#2
14th Feb 2008 at 11:44 PM
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Macs are not good to play new demanding games on, no. First of all you will have to HAVE a copy of Windows to install using bootcamp (or purchase another program which will let you run Windows on a Mac). Even then you will not get the same performance on a Mac as you would a computer designed to run Windows with the same specs. In addition to just raw performance, Macs do not deal well with heat and you are likely to have problems due to overheating the machine. Plus that card (ATI 2600) isn't that great.. the 7600GT actually outperforms it so if you're looking at playing like Crysis or whatever I think you will not be very pleased at how it plays. You will certainly have to turn your settings way down.
Macs excel at some things but gaming is not one of them. Your 3d art and animation stuff perfect for the Mac however... photoshop, video editing etc. Macs are made for that kind of stuff. It's perfect for your chosen major.. seems that should be more important for you at this point in your life, no? If you want to play Crysis and things take a look at some Sager notebooks.. Where are you located? Assuming you are in the US:
http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np5792...?wconfigure=yes
WUXGA
T9300
8800 GTX
2GB
Choose orange or silver trim color
200gb 7200rpm
XP Home (maybe pro if you need it to get on the network at college..)
Standard with 1 year parts and 3 year labor warranty. lifetime 24/7 tech support
$2517.00/$2441.49 Cash discount
Add 3 year parts and labor warranty comes to $2714.00/$2632.58
Now that's a computer which will handle newer demanding games well, and last you a while too. I suggested the WUXGA screen because it's superier to the WSXGA and obviously for your graphics stuff a good screen is important.
The Macbook pro at least has a better graphics card.. the 8600GT, okay to play most games on at least medium settings. But again.. performance reduction through bootcamp and overheating issues are a concern.