Solved! Macbook pro as a gaming/college laptop

[mag77]

Hello I am going to need a laptop for school and I need some advice. I do alot of traveling and im sick of not having a decent gaming laptop with me. I was wondering if a Macbook pro with windows 7 booted on it would work out for me. Here are the specs for the 15"

2.0GHz quad-core
Intel Core i7
4GB 1333MHz
500GB 5400-rpm1
Intel HD Graphics 3000
AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256MB GDDR5

The price of this laptop is 1,799. This feels overpriced, is there something better I could go for instead?

Thanks

 

[Silly Boots]

A Macbook Pro, especially the $1800 configuration, is not generally considered a good "gaming laptop". The GPU on the cheaper model is pretty much garbage, and will only play relatively simple games. Moreover, OS X has been shown to not run games as well as they could be running with comparable specs on a Windows 7 machine. Booting Windows could work, but you will still suffer from a frame rate loss compared to a regular windows 7 computer. If you are dead set on an Apple product and want to play games, get the $2,200 version of the 15 inch Macbook Pro. While it is completely overpriced for the specs you get, it's the best gaming laptop Apple offers.

If you travel a lot, I'm going to assume you want your computer to be not terribly bulky, which is difficult to do in a laptop for gaming. If you want a laptop that can play games fairly decently on medium settings, check out the XPS 15z. It's essentially built to be a Macbook Pro but with Windows 7. For a really quality gaming experience you could go the route of the M14x Alienware Laptop. Because it's Alienware. the craftsmanship will likely be very high, and the specs are reasonable for the price. It starts at $1,099, but if you get the i7-2630QM processor, 1600 x 900 Screen, and other things you can pick for yourself, it should be around $1,400 - $1,500.

If you think you can handle extra bulk and want an epic gaming experience, try the MSI GT683R. That is the most powerful 15 inch laptop currently for sale that I am aware of, and the price of $1,500 is very reasonable. Check it out on Newegg.

http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152266

Good luck!

 

[WR2]

For around the same $1800 price as the Mac with Radeon HD 6490M you could get a true custom gaming laptop like this 15" Sager NP8150 @ XoticPC
Core i7 2360M CPU, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HDD 15" 1920x1080 LCD w/ GTX 580M.

When equipped with the GTX 560M it runs around ~$1330.

Note those prices don't include Win 7 - an extra bonus if you already own a copy.

 

[mag77]

These all look great! The MSI GT683R caught my attention the most, I was wondering how the lifespan was for it. I heard macbook pros have a higher lifespan and that is what I liked about them. Does anyone own this laptop that could help input?

 

[AidanJC]

I have a 2011 17" MacBook Pro, with the 6750M. I find it more than enough for my gaming needs. Crysis runs fine, not in full resolution obviously, but the 17 inch does have a 1920x1200 display.