kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA
Hi all,

So the MacBook Pro laptop was just updated with new specs and I'm going to be picking one up next week. It's got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM (PC2-5300 667MHz), and a 256MB Nvidia 8600M GT video card. I'm SO excited about this as I've had my current crap Dell laptop for over three years, and it's got a 64MB video card and 512MB of RAM. And I'm trying to play BF2 on this piece of crap

So first of all I just want to publicly state how excited I am about the upgrade I'm getting. I'll be installing Windows Vista on it with Boot Camp, and installing BF2 on that.

Secondly, I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on their experience with the parts I listed (esp. the 8600M GT)? What settings will I be able to run BF2 on? Anyone else that's played BF2 on a Mac and could give feedback?

Last edited by kingofkolt (2007-06-05 23:07:07)

thtthht
maximum bullshit
+50|6802|teh alien spaceshit

kingofkolt wrote:

Hi all,

So the MacBook Pro laptop was just updated with new specs and I'm going to be picking one up next week. It's got a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM (PC2-5300 667MHz), and a 256MB Nvidia 8600M GT video card. I'm SO excited about this as I've had my current crap Dell laptop for over three years, and it's got a 64MB video card and 512MB of RAM. And I'm trying to play BF2 on this piece of crap

So first of all I just want to publicly state how excited I am about the upgrade I'm getting. I'll be installing Windows Vista on it with Boot Camp, and installing BF2 on that.

Secondly, I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on their experience with the parts I listed (i.e., RAM, video card, etc.)? What settings will I be able to run BF2 on? Anyone else play BF2 on a Mac?
Wow... that is really good for a notebook. How much HD space do you have?
joker8baller
Member
+68|7138
It'll have either 160 or 120 gb..
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA
Yup, it'll be 160GB at 5,400rpm. I could upgrade to 7,200rpm, but that's $150 more and I would have to wait longer for it to ship so I'm not gonna bother.

I'll split the hard drive in half with partitions, 80 gigs for Windows and 80 gigs for Mac OS X.
tthf
Member 5307
+210|7229|06-01
sounds good to me

/me is jealous..
{uscm}Jyden
You likey leaky?
+433|7149|In You Endo- Stoke
You sure its a GT card and not a GO card?

Still sweet setup for a laptop twice as good as mine.

Last edited by {uscm}Jyden (2007-06-05 23:07:05)

Smithereener
Member
+138|6787|California
It'll probably run BF2 on high settings. The 8600m GT benchmarks are similar to that of the 7700 Go (I think), which is also capable of running BF2 on high at decent FPS. The processor is going to be really fast, it's one of the fastest available to consumers right now.

Good Luck with your purchase .
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA

{uscm}Jyden wrote:

You sure its a GT card and not a GO card?

Still sweet setup for a laptop twice as good as mine.
I don't know that much about the terminology of vid cards, but here's the link to Apple's page and it says GT:
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/graphics.html
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA

Smithereener wrote:

It'll probably run BF2 on high settings. The 8600m GT benchmarks are similar to that of the 7700 Go (I think), which is also capable of running BF2 on high at decent FPS. The processor is going to be really fast, it's one of the fastest available to consumers right now.

Good Luck with your purchase .
Thanks! Sweeeeet... I didn't know it was that fast, I just knew it was supposed to be pretty good. Will I be able to go 6x anti-aliasing?

Also, could anyone tell me if it's worth worrying over whether to get 5,400rpm or 7,200rpm hard drive?
kylef
Gone
+1,352|6964|N. Ireland
I advise against getting this. Notebook cards cannot be replaced with newner ones, and spending so much on a system like that is great, but knock down the graphics. In 6 months, new DX10 cards will be out which will make the 8600 look like today's 7300.
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA

leetkyle wrote:

I advise against getting this. Notebook cards cannot be replaced with newner ones, and spending so much on a system like that is great, but knock down the graphics. In 6 months, new DX10 cards will be out which will make the 8600 look like today's 7300.
Thanks for the feedback. I do need a notebook though as I take it back and forth to work and will be bringing it to college.

As for DX10, the nvidia page says it does supports DX10...?

Aside from its lack of replaceability, what do you think of the capability of the video card itself to play BF2?

Last edited by kingofkolt (2007-06-05 23:50:07)

{uscm}Jyden
You likey leaky?
+433|7149|In You Endo- Stoke

kingofkolt wrote:

leetkyle wrote:

I advise against getting this. Notebook cards cannot be replaced with newner ones, and spending so much on a system like that is great, but knock down the graphics. In 6 months, new DX10 cards will be out which will make the 8600 look like today's 7300.
Thanks for the feedback. I do need a notebook though as I take it back and forth to work and will be bringing it to college.

As for DX10, the nvidia page says it supports DX10...?
Yep its a GT card.

I agree with leetkyle.depending what you need it for,i would get a cheap one and spend the cash on a pc.

I have a Pentium M chip 2gig 1gb ddr with 6800 go card.So far i have had it for a year and half,was great when its new but outdated quickly and also not upgradable.

Cost me the best part of £1700 which i could of good a "super badass pc " instead.
Mitch92uK
aka [DBS]Mitch92uK
+192|6706|United Kingdom
it does .. kyle's just saying there'll be newer cards - but then what can you do about that? nice laptop btw, how much it set you back?
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA

mitch212k_2 wrote:

it does .. kyle's just saying there'll be newer cards - but then what can you do about that? nice laptop btw, how much it set you back?
Ah, OK. Yeah not much I can do about that. I don't want to get 2 comps (especially since I can't afford that!) so I'm trying to combine everything into one souped up laptop. It'll cost roughly $2500 (including an extended 3-year warranty) plus like $189 for the OEM version of Vista Ultimate (assuming I'm able to get that version -- do stores try to verify your eligibility for the OEM version, or do they just sell it to you?).
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA
Bump. Anyone else have experience with this card and/or the other specs?
Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|7178|67.222.138.85

kingofkolt wrote:

Yup, it'll be 160GB at 5,400rpm. I could upgrade to 7,200rpm, but that's $150 more and I would have to wait longer for it to ship so I'm not gonna bother.

I'll split the hard drive in half with partitions, 80 gigs for Windows and 80 gigs for Mac OS X.
5400 rpm? Damn, slow hard drive. The rest looks nice though.
kingofkolt
Member
+17|6694|Boston, MA, USA

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

kingofkolt wrote:

Yup, it'll be 160GB at 5,400rpm. I could upgrade to 7,200rpm, but that's $150 more and I would have to wait longer for it to ship so I'm not gonna bother.

I'll split the hard drive in half with partitions, 80 gigs for Windows and 80 gigs for Mac OS X.
5400 rpm? Damn, slow hard drive. The rest looks nice though.
Really? How much do you think the 5,400rpm hard drive will hurt the computer (and in what ways)? I'm still not 100% decided on it, but getting the 7,200rpm drive would be a hassle.
ReDevilJR
Member
+106|6822

kingofkolt wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

kingofkolt wrote:

Yup, it'll be 160GB at 5,400rpm. I could upgrade to 7,200rpm, but that's $150 more and I would have to wait longer for it to ship so I'm not gonna bother.

I'll split the hard drive in half with partitions, 80 gigs for Windows and 80 gigs for Mac OS X.
5400 rpm? Damn, slow hard drive. The rest looks nice though.
Really? How much do you think the 5,400rpm hard drive will hurt the computer (and in what ways)? I'm still not 100% decided on it, but getting the 7,200rpm drive would be a hassle.
Get the 7,200, it'll be worth your wait to get it all in all two weeks later? You'll load into BF2 much faster, and overall personal usage too.

I'm getting a Raptor for my desktop over the summer...

Last edited by ReDevilJR (2007-06-06 15:11:40)

Flaming_Maniac
prince of insufficient light
+2,490|7178|67.222.138.85

kingofkolt wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

kingofkolt wrote:

Yup, it'll be 160GB at 5,400rpm. I could upgrade to 7,200rpm, but that's $150 more and I would have to wait longer for it to ship so I'm not gonna bother.

I'll split the hard drive in half with partitions, 80 gigs for Windows and 80 gigs for Mac OS X.
5400 rpm? Damn, slow hard drive. The rest looks nice though.
Really? How much do you think the 5,400rpm hard drive will hurt the computer (and in what ways)? I'm still not 100% decided on it, but getting the 7,200rpm drive would be a hassle.
Well I've never had a 5,400 prm drive, but desktop standard is 7,200. There is a huge difference between my 7,200 drive and my raptor (10,000 rpm), let me go look some specs up off newegg.

Edit: Meh, I just checked, looks like 5,400 is the standard for laptops. Looks like 5,400 drives have a 12ms average seek time, 7,200 10ms. Not nearly as much as I thought.

Edit 2:Revisited: On desktop drives 7,200 average seek time is 9ms, on the 10,000 it is 4.6ms. Quite a difference on desktops.
ReDevilJR
Member
+106|6822

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

kingofkolt wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:


5400 rpm? Damn, slow hard drive. The rest looks nice though.
Really? How much do you think the 5,400rpm hard drive will hurt the computer (and in what ways)? I'm still not 100% decided on it, but getting the 7,200rpm drive would be a hassle.
Well I've never had a 5,400 prm drive, but desktop standard is 7,200. There is a huge difference between my 7,200 drive and my raptor (10,000 rpm), let me go look some specs up off newegg.

Edit: Meh, I just checked, looks like 5,400 is the standard for laptops. Looks like 5,400 drives have a 12ms average seek time, 7,200 10ms. Not nearly as much as I thought.

Edit 2:Revisited: On desktop drives 7,200 average seek time is 9ms, on the 10,000 it is 4.6ms. Quite a difference on desktops.
If only 15,000rpm HD's came in the SATA interface
Smithereener
Member
+138|6787|California
Fastest Notebook HDs are 7200RPM. The difference is there between the 5400 and 7200, but it's really up to you to decide because the difference isn't completely night and day. Capacity over Speed. (Although some 200Gig (I think) 7200 RPM drives are out.)
T4rd
Member
+44|7147|West Point, NY
With the hard drives, you can decide between better battery life, quietness, and capacity (5400 RPM), or speed (7400 RPM).  Generally, you're buying a laptop for portability which comes with good battery life.  But if you're sure you're going to be plugged in to a power outlet most of the time, don't care about the louder HD spin-up noise, and will have a large external HD to hold the bulk of your crap on (the largest 7200 RPM laptop HD I've seen is 80 GBs), then go ahead and get the 7200 RPM.  But I game on my laptop too which has a 160 GB 5400 RPM and the load times aren't that much worse than my desktops 7200 RPM HDs.  I think it's worth it for the battery and space to get the 5400 RPM.

Last edited by T4rd (2007-06-08 00:57:55)

Board footer

Privacy Policy - © 2025 Jeff Minard