March 17, 2008
The MacBook wants to game
Posted Mar. 17, ’08, 7:15 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Games
Peter Cohen writing at Macworld has taken a look at part of the reason Mac gaming is till lacking. More specifically, the video in the MacBook just isn’t up to the task. Herein lies the problem. The MacBook is one of the most popular Macs. College students buy them by the pallet. College students also like playing games. Ironically, the MacBook is the least equipped Mac to actually be used for games.
While their PC using counterparts have real, honest to goodness video cards living in the guts of their machines, MacBook users have integrated chips. Now, they do fine for most things outside gaming and as such are normally a suitable choice, but when that student finds that Mac port of a Windows game only to discover the horror of how it runs in comparison, what impression is that going to leave? That’s right, it perpetuates the stereotype that Macs are just horrible gaming machines.
I remember a time when Apple took pride in shipping standalone graphics cards in every Mac. They poked fun at the competition. They may not have been the best cards ever and the integrated stuff beats what we had then, but by now, isn’t it time for Apple to bring back the cards, even if they’re low end?
12 Comments
Leave a comment
Recent Entries
About MacUser
MacUser is your source for news, info, and opinion about Apple, the Mac, and the iPod. Our dedicated team of bloggers covers everything that is relevant to Mac users — and, okay, some stuff that’s not quite relevant, but is still a lot of fun. (Plus, we've got columns by Andy Ihnatko!)
Subscribe/RSS
- Blog Posts
- Blog Comments
- Podcast (RSS) (iTunes)
Tip us off!
- Email: macuser [at] macuser [dot] com
Recent Comments 
- Wondercow on Wait...Spotlight can do that?!
- Aayush Arya on Wait...Spotlight can do that?!
- Be on Wait...Spotlight can do that?!
- D Jones on Wait...Spotlight can do that?!
- David M on Wait...Spotlight can do that?!
- Bob on U-Charge: like U-Haul, but for batteries. Except not.
Categories
- Apple (173)
- Advertising (135)
- Events (198)
- Huh? (139)
- Humor (229)
- News (128)
- People (223)
- Rivals (334)
- Speculation (134)
- Steve Jobs (142)
- Stores (170)
- Apple TV (50)
- Business (374)
- Games (128)
- Geekery (409)
- Hardware (836)
- Accessories (53)
- Intel Macs (157)
- Ihnatko (18)
- Internet (379)
- Legal (194)
- MacUser (87)
- Money (153)
- Music (312)
- Podcasting (97)
- Photography (66)
- Security (205)
- Software (1368)
- Updates (457)
- Tips (324)
- Troubleshooting (172)
- Video (356)
- Windows (190)
- iPhone (174)
- iPod (560)
- iPod Accessories (87)
- iPod Software (56)
- iTunes (97)
- iTunes Store (376)
Archives
- May 2008 (109)
- April 2008 (234)
- March 2008 (217)
- February 2008 (215)
- January 2008 (239)
- December 2007 (169)
- November 2007 (164)
- October 2007 (187)
- September 2007 (167)
- August 2007 (195)
- July 2007 (152)
- June 2007 (223)
- May 2007 (243)
- April 2007 (286)
- March 2007 (288)
- February 2007 (250)
- January 2007 (266)
- December 2006 (244)
- November 2006 (293)
- October 2006 (307)
- September 2006 (250)
- August 2006 (268)
- July 2006 (288)
- June 2006 (293)
- May 2006 (297)
- April 2006 (351)
- March 2006 (366)
- February 2006 (110)
- January 2006 (107)
- December 2005 (23)
Mac Publishing Sites
Links
IDG NETWORK:
They need to put crappy graphics chip in the MacBooks to give people a reason to opt for the more expensive MacBook Pro.
I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but laptops in the $800 - $1,200 range by the big PC guys -- Dell, Gateway, etc -- generally do not have separate video cards either, but 'Intel Integrated Graphics Accelerators' -- the same as Intel's GMA3100 in the MacBook ($1,099). You have to pay more (by adding a video card option or choosing a more expensive model) to get a dedicated NVidia or ATI video card for better gaming on these Windows laptops.
In a more perfect world, Apple would at least offer an NVidia card option in the top-end MacBook, given the price jump if one wants to go up to the MBP.
- BA
What would the cost difference be? Remember, even amongst college kids, a lot of MacBook-ians would be paying extra for a video card they don't need.
I guess you could make it an option, but you'd hate to overcomplicate the product selection process for technophobe parents.
What's worse, Apple's website actually plays up the MacBook as being a good mobile gaming platform.
The MacBook Pro is Apple's "gaming" portable.
Apple has adopted the same tradeoffs which allow Dell and HP to sell very cheap portables. I think if you compare similarly priced portables you'll find that most PCs have integrated graphics at the MacBook price points. Similarly, desktop which sell for prices comparable to the Mini tend to have integrated graphics.
What I find incredible is that the games industry continues to target only high end video cards rather than creating games which can be played on the bulk of machines people actually own. I've been burned several times buying games that I couldn't play, or giving a gift that the recipient couldn't play. This is true both of Mac games and even of PC games. I barely have a PC capable of playing Halo let alone newer games. I simply don't buy games for Mac or PC any more.
The Wii and DS are my current gaming platforms of choice.
Gaming on a PC is a pain. Every six months or so you get outdated. Compare that to the life offered by a PS3 or Xbox 360, and for a relatively cheap price.
Anyway, before giving all the graphics cards n all, Apple's main priority should be to do away with the shame that is the Combo drive on the base model.
College students play games? When the hell do they find the time? Seriously, I had far better things to do than play games (studying, sleeping, studying, working, and studying mainly).
To challenge the premise though, if you buy a low-end PC, isn't it also going to have integrated graphics with the poor gaming performance that comes with it? Is it really fair to expect Apple's consumer notebooks to perform better than consumer PCs?
Trouble is, with products such as a Mac Mini you are completely stuck. I bought a unit with Integrated graphics (save $$) and later on bought a video card for the empty slot the system had.
I would gladly consider the Mac if they would make a desktop unit that was short of Nasa specs (read Mac Pro) but more than the woefully inadequate Mac Appliance (err, Mini).
actaully, the up side of PC is that you can get more for less. I can build personal computers with quard core processors, Dual 1 gig videos, and 8 gigs of ram for the same if not a little less than a macbook pro. thats about the only upside. downsides- give it a year - 2 years and it will need to be upgraded.
@fletcher
The MacBook plays Halo pretty decently if you set the settings to low, especially the newest MacBooks.
Forget the Combo drive. You can custom order an internal Supedrive on-line, and you can get an external DVD DL drive for cheap nowadays. BUT, it is IMPOSSIBLE to upgrade the video card on laptops, so you are stuck with the intergrated card.
A low-end video card for the Macbook and a highend for the MB Pro. That way, Apple can still differentiate b/w the two models, yet offer decent video game performance on both platforms.
i was waiting for apple to come out with a 13" macbook pro to upgrade my old powerbook 12"... it didn't happen... they came out with the air, that is even slower than the macbooks. so i bought a macbook, knowing i would have to give up on the sims 2...
to me, a portable computer must be portable. something bigger than 13 inches is too big. so i couldn't go for the pros even if i had the extra cash.