EPTI mainly want to know whether either of the two can run sc2 on medium settings without lag. Anybody with those models playing sc2?
How well does Sc2 run on 13" Macbook Air/Retina?
| Forum Index > Tech Support |
|
justanother
43 Posts
I mainly want to know whether either of the two can run sc2 on medium settings without lag. Anybody with those models playing sc2? | ||
|
Liman
Serbia681 Posts
| ||
|
Saumure
France404 Posts
The only think you can do is monobattle and other arcade maps, since you dont really have a minimap. Also, it gets really really hot. edit: I have to use low settings | ||
|
noeljones
Australia119 Posts
does not work well for me | ||
|
iViNtaGe
United States254 Posts
Unless the 13" Retina has dedicated graphics like the 15", It's unlikely that you can run any games at the native resolution | ||
|
Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
| ||
|
Paradisee
United States37 Posts
| ||
|
eParadox
Canada132 Posts
| ||
|
mk.ultra
United States54 Posts
User was warned for this post | ||
|
Ilvy
Germany2445 Posts
| ||
|
Ilvy
Germany2445 Posts
| ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
| ||
|
[F_]aths
Germany3947 Posts
On April 14 2013 19:37 justanother wrote: I'm planning to get a new laptop but I'm slightly concerned about how well sc2 can run on the 13" 2.5 Ghz Macbook Retina display and 13" Macbook Air. I mainly want to know whether either of the two can run sc2 on medium settings without lag. Anybody with those models playing sc2? Remember that you can run SC2 in lower resolutions and that you can install Windows to run SC2 in Windows. While SC2 does have native Mac support through OpenGL, Windows drivers for games are usually faster than Mac drivers for professional OpenGL use. | ||
|
TheFish7
United States2824 Posts
| ||
|
YouthSC
United Kingdom355 Posts
I wouldnt expect sc2 to be runnable in a macbook air, let alone a 13" one. | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
| ||
|
justanother
43 Posts
I did some research and it seems like the 13" retina Macbook is still quite limited in its performance. Can someone enlighten me about how the Ghz thing really works? Since the 13" macbook air is 1.8 ghz and the 13" retina is 2.5ghz. | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
Turbo boost makes it tricky to compare on mobile systems though (because clock speed jumps around a lot, and there's different limits for clock speed depending on how many cores the system thinks are active - as well as it being thermally and power constained) You also can't really compare clock speeds cross-architecture, as 4ghz on a third gen i5 is about 50% higher performing than 4ghz on a Piledriver CPU (fx) | ||
|
ETisME
12621 Posts
My sis has a macbook air and it gets really hot after a 30mins LoL game and she played on a table. If you are planning to do more than just documents editing, internet browsing, watching movies/music, then macbook air imo is not worth it | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
| ||
|
Scones
Wales99 Posts
I connect it to my 23" monitor via an hdmi converter and its beautiful. | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
| ||
|
Senshin
Netherlands115 Posts
So i think if you have no problem with the small screen your fine, check out some reviews. | ||
|
DusTerr
2520 Posts
On April 14 2013 20:30 Liman wrote: Dunno about that laptop,but i woudnt recommend playing any RTS game on 13`` screen. I've had no problems (screen wise) playing on my 11" m11x. (unfortunately the game itself lags too much since the 1.5 patch - and was barely playable before). IMO RTS are actually easier to play on smaller screens (as everything is in a smaller area to watch). I did have to scale my mouse speed to adjust for the resolution etc. | ||
|
justanother
43 Posts
| ||
|
Paradisee
United States37 Posts
On April 15 2013 17:52 justanother wrote: So is the 13" retina display Macbook pro worth the extra cash, or I should just get the air and don't bother with sc2 on it? I'm uncertain as I'm reading two very opposite stands (on other sites) on how well the 13" retina model runs sc2. The difference isn't going to be astounding, but there should be slightly better performance on the MBPR | ||
|
llIH
Norway2144 Posts
I already have one Desktop where I study. When I am on vacation I always wish I had a desktop. The thing is. I never take a laptop with me. I decided to get a desktop instead. So now I have a desktop at home and at my dorm. I never use a pc when I am between those two places. I saved a ton of money. I paid so much less for a desktop than a laptop. And it can run sc2 really well. Basically all you need is a I5-3570K with a 7770 gpu. EDIT: If you can get over the need to have a laptop that looks good. I can guarantee you you will get much more out of your money. Just forget the whole laptop idea and get a desktop. You can get two cheap desktops with monitors for the same price of a laptop that isn't near the performance of one of the desktops. When you travel. Use your cell phone and listen to music. Just an advice. And I know I can sound a little hard when I say "If you can get over the need to have a laptop that looks good". Because Mac Air gets you almost nothing for what you pay. I used to have macs before as well. I used a lot of time to convince myself that looks doesn't matter that much. It took years to get used to. But I can tell you that it feels awesome now. | ||
