Think a mbp could remplace my desktop ?!?

[ddrmanxbxfr]

Hi, I'm writing this message because i would like to know more about the multiple purpose of having a macbook pro ( i5 15'' 4 Gb of ram. ). To see I should keep my desktop or I can only use the laptop for my needs as i'm going to college getting a Computer Science degree. I already know what's OS X and how it works pretty much because I've been using it at school with powermacs and iMac's. It's been 5 years that i'm working with macs.

I currently have a Q6600 ( 3.2 Ghz 8 Gb of ram Ati Radeon 4850 ). At home I mainly play world of warcraft, team fortress 2, Call of duty Modern Warfare 2 and encode a little bit of video once in a while. Nothing serious.

At school, I know that we'll have to do some development with various language as Java C# python and work with many more languages. The fact that having OS X will be pretty useful because we'll have to work under various os's in some part of the program.

You think that it's still worth it to keep my desktop or keeping the laptop only could be okay without noticing big performance loss ?

Will i have overheating problems maybe ?!?

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your analysis of the situation

P.S : Sorry for my bad English

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

If you want to play video games at similar performance to your desktop, then a macbook pro cannot replace your desktop. But if you can live with that, then the macbook pro would be fine for your needs.

 

[TheStu]

I went MacBook only for my year in Software Engineering. With the exception of gaming, I never felt that it was too limited. If I ever needed more screen real estate, I just grabbed one of the 23" Cinema Displays from the PowerMac in the lab.

 

[ddrmanxbxfr]

If you want to play video games at similar performance to your desktop, then a macbook pro cannot replace your desktop. But if you can live with that, then the macbook pro would be fine for your needs.

Yeah then i may not keep the desktop... Too much space and sitting there for nothing.

The performance made by the new gpu ( 330m ) seems pretty good on the reviews.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

The GPU is good. It's just not as good as you are used to. What graphics settings are you playing on now? Ultra High? High?

 

[ddrmanxbxfr]

The GPU is good. It's just not as good as you are used to. What graphics settings are you playing on now? Ultra High? High?

I'm playing on ultra high with 8x multisampling. The whole thing running at 18-22 fps at dalaran and mostly 60-40 fps in icc 25

 

[PricklyPete]

I don't play games on my computer anymore...so I have not had a desktop computer new for 3 years. The MBP has more than handled my computing needs superbly.

 

[Spineshank]

I plan on selling my desktop for a MBP. Though im running an Athlon X2 yet.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

yeah you won't be able to get that kind of gaming performance on a macbook pro. maybe high if you're lucky, but might be just around medium.

 

[VinylxScratches]

Yes, you can run VirtualBox for anything Windows related. I did it on a 1.83Ghz C2D when I was in college. I still use the same Macbook and it still feels pretty snappy.

I don't care or games cept the oldies though.

 

[leglez]

I am considering this also. I do not game at all on my computer anymore. If I do it is Company of Heroes or something that isn't very graphic demanding. Other than that I do lots of web browsing, itunes, email, spreadsheets and calendars. I could probably sell my rig+monitor for $1,400-$1,500 if I parted it out. Then I could get a pretty nice 13" macbook and get rid of my desk at home, and use it at home and at work.

 

[mmntech]

I use my Macbook almost exclusively now. The desktop is just for gaming or heavy media encoding. All my video editing is done on the MB. I think the mbp can definitely replace your desktop as long as you're not expecting serious gaming out of it. Just remember that you will need to buy a copy of Windows to play them though.

 

[MJinZ]

Hi, I'm writing this message because i would like to know more about the multiple purpose of having a macbook pro ( i5 15'' 4 Gb of ram. ). To see I should keep my desktop or I can only use the laptop for my needs as i'm going to college getting a Computer Science degree. I already know what's OS X and how it works pretty much because I've been using it at school with powermacs and iMac's. It's been 5 years that i'm working with macs.

I currently have a Q6600 ( 3.2 Ghz 8 Gb of ram Ati Radeon 4850 ). At home I mainly play world of warcraft, team fortress 2, Call of duty Modern Warfare 2 and encode a little bit of video once in a while. Nothing serious.

At school, I know that we'll have to do some development with various language as Java C# python and work with many more languages. The fact that having OS X will be pretty useful because we'll have to work under various os's in some part of the program.

You think that it's still worth it to keep my desktop or keeping the laptop only could be okay without noticing big performance loss ?

Will i have overheating problems maybe ?!?

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your analysis of the situation

P.S : Sorry for my bad English

WoW will probably play at lower settings just fine. Modern Warfare 2? Not as well.

