossy personally because it's a glass screen. It's almost scratch-proof, and it's easier to clean.
 
I use a Macbook Pro 17" for work. I like my Mac, but for your use case I don't really see the point.

For one, it sounds like you want to play games on it. MBP's are not meant for gaming, and will just frustrate you. The performance is disappointing to say the least, you wont be able to run much in OSX natively, and the trackpad sucks for gaming.

If you're going to be running games enough that you'd dual boot into Windows to do it, this just sounds like a waste.

The main reason I like my Mac is for dev work. OSX / finder are really overrated, Windows explorer is much better in my opinion. There are many annoyances in the OS itself, especially with regards to lack of configurability. Your hardware upgrades are overpriced and options are abyssmal (not that big of a deal for a laptop though). However, OSX is UNIX, I spend most of my time in terminals so this is great. There is a huge community of developers and open source projects that are built on OSX. Especially ruby, js, and web developers. Look at projects like homebrew or just checkout github to see what I mean.

If you're not a dev, I can't really relate. If garageband works on your hackintosh, I'd spend your money on a PC laptop rather than a Mac.

These new Ultrabooks look really slick.
 
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What about the extra 512mB of VRAM? Thankyou though for bringing up the OC ability, I was wondering about that.

I never even thought about that. The glossy screen is glass? I thought it was plastic. That makes the decision quite abit easier. Very grateful for the information on the screens.
I would never dream of using a trackpad for gaming. USB mouse for that is fine. Hell, trackpad is good for little other than extremely light web browsing and even then mouse is faster. Serious/Productive DAW work requires a mouse. Photoshop with a trackpad? Hmm interesting points. The sex appeal certainly is a waste but that also has to do with build quality. I thought build quality would be better on a Mac. I know my Dell Inspiron frankly is built like crap and as appealing as a turd. I am not impressed with Asus's gaming series, I find them unappealing.

512mB of Vram, 200mHz, and 250gB don't seem worth ~300$ to me. I bet you could easy OC out that extra 200mHz and have no impact on heat.

I don't want a monster of a gaming machine. Just something I could get by with. Be able to level a bit of TOR while away rather than have nothing at all. I know that gaming on a laptop is partially a lost cause. I would just like to have a better option to what I currently do which is none. Dragging a full ATX SLI rig to a lan party to play CS Source and Dota is a major pain in the ass. I'd also use the laptop for casual use and school work.

Heck at one point a 750gB Samsung laptop drive could be had for 50$. Its currently 80$.
According to TomsHardware at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428.html, the extra 512mB at that resolution is next to useless. I am also notorious for not using AA. At 1920*1200 I never use AA as the performance hit has never been worth it to me personally. Strange how I can go w/o AA but other settings nag me.
Looks like I'll got with the lower end model and pocket the difference for a future upgrade.
 
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At 512MB, you'd run into GPU limitation long before you can exhaust VRAM. I think the extra 512MB is a good consideration if you play StarCraft 2, and you can't take anything less than Ultra textures, but other than that, I don't think it's good for much else. These are laptop GPUs after all. You're not gonna try to enable AFx16 or AA on these, so 512MB is more than enough.

Build quality on the Mac is actually not a lot better than some high-end PC laptops. But long run it'll last longer than plastic laptops.

Don't underestimate the 250GB of space, though. If you're gonna do Bootcamp, it'll feel cramped very fast. Games are 10GB or more now, and you'll have to give Windows quite a lot of space.

And the touchpad is actually quite nice. It's bigger than most laptop trackpads, so I think you'll find that it's more comfortable for certain tasks. Positively not FPS games or RTS, but anything else should be fine.
 
Doesn't look like BF3 will run on 512mB of ram, or the MacBook Pro at all really. It's kinda a bad taste knowing you'd have to settle for low right out of the gate, even at such a low resolution. But maybe I shouldn't be expecting a laptop to run such a game. Well at least not a non-gaming laptop.
 
It does run on the Macbook Pro alright, but you'll have to overclock the hell out of the GPU to get playable framerate. At stock, you're really going to have to settle for 1280 x 720 at Low settings.

The problem is that the game is heavily based on DX11, which is not really light on current GPUs.
 
A Macbook Pang - I mean an Envy 15 - seems like the better bet, bearing in mind the various crippletastic aspects of Windows on a Mac.

If hackintosh works for what limited use of OS X you need, then as the poster said above it doesn't really make much sense tying one hand behind your back 90% of the time.
 
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You want to buy a MacBook Pro for primarily gaming? Oh boy, you need to get your priorities straight.

No matter what people say, Macs don't run Windows like a normal PC should. You're at the mercy of Apple's outdated, crippled drivers that will *never* be on par with its PC counterpart.

So you want to use garage band. That's the only reason you want a Mac? You're willing to pay $2000 for a mediocre gaming machine that can run garage band? It just doesn't make sense to me. Get the right tool for the right job; get a PC for gaming.
 