|
justanother
43 Posts
On April 15 2013 20:33 llIH wrote: Hey. I already have one Desktop where I study. When I am on vacation I always wish I had a desktop. The thing is. I never take a laptop with me. I decided to get a desktop instead. So now I have a desktop at home and at my dorm. I never use a pc when I am between those two places. I saved a ton of money. I paid so much less for a desktop than a laptop. And it can run sc2 really well. Basically all you need is a I5-3570K with a 7770 gpu. EDIT: If you can get over the need to have a laptop that looks good. I can guarantee you you will get much more out of your money. Just forget the whole laptop idea and get a desktop. You can get two cheap desktops with monitors for the same price of a laptop that isn't near the performance of one of the desktops. When you travel. Use your cell phone and listen to music. Just an advice. And I know I can sound a little hard when I say "If you can get over the need to have a laptop that looks good". Because Mac Air gets you almost nothing for what you pay. I used to have macs before as well. I used a lot of time to convince myself that looks doesn't matter that much. It took years to get used to. But I can tell you that it feels awesome now. Hey man, no offense taken, haha. Basically I'm only confirmed to stay in the dorm for my first year, because if my studies takes a hit, I'm getting out. The reason I need a laptop is for bringing it to and fro lectures (places in general) which is why I like the idea of using a Macbook (portability). I do know that Macs are extremely overpriced for their specs but the size is really attractive. I was initially planning on getting a windows laptop and use it for gaming and school but I thought that using a Mac would severely limit my ability to play games and help me concentrate better. My parents also sort of buy the idea since my self-discipline in abstaining from not playing games is quite bad. They want me to play games only on weekends (which I did during my high school days) I realise the importance of my studies but I think that playing a game of sc2 or two per night probably won't affect me too much. That's why I suddenly thought of getting a Mac. Since I'm running on a budget and not willing to spend too much on a laptop, I narrowed my choice between the 13" Macbook Air and Retina display. But if sc2 can barely run on low on the retina display model, I might as well go for the ultra portable Air and maybe just really abstain from sc2 during school days and play on my home desktop. Oh and if I get a desktop in dorm, I think I'll probably not be able to discipline myself, lol. I'll just wait for my current desktop to break down and get a new one in a year or two. Just really wanted to get feedback from Sc2 players who use the two 13" models mentioned earlier. Or can someone roughly estimate the performance each will have for sc2? | ||
|
Rollin
Australia1552 Posts
On April 15 2013 21:31 justanother wrote: Hey man, no offense taken, haha. Basically I'm only confirmed to stay in the dorm for my first year, because if my studies takes a hit, I'm getting out. The reason I need a laptop is for bringing it to and fro lectures (places in general) which is why I like the idea of using a Macbook (portability). I do know that Macs are extremely overpriced for their specs but the size is really attractive. I was initially planning on getting a windows laptop and use it for gaming and school but I thought that using a Mac would severely limit my ability to play games and help me concentrate better. My parents also sort of buy the idea since my self-discipline in abstaining from not playing games is quite bad. They want me to play games only on weekends (which I did during my high school days) I realise the importance of my studies but I think that playing a game of sc2 or two per night probably won't affect me too much. That's why I suddenly thought of getting a Mac. Since I'm running on a budget and not willing to spend too much on a laptop, I narrowed my choice between the 13" Macbook Air and Retina display. But if sc2 can barely run on low on the retina display model, I might as well go for the ultra portable Air and maybe just really abstain from sc2 during school days and play on my home desktop. Oh and if I get a desktop in dorm, I think I'll probably not be able to discipline myself, lol. I'll just wait for my current desktop to break down and get a new one in a year or two. Just really wanted to get feedback from Sc2 players who use the two 13" models mentioned earlier. Or can someone roughly estimate the performance each will have for sc2? The air uses an ivy bridge ulv processor. I can say from firsthand experience that the ivy bridge ulv processors cannot play games without the gpu or cpu throttling, which is annoying to say the least. Any regular mobile i5 should be fine for sc2 on lowest with a nice framerate, but on a ulv expect 30-45 best case scenario with constant dips as the processor/gpu throttles to nothing due to tiny TDP limitations. | ||
