MacBook Pro A Gaming Computer?

• 

  p1 ama on 30/12/2019 - 23:00

  +4

  I need some help, I am probably buying a Mac Pro in the new year but I am a full time gamer.

  Mac Pro or MacBook Pro? I'll assume MacBook Pro since the rest of your post is about the MacBook Pro.

  Anyway, what do you mean by "full time gamer", do you get paid to play games for a living? If so, then you shouldn't be buying a MacBook Pro because there are better options available for the price.

  Your question is a bit vague to be honest. If you're asking whether the MacBook Pro can play games, sure, of course. If you're asking whether it's a good gaming laptop, then no, it's not.

• 

  Zazer on 30/12/2019 - 23:05

  +5

  Very confused by this post mate. If you truly are a "full time gamer" then you would know that Mac's are terrible for gaming.

  I would avoid a laptop for gaming, they inevitably suffer from thermal throttling just because they have to be squeezed into a slim body.

  I would doubly avoid a Mac for gaming.

• 

  pienmalinka on 30/12/2019 - 23:08

  +1

  Cheers for the fast response, with Full time gamer I mean I play around 6 hours per day, not paid for it.

  Avoiding. Mac for gaming; what's a good alternative>??

  • 

    scrimshaw on 30/12/2019 - 23:10

    +2

    Maybe you should start with a budget first. Gaming laptops can be equipped with a very large range of CPU's, GPU's and even LCD panels of varying refresh rates.

    If you want cheap, ASUS ROG FX505DT. It comes with a middle-end GTX 1650 for less than $1100. It even has a 120hz display. okay for esports games.

    If you want balls to the walls spec, MSI GE75 (17 inch) would have pretty much the best of everything (RTX 2080), including 144hz to 240hz displays.

  • 

    wiipantz on 31/12/2019 - 09:33

    +1

    Build your own real PC

  • 

    klaw81 on 01/01/2020 - 17:04

    +1

    If you're serious about gaming, a desktop is the answer. For the same price as a base model MacBook Pro, you can get yourself a very decent desktop PC that will easily outperform all but the most powerful and expensive laptops available.

    Deals from Techfast and similar on OzBargain are currently outstanding value and a great place to start, or you can learn a whole new skill and build your own if you like.

    If you must have a laptop, we can explore options once we have a budget

• 

  JacobHarvey on 30/12/2019 - 23:10

  +3

  Avoid that 15 inch model, the 16 inch Macbook Pro is improved in pretty much every way compared to the 15 inch Macbook Pro.

  Even the base Radeon 5300M in the new 16 inch Macbook is faster than the top end Vega 20 in the model you are looking at. Also, if using it mainly for gaming there are better laptops than either Macbook Pro for that purpose

• 

  Cave Fire on 31/12/2019 - 00:25

  +1

  There's a lot of misconceptions about macs. Those specs seem pretty good, but the problem is compatibility. Most games don't install under MacOS, so you have to use a windows emulator. Which would mean a performance hit. You can use a gpu caddy and then install linux but you are still losing performance compared to Windows.

  • 

    lunchbox99 on 31/12/2019 - 01:04

    +1

    You can also install windows natively using bootcamp. It literally just partitions the Mac ssd and starts the windows installer and adds drivers for the Mac hardware.

    No idea how good the GPU is for gaming under windows. I imagine it would thermally throttle.

  • 

    Zachary on 31/12/2019 - 10:57

    I think he's one of those guys who just prefers using a mac, just like some of yous who prefer android over iphone.

• 

  jimbobaus on 31/12/2019 - 01:10

  Howdy Gamer and Mac User here.
  Macs with decent specs can play most games easily and well.
  The obvious issues you will face is a lot of games do not support OSX and some older ones that do support OSX now wont work as they are 32bit and Mac does not support any 32bit applications anymore.

