Guild Wars 2

So I’m graduating highschool this year, and my parents have promised me a MacBook Pro for college. I have $1800 to spend, and yes, I want to get a MacBook because of its longevity and utility. This isn’t a thread to be talked out of a Mac and back into a PC or a gaming laptop for that matter – the Mac part is final. Now. It would be nice to have a computer that could run GW2 – not at Max settings, I understand, but something that would run medium settings at 30ish FPS. I’m planning to ramp the RAM up to 16 gigs anyways so Ram isn’t so much the problem. I’d prefer a smaller laptop as opposed to a larger one for portability and weight sake, but I’m not opposed to a 15in if need be, and that’s because of the dedicated graphics card. But would a better processor make a big difference? So the question is, could I get away with the best 13 in retina sub sampled and play alright, or would I absolutely need a computer with a dedicated card in order to get anywhere?

I would definitely go for the discrete graphics card if I had the choice but you only have $1800 so the 15" retina is not an option. Also, you can’t get the 13" retina with 16GB, only 8GB. Another thing to note, you CANNOT without voiding AppleCare upgrade the ram or solid state storage yourself on any of the retina models.

If I were you, I would get the non retina 15" MacBook Pro and with the fastest CPU I could afford and the smallest Hard Drive and Memory configuration, then upgrade after market at a much lower price.

Researching a little, apple describes the ram as a “User Upgradable Part,” and therefore doesn’t void the warranty when upgraded. Third parties offer 16 gig ram upgrades, so this is possible. What kind of performance could I expect from the highest-end non-modified 13in retina version?

Watch this. It will give you an idea of the performance running the game with Intel HD4000 Graphics and 720p Resolution. As you know, the 720p is much lower than the native resolution of the Retina MacBook Pro. I have a 15" MacBook Pro with discrete graphics and I boot into Win7 to play the game. I tried to use the OS X Client and the frames rates are about 5-10% lower than in Windows, so keep that in mind.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/25/teardown-of-13-retina-macbook-pro-finds-redesigned-battery-samsung-flash-soldered-ram

“And like the 15-inch model, the RAM is surface-mount soldered to the logic board, meaning no upgrades are possible. Apple does not offer any more than 8 gigabytes of RAM on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.”

This is why I went with the Non Retina 15" model.

I haven’t bought a laptop in eons and know nothing about Mac/PC or whatever .. I am just in total shock that a laptop that costs $1800 has any question of performance. Why does it cost so much if it performs so poorly? Sorry, I’m just … wow :/

stalks.2703:

I haven’t bought a laptop in eons and know nothing about Mac/PC or whatever .. I am just in total shock that a laptop that costs $1800 has any question of performance. Why does it cost so much if it performs so poorly? Sorry, I’m just … wow :/

You are paying for the service and quality. I’ve owned 4 MacBook Pros since 2006 and have been happy with all of them. Tech support at the Apple Store is 100% free for the life of any of their products. If you do need a repair, it is done in while you wait if possible and depot repairs have a 1-2 day turn around. On my first MacBook Pro, I had the Optical Drive replaced at the Apple store and they did it while I waited. On my 2nd MacBook Pro, I needed the screen replaced due to light bleeding issues. I took it in on Monday afternoon and had it back by Wed morning. They had Fed-Ex overnighted it to their depot, replaced the screen, and then immediately Fed-Ex overnighted it back to me. I didn’t have to pay a dime since it was covered under apple care. The power brick stopped working, due to unintended abuse on my part, on my 3rd MacBook Pro and they just handed me a new one, free. I was in and out of the Apple Store in 5 minutes. I bought a 24" iMac for my Mother back in 2008, it completely died just a few days after the 3 year Apple Care Warranty expired. I took it to the Apple Store anyways to see what they would tell me. Since I had not made any Apple Care Claims on the device in the 3 years my mother owned it, and since it was only a few days or so out of Warranty, they went ahead and gave me a brand new iMac for free. All I had to do was buy an Apple Care plan for the new unit. Tell me what other company would have done this for the customer.

This is why you pay a premium.

BTW I’m happy with the performance I get out of my 2012 MacBook Pro, non retina display. I upgraded mine to 16GB Corsair RAM and replaced the 750GB Hard Drive with a 480GB Vertex 3 SSD (Uber expensive :/ but worth it). I triple boot OS X, Win 7, and Ubuntu using the 3rd party Refit bootloader. The nVidia GTX650, while not top of the line, plays GW2 without any issues on medium settings in Windows 7.

You might want to spend more dough than $1800 if you want to buy the good stuff.

Honestly when dealing with Macs, dont waste your money and time except going for the best. I’d recommend at the minimum the 15 inch Macbook Pro, and take every single upgrade and swap out that Apple offers. That way, it will last at the minimum the next 4 years worth of gaming power.

And of course, make sure you bootcamp Windows 7, because you want to run games on that instead.

You might get better responses from the Mac forums and a better idea how the game will run.