You said you need a mouse for "serious DAW work." Well, if you're going to be serious, you also need as much screen real estate as possible. The highest resolution you can get - even multiple monitors if you can. This brings up a few points:

- The low-res screen is a terrible option for DAW (or any kind of work)
- You'll always be carrying a USB mouse (gaming and serious DAW work)
- You can't function without the charger, unless all you need is a very short battery life
- Hence, you won't be too mobile
- ^^ So what's the point of a laptop
- Garage Band is not a serious DAW
- Macs are not good gaming machines

... So I fail to see how you'd gain anything, at all, by getting the MacBook Pro. I'd suggest a gaming PC laptop with a high resolution instead. All the good DAW software is available for windows, and they even run better than the Mac versions. Logic is the only Mac-only DAW that doesn't suck, but you're not missing much.
 
I'm willing to pay $2K to get something built not entirely out of cheap plastic. Its not primarily for gaming. It'd be for the odd time on on the road and the yearly light lan party. I also wouldn't be gaming in OSX but in Windows. I'd assume the Windows drivers are fine. I'd also use OsX for quite a bit of school work such as research and word processing. Browsing, etc. I'm not looking to play BF3 at 1080p at Ultra. My desktop can barely do that! and I'd like a laptop not a desktop replacement like Alienware's I've seen. Portability is what I am partially looking for. Also why I'd buy 15". I've seen 17" laptops and personally they are much to big to be portable.
 
Well if you're dead set on it, I still recommend the high resolution screen. Since gaming is a low priority, you can always game at a lower, non-native resolution if the performance is lacking. What you gain is valuable screen space when working with your DAW software and other doodads. I firmly believe that the low resolution screen is a waste of money, especially if you ever plan on doing any kind of serious work on the machine.

As for the build quality, MacBook Pros rock. The only downside is that they scratch and dent easily and permanently. Plastic chassis do not. The solution is to use good, expensive plastics instead of cheap, crappy plastic. Asus does make a couple 15 inch gaming machines with great build quality, but nowhere near the thin/lightness of a MacBook Pro.

I made the same decision you're about to make about a year ago. I found myself loving the trackpad in OS X, hating the Windows experience due to bad support, and eventually selling the MacBook Pro because it never quite fulfilled the role of a "happy medium" machine. Your mileage may vary.
 
Just a few notes about Bootcamp since this may concern the 2011 15" Pro instead of the 2010...

Bootcamp drivers on the 2011 are very recent. GPU drivers are old, but you can update freely to any ATI Catalyst, and not have to resort to dodgy INF hacks like with the older GT 330M. Which actually did have sucky stock drivers and not as good power management.

ATI Tray Tool can be further used on the 2011 Pro to dynamically switch between different clock speeds of the GPU, so you can undervolt while on desktop and overclock while in game.

And it seems my information was wrong. Battlefield 3 does run on High settings on the stock 6770M.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojk7farKh4o

As far as scratches and dents go, if it bothers you so much, get a Speck case...
 
I appreciate the input slugg. I'll keep mulling it over.

Since you loved the MacBook Pro build quality, what did you replace with? My friend has a recent Asus and its quite plastic y/unattractive. Did you get a good return on you Macbook? Something I'm considering with IvyBridge around the corner. I feel though in the next 3-4 months I could get great use of a new laptop.
 
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It's always a rule of thumb that if you need something, buy it now. Apple has never been a predictable one, so it's nigh impossible to guess when new products are out. Plus the Macbook Pro just got a speed bump about 2 months ago. It's too early for an update.
 
mingsoup said:
I appreciate the input slugg. I'll keep mulling it over.

Since you loved the MacBook Pro build quality, what did you replace with? My friend has a recent Asus and its quite plastic y/unattractive. Did you get a good return on you Macbook? Something I'm considering with IvyBridge around the corner. I feel though in the next 3-4 months I could get great use of a new laptop.
Click to expand...

I replaced my 15" MacBook Pro with a Lenovo Thinkpad T520.

Just like any other PC manufacturer, Asus has it's fair share of crap. You need to look at the high end models (G53 comes to mind) to get into the realm of quality. I don't know what your friend has. It's not as nice as a Thinkpad T/X/W series, but as far as gaming laptops go, it's one of the best. In general, if you want to look at PC offerings, you need to make sure you're looking at the premium line of laptops. It's kind of pointless to compare a $2000 MacBook Pro to an $800 budget gaming laptop.

I got an 80% return on my MacBook after selling it about 9 months after I bought it. You pay more now, but you get most of it back later. This seems to be changing, however, so I wouldn't bet on it much longer. I got *really* lucky with my resale.

As for using a Speck case on the MacBook Pro, the case will trap particles that will forever rub on the aluminum exterior, thus blemishing the laptop over time. They also add a considerable amount of weight; you'll definitely feel it.
 
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