  You would want to consider getting Windows 10 and using bootcamp to dual boot your machine.
  Latest version of windows is finally supported (Turn off auto updates as updates often break the windows partition until Apple updates bootcamep drivers etc)

  Mac also supports External GPU units (AMD ONLY) and this can be a huge help when it comes to higher end games

  What games do you currently play?
  Most Blizzard Games (Not Overwatch) are supported natively on mac
  Path of Exile comes to Mac ion 2020 (Finally)
  Square Enix is good when it comes to mac support
  Bethesda and Zenimax also support mac natively on a lot of games.

  Most "new" games take a while to come to Mac, as the developers send them out to exteranal dev teams to convert to mac

  You will most def need windows unless you are playing World of Warcraft or diablo every day and nothing else

  • 

    jimbobaus on 31/12/2019 - 01:52

    Wow.. Downvoted for stating some facts
    PC MASTER RACE I guess

    • 

      Axelstrife on 31/12/2019 - 02:17

      +3

      Downvoted you for bullshitting that Mac's are capable gaming computers.

      Upvoted your second comment for finally stateing the truth "PC MASTER RACE"

      • 

        jimbobaus on 31/12/2019 - 05:07

        As someone who plays games on Mac.
        They are more than capable. They have some pretty decent specs if you get the right one.
        And as I stated with Windows you can ply most aaa games.

        • 

          Axelstrife on 31/12/2019 - 05:32

          +1

          @jimbobaus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pbTZoX2a88&t=328s
          ^mac gets destroyed
          As a guy who plays on PC i can say you are getting worse performance than what your money could buy for a PC.

          Mac's are NOT for gaming and never will be.

          • 

            jimbobaus on 31/12/2019 - 14:16

            @Axelstrife: I never said they were for gaming
            i said they do gaming well

            If i was a gamer only then yes i agree i would get a PC
            But if i had a reason to have a mac (which i do) and i also wanted to play games then a Mac is more than sufficent provided you get the right specs.

            A higher end mac running windows will play games well enough

            Will i get RTX or run games at Ultra ? NO i wont
            But games will run well enough especially on a windows partition

            • 

              Axelstrife on 31/12/2019 - 14:23

              +2

              @jimbobaus: "i said they do gaming well"

              Watch the video Mac looses to equivalent hardware.

              "A higher end mac running windows will play games well enough"

              Who spends thousands on a Mac to use windows?

              Just face it, if you want to game you use windows.

              • 

                jimbobaus on 31/12/2019 - 14:34

                -3

                @Axelstrife: No, lets face it OSX/Mac does a LOT of things better than Windows
                Did i say it does Gaming better? No i did not
                I said it was capable of gaming
                The hardware is the same hardware sold for PC based machines

                AMD GPU"s
                Intel CPU's
                etc

                If you have need of a mac, and as i said i do as it does what i need far better than any windows PC would you can still play games.
                SOME games need windows, some do not in fact most of the games i play run on OSX Natively

                Linking YouTube videos is not going to prove your point, i could easily find and link a video that shows Mac doing gaming well.

                If you actually read my comments i never said you would buy a mac for gaming, i said having a mac does not prevent you from doing so.

• 

  Azrael169 on 31/12/2019 - 01:32

  I did this for a while back around 2010, abandoned my gaming PC, picked up a Macbook Pro and used it exclusively as my gaming computer. It worked for me only because I was hooked on games like Heroes of Newerth (Same as League of Legends and launched at the same time, not to GPU intensive) and some RTS games. Now i've made the switch back to Windows for both laptop and gaming and havent looked back (though i do miss my Macbooks)

  Some points to consider
  What kind of games do you play? Cause you wont have a great experience with the latest triple AAA titles on Macbook Pro
  Some games will run natively in MacOS, but you will get better performance from bootcamp and installing windows. It does become a pain switching back and forwards from MacOS to Win10
  Do you actually play games outside of your home? And if you do what kind of games are you likely to play while out and about. If you play CSGO exclusively your not going to have any issues…
  Its not a cost effective way of gaming. It may be wiser to a) get a Macbook/Macbook Air and a dedicated gaming laptop PC if portable gaming is essential or b) get a Macbook/Air and desktop PC if you only really game at home
  If money is no object, get the Macbook Pro and a external GPU caddy (like Razer core or 3rd party) that runs via thunderbolt 3, that'll solve alot of your gaming issues but its a little less portable. AAA titles wont be a problem.