Sure it can replace your Desktop, it just depends on how slow you want to tolerate and how much you want to downgrade your Graphics.

 

[sourceninja]

I ran wow at near max settings on my macbook pro. I also played dragon age, splinter cell double agent, stalker, half life 2, etc with fairly high graphic settings.

 

[ddrmanxbxfr]

Yup, thanks all ! This solution going from desktop to a laptop seems the solution for a lot of people because laptop are now much more powerful than before. I think that gaming won't be that bad as i'm not a graphic crusher guy.

The only problem that i may see will be hard drive space... This could be solved with external hard drives though.

sourceninja »» Thanks for the info.

 

[sourceninja]

It's not hard to crack that bad boy open and upgrade the hard drive yourself either. I have a 500 gig in mine (the first gen unibody with replaceable battery) and my wife's (The gen before the unibody). http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2363244,00.asp

 

[KeypoX]

im not so sure that the new mac books wouldnt out perform your setup, at stock. Though I would go quad core since you are used to it. 8 total threads yo.

 

[silverpig]

Yup, thanks all ! This solution going from desktop to a laptop seems the solution for a lot of people because laptop are now much more powerful than before. I think that gaming won't be that bad as i'm not a graphic crusher guy.

The only problem that i may see will be hard drive space... This could be solved with external hard drives though.

sourceninja »» Thanks for the info.

Or you could get a smaller ssd for the laptop and then use the current one as an external. Add more externals as required.

 

[Emulex]

quad core and 8 or 16gb of ram - ram is key - if you can't afford the ram skip it!

 

[leglez]

I have been thinking about this more and more. I think I can realistically get around $1,000 for my complete rig, and maybe $300 for the monitor. So looking at $1,300 total. Is the i5 dual core and i7 quad core?

I am moreso looking at the 15" compared to the 13" since it would be a complete desktop replacement. I don't do really any gaming. Internet browsing, lots of citrix works with Microsoft office. Lots of emailing. Would like to be able to do some light FCP and Photoshop if needbe and Windows 7 virtualization with VMware. Other than that I don't need much. I understand the macbook pro is probably overkill, but I just want to get rid of the desktop since it takes up so much room in my living room, and I can't use it while at work.

The few things I am worried about is first of all, speed. Would 4GB of RAM be sufficient? Would dual core be sufficient?

Is 15" bulky to carry around? I carry a bag at work anyways. I could put the macbook in a protective cover or something and then throw it in the bag and get going.

Also am I able to take the Macbook to an applestore to have them install an SSD at a later date? Or how easy is it to install one myself?

 

[Emulex]

4gb - no

ssd - get it for sure - 1.8 or 2.5" drives are nasty slow in most laptops; which is why they sell you a big fat juicy ssd.

you really don't want to open up a mac product. you will find getting support for non-apple objects in the macbook pro difficult - most people just CTO order their macbook like they want it 8gb and 256gb ssd(or 512) and pay the mac tax . don't forget applecare.

macbook's are very very very expensive done right.

 

[TheStu]

Apple doesn't care if you drop in your RAM or HDD. They are user replaceable parts.

They will care if in the process of putting in your new hard drive you stab the logic board with a screw driver. Also, they will not cover your HDD or RAM if you replace it yourself. Save yourself some money, get the better product, and put in your own SSD and RAM.

 

[KeypoX]

4gb - no

ssd - get it for sure - 1.8 or 2.5" drives are nasty slow in most laptops; which is why they sell you a big fat juicy ssd.

you really don't want to open up a mac product. you will find getting support for non-apple objects in the macbook pro difficult - most people just CTO order their macbook like they want it 8gb and 256gb ssd(or 512) and pay the mac tax . don't forget applecare.

macbook's are very very very expensive done right.

lol wow

 

[Emulex]

apple has insane policies - smoke lol.

just put the original parts back in before bringing it in for service. then swap them back out. that being said if your $800 of 8gb of ram is flakey - don't cry to apple about that. not their problem. likewise with the ssd.

 

[ddrmanxbxfr]

Gonna remplace ram and hd on own. It's really simple. I'm gonna take the way with an ssd inside and some external hard drives to store my raw pictures and my movies.

Thanks a lot again guys.

Leglez, 1 15 inch isn't that bad to carry.
2 Install yourself an SSD it's really costy for the work it involves.
3 After for dual cores and 4 gb's it really depends of your uses. I found that doing a few vmwares sessions that if you are intensives on them you need a lot of ram but if it's only one or two sessions 4 gb's will be enough. Else for cpu humm well see the benchmark's pretty much the only thing i can say