|
phar
United States1080 Posts
Seriously recommend getting a more portable laptop if you're gonna be dragging it around. | ||
|
LJ
203 Posts
| ||
|
Alryk
United States2718 Posts
Medium will be very iffy, especially because Macbooks aren't generally designed for full load like that. Edit: As another point, unless you're sold on OSX, I'd look into the Samsung Series 7 Ultra. i5-i7 ULV CPU but it comes with an 8570M. Should come at around 1100$? Still pricey but not as bad as Retina, plus you get a dGPU. Anandtech preview Samsung has really been stepping up their notebook game lately though, the 3rd generation of series 7 lines are really attractive. 1080P IPS, full SSD, ultrabook size with a dGPU, and plenty of battery life. | ||
|
justanother
43 Posts
On April 16 2013 02:46 Alryk wrote: If you're getting a macbook, want a 13" model, and are playing SC2, you need the Retina. At least you get a full voltage CPU. It should handle all-low (NOT at native res btw) decently, but like people said don't expect something amazing. Medium will be very iffy, especially because Macbooks aren't generally designed for full load like that. Edit: As another point, unless you're sold on OSX, I'd look into the Samsung Series 7 Ultra. i5-i7 ULV CPU but it comes with an 8570M. Should come at around 1100$? Still pricey but not as bad as Retina, plus you get a dGPU. Anandtech preview Samsung has really been stepping up their notebook game lately though, the 3rd generation of series 7 lines are really attractive. 1080P IPS, full SSD, ultrabook size with a dGPU, and plenty of battery life. Alright, I think I'll just get a laptop strictly for school stuff and get a desktop in the near future. Hmm, looking at the model you mentioned, it seems almost exactly like 13" macbook air save for the different OS? Anybody else know good cheaper ultrabooks out there? Although the Air design is quite nice >_> | ||
|
WombaT
Northern Ireland26223 Posts
As somebody who played on a Mac until Blizzard intervened, I really notice how much more enjoyable it is to control things playing on Windows machines as I now do. | ||
|
theinfamousone
United States103 Posts
What I'd do.. My friend just bought a 2-3 year old Macbook Air for $700 with 128GB SSD, intel core 2 duo and 4GB RAM. Just don't even plan on ever playing games on it. Build a desktop for probably $1000. I used to just have my Macbook Pro when SC2 first came out and it worked, I got used to it. But then I got a nice desktop with an NVIDIA GTX 570 and a nice i7, 12GB RAM, and RAID0 SSDs etc. and it's just a dreamed with the mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse and the 46" Samsung flatscreen. But for school, the Macbook Air is just perfect. So light, nimble, long battery life, spaces, built in iCal and Reminders in the side bar etc. etc. and the nice big glass trackpad with gesture support most of all just all work together to give you a better experience. Going from that to a a 17" monster of an HP laptop that weighed like 13 pounds, with Windows 8 and a small plastic trackpad with terrible software that doesn't even 2 finger scroll made feel like I should be cooking spam, buying cats, and getting myself a nice residence in a trailer park. | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
My friend just bought a 2-3 year old Macbook Air for $700 core 2 duo Core 2 duo was outdated more than 3 years ago, cant see a laptop with one being worth near $700 used even with a 128gb SSD | ||
|
mardi
United States1164 Posts
SC2 runs pretty sluggish even on low after a while and the whole laptop gets ridiculously hot. You're going to want to get some type of cooling if you want to play more than 1 game of sc2. If you really want something that is really versatile and great for note taking, think about getting an win8 laptop with a touch screen like the Surface or Lenovo Yoga. | ||
|
red.venom
United States4651 Posts
I played sc2 competitively for a while on a core 2 duo pc with an 8800gt or something like that and on all lowest running native res i never had a problem in 1v1 and the few times i played 3v3/4v4 with friends it slowed down but who cares really. The computer was already 2 years old when sc2 came out. Flash forward to me buying a macbook like 7 months ago. Just the standard 1100 model or whatever mbp. I thought "well maybe ill play sc2 again since i dont have my desktop up and running much these days." Also bought diablo 3. Both are basically unplayable for me at lowest, even running at lower than native res. No idea how that dude in the video on the first page can stand the constant skipping and generally below 60 framerate lol. Its awful TBH i had no idea modern laptops are so awful that htey even struggle if you open a bunch of youtube/stream vids. Guess its all to do with cooling and battery conservation but I mean i need a laptop, its necessary but yeah for gaming shit is just not acceptable. Havent played a pc game in 4 months atm | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20322 Posts
| ||
| ||