  Lastly the Macbook Pro 15" was crippled by thermal issues. It wont do well in prolonged gaming sessions, you'll get some serious thermal throttling which will ruin the experience. The 16" is a much better designed machine.

  • 

    klaw81 on 01/01/2020 - 16:57

    The 16" model is better than earlier models, but it's still massively underpowered for gaming, compared to similarly priced laptops from other companies. The GPU is a huge factor in gaming performance, and AMD's mobile offerings in Apple computers are completely outclassed in that price range.

    You can compensate with an external GPU, but that's simply throwing more money at a problem that doesn't exist elsewhere.

    I agree that a desktop gaming machine and a separate laptop would be a much better solution.

• 

  JacobHarvey on 31/12/2019 - 14:33

  +1

  I'd say the following graphics cards that come in various consumer Macs currently are reasonable for 1080p gaming: Radeon 570X Pro, Radeon 575X Pro, 580X Pro, and Vega 48 in iMacs; 5300M and 5500M in Macbook Pros.

  Obviously Windows PCs will come with much greater variety of GPUs that will offer better performance for less money but the GPUs listed above will provide some gaming capability if you want/need a Mac.

  All the other consumer Macs currently come with total garbage Intel graphics or poorly performing lower spec AMD GPUs

• 

  JacobHarvey on 31/12/2019 - 14:34

  If you want play modern AAA games at 1080p with decent settings on a Windows laptop with a NVidia GPU, look for a GTX 1650 mobile as an absolute minimum

• 

  Gerry H on 01/01/2020 - 01:17

  macbook for gaming

  how old are u?

  • 

    JacobHarvey on 01/01/2020 - 01:21

    Get back in your box Gerry

    • 

      Gerry H on 01/01/2020 - 11:14

      are u related to me in any way?

      • 

        JacobHarvey on 01/01/2020 - 11:34

        +1

        I hope not

• 

  klaw81 on 01/01/2020 - 16:49

  Firstly, do you really want a gaming laptop rather than a desktop, if you're planning to game for several hours a day?

  A desktop would be far more comfortable and you'd get a better experience on desktop (bigger screen, nicer keyboard etc) for the same money. If you need a laptop for other tasks it might make sense….but if you're buying specifically for gaming, you should definitely consider a desktop instead.

  Secondly, if you're buying any computer specifically for gaming, a MacBook Pro should be at the bottom of your list. MacOS is not compatible with the vast majority of games, and running Windows on a Mac negates most of the advantages of a Mac.

  Lastly, the MacBook Pro is not well suited to gaming. Even the latest and most powerful model only has mediocre gaming performance, despite the very high price. The GPUs in Apple computers are okay for productivity applications but simply aren't well suited to gaming tasks.

  Yes, it would work. But it would never work well, and you would have a far better experience with something else. There are plenty of much better options available for a fraction of the price.

• 

  pienmalinka on 03/01/2020 - 01:07

  -5

  Thanks for all the comments peeps, I am buying a Mac:D

  • 

    rumchaser on 07/01/2020 - 15:04

    +1

    You will be sorry mac is useless I have both and if you're actually serious about real gaming you wouldn't bother with a mac and the apple tax unless you only play facebook games

    • 

      wiipantz on 09/01/2020 - 12:32

      +1

      I for one want to see the followup from the 'full time gamer'

      • 

        Zachary on 11/01/2020 - 14:03

        -1

        Must be busy playing on his mac 4 days straight….

        • 

          wiipantz on 13/01/2020 - 13:38

          -1

          @Zachary: Kudos to 9 days straight now, what a rippa! Plants vs zombies can be addictive though. So I'm told…

• 

  pienmalinka on 09/02/2020 - 01:43

  Wow cheers Zachary and wiipantz

  • 

    Zachary on 09/02/2020 - 20:15

    Your welcome.