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Mac SC2 Experience Advice

Forum Index > Tech Support
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1 2 Next All
The_Goliath
Profile Joined July 2012
11 Posts
June 11 2013 06:17 GMT
#1
I have been using an Asus g71gx laptop for the past 4 years and overall, have had a pretty dismal gaming experience on it due to constant computer bugs (unrelated to sc2) and extremely high temperatures resulting in frame rate loss. My computer is finally unusable (averaging about 4 BSOD per day now). I am about to purchase a new laptop, and gaming is no longer the main purpose of my computer, however, would still like to be able to play sc2 without problems.

I am planning on buying a Mac, not sure which make yet (either Pro, Air, or Retina). I am curious about others playing experiences while using Mac laptops. Is there a clear choice that I should make between three? From a non gaming perspective, I was leaning towards the 13 inch Retina. I am not very computer savvy and would just like to be steered in the correct direction. Any insight here would be extremely helpful to me! Thanks in advance.



lobsterblock
Profile Joined April 2012
United States6 Posts
June 11 2013 06:27 GMT
#2
I would shoot for a Pro. I use mine for just about everything (Professional Sound Production, SC2, School) and it does it all without hassle.
EtherealDeath
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States8366 Posts
June 11 2013 06:33 GMT
#3
On June 11 2013 15:27 lobsterblock wrote:
I would shoot for a Pro. I use mine for just about everything (Professional Sound Production, SC2, School) and it does it all without hassle.

Macbook pros play sc2 with no hassle? What settings are these at o.O
zuqbu
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Germany797 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-06-11 09:30:59
