help: Laptop?

[Kazary]

hiya guysi need to buy a new laptop, and i have my eyes on a mac book pro 15", this isn't just for gaming, i have other reasons for getting one, not for a OMFG ITS A APPLE OMFG ITS SO COOL!!!

anyway, i want to know if this thing is gonna be able to handle L4d or get any good fps rates on HL2:ep2 , ( i ain't played it yet ) , also i wonder if it'll handle any other new games well too. Can anyone give me any ideas on this? Or any other laptop i should take a look at before i actually give over my finally well earnt money!!

i've been using a toshia satellite thats 5 years old and has a 16 meg gefore go 2 card in it and its finally broken down, so this is the reason i need to get a new laptop asap. And i'm strictly after a laptop, since i preffer it over a desktop = means i can use in bed and bring it to a friends house =P

Specs of my mac i'm looking at: (i'm worried about the graphics card yet i know shit about them, so any insight?)

2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1440 x 900 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive1
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM

i know there are Mac books with a Mobility Radeon X1600 256mb, but these are worse at playing games right? i doubt a company would put a worse card to ugrade a laptop right?

[USS_Stud]

The graphic card, 8600gt, is alright. You'll have a hard time running EP2 though. Probably get around 20fps with everything maxed. Definately going to have to disable motin blur. Most LCDs have that 'oh naturale' motion blur anyway. Tone down the AA and Anti a bit. And possibly average around 40fps.

The laptop is similar to my older rig, but for some reason... Laptops don't act the same as desktops. At least in my experience.

Also
OMFG ITS A APPLE OMFG ITS SO COOL!!!
Apple was never cool.

[Kazary]

i know, but i mean thats what most mac fan boys just say... and its badt to say that.
so i just said that as a joke to make sure some nab don't come and flame me

[Kazary]

any one else any input? :<

[globalenjoi]

I'm curious, how much is that one gonna cost you? I'll be in the market for one soon, and I'm looking for the same thing hehe.

[gorgoth]

Well, that laptop will play L4D almost seamlessly. I don't care what people say about the new line of nVidia and dual cores, to be honest, I run HL2 on gih with a medium resolution with these specs, and no lag

1 Gb ram
2.4 ATI processor, not dual
X1300 ATI, 512 RAM

So sure, the better the system, the better the game, but I wouldn't worry.

[Kazary]

check apple's site, its a 2.6 processor, so it'll be a bit more, but it'll be allot :<

thx gorgoth, hopefully it'll all go well, should get it this thur

[Srdmstr]

Depends on your budget but you could check into the VooDoo line, or maybe the Dell XPS series? (I've been using the latter for awhile so it has my vote!)

[Teknobry]

The 2.6ghz processor, is that the T7600 or the T7600G? If you can get the G one you're laughing (it can be overclocked from bios)

The 8600GT is ok, if you can afford the 8700GT then it would be better.

WHY a mac though? They are sh*t in comparison with pc's for gaming, although you say you have other reasons...

Remember, the laptop graphics cards are not equal to their desktop equivilents. They are much more throttled back.

Still, with a 256mb 8600GT and 1400 x900 resolution you should be able to play most games with a decent graphics quality, although i doubt you'll be able to run much (if any) AA. Personally, i've never found that a problem as i've never really noticed much difference.

[Big_Bubbaloola]

Is L4D gonna be available for the Mac?

[Kazary]

erm, no. I meant a intel mac.

Btw guys i got it, and i'm quite happy so far, just needing to install XP on it. Then i'll tell you my results on it :3 but fuck me, getting used to the keyboard is a tiny bit of a pain, but i guess you need to do this for any laptop. I mean i'm usually okay, but sometimes i hit random buttons or don't hit the ones i want to... this'll be interesting for Steam games when i need precise timing xDD

anyway, i would love for the mac to have a mobile 8800.. i thought this was the one it actually had for a while which was why i was like OMFG!!! cuz no other laptop had it, and to be precise, no laptop does xDD i misread 8600 gt for 8800 gt LOL.
Anyway as you say a 8600 should be good enough. even my brother says so whos a pc &amp; mac know it all. Anyway, for the specs it has, apart from a alienware lappy, it;s actually one of the better laptops out there in terms or specs (as far as i know ) just i do wish the keyboard had a few more keys on it like my old lappy.. its quite minimalistic to say the least xD Also theres some bother about the mouse speed when i'm trying to make precise movements and somehow the mouse movement to marker movements seems to ephasise movements a bit.. its kinda quite annoying.. i need to check out how to stop it doing that.. my old mac doesn't do it with Osx..

oh jesus i'm writing a god damned review!! anyway..

Can wait to start making my L4d Map on this lil beasty.

[Teknobry]

Its got the 2nd best processor, thats about it :p

The 8800GTX (m) is already released, and rock's xtreme 770 comes with it, alienware and dell's xps laptops are on the verge of releasing their machines with it as well.

Anyways, enjoy your new toy :D

[Clamzoni_of_RI]

Wow. That'll probably only be in the 3000 dollar XPS laptops, right? I'm aiming for about 1,700.

[Teknobry]

You're after a laptop for US $1700?

What have you found so far?