SL and Mac Book General Question

I am thinking of moving over to a Mac Book, I would probably upgrade it to have 4GB RAM.

What I would like to know how do you find SL? as in does it run smooth? hows the graphics quality?

I am a PC guy, so in terms of Graphics I know it would depend on the graphics card...but I don't know much about Graphics on the Mac.

Generally, SL does not run very well on a stock MacBook. However, on a MacBook Pro, it seems to run just fine (or at least as fine as SL can be expected to run on any computer, given its inherent issues). The reason: the MacBook Pro has a better processor and a higher-end graphics card, among others.

The downside: the MBP is quite a lot more expensive. I love mine, but I use it for all kinds of business applications as well, making the cost justifiable.

Hmmm yeah I looked it about £500 more than the Mac Book I was looking at, I probably would need the MBP due to SL as SL is part of my RL work.

Cool thanks, anyone else have similar experiences as its good to hear from a few

It will run on a MB reasonably well

I run SL successfully on my core Mac Mini. The MB has a better processor and graphics then the Mini so you should be OK.

Yeah, I didn't mean to give the idea that it can't run on a standard MB. Like you'd imagine, it certainly runs better on the MBP, but quite a few people get by in SL with a standard MacBook.

Cool thanks for the replies, I have been looking at the graphics cards in the MB and MBP and the MBP has a nice 8600GT so I think the MBP might win lol

hi, I own the latest MacBook Pro.
I definitely recommend reading the first post of this thread: /164/9d/53405/1.html
It was written three years ago, but some concepts are, alas, still gospel truth.
Good luck.

Hi, I own the latest MacBook Pro.
I definitely recommend reading the first post of this thread: /164/9d/53405/1.html
It was written three years ago, but some concepts are, alas, still gospel truth.
Good luck.

Yeah its a pain that SL is Windows focused, I know what that's like as my main OS is Ubuntu(linux) so I know its not as good as the main Windows version...yet.

The MacBook Pro specs i am looking at, at present are :

1. Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.4GHz
   
2. Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
   
3. 2 GB Memory & 200 GB Hard Drive
   
4. DVD/ CD - RW Superdrive
   
5. iLife 08 preloaded
   

I would bump up the Ram to 4GB when I have some more cash.

Does SL really need to be that low in detail on a Mac? can you not play it with "High" as I can do that under Linux at present?

Thanks and sorry for all the questions, I dont know much about Mac's but I do want to move so "everything just works" as webcams and a few other things still need work to get them to work lol.

Thanks

You can turn the gaphics detail up on an Intel Mac with a good video card, including the new Macbook Pros.

The Intel graphics controller in the Macbook and Macbook Air isn't so good for SL.

For what it's worth:

I've been running SL on a MBP ( 2.4 GHz, 256MB VRAM, nVidia 8600, 4GB RAM ) since January 2008 and for the most part it has been abysmally poor. After about 10 minutes being logged in, the frame rate dropped from a very usable 15-25 fps ( depending on the location ) to a truly awful 5-8 fps. ( Yes, I tried all of the standard Mac optimization tips )

The behaviour started after I updated my OS version from 10.5.2 to 10.5.3. Happily, I updated to 10.5.5 yesterday and all seems to be well. My frame rate is now rather consistently between 15 and 22 which is quite usable. My settings are the standard "high" settings.

I hope that helps you to make your decision.

Ohhh that sounds promising Da5id Kronfeld thanks, do keep me posted please.

And thanks to everyone else who has posted, its very interesting to see what others are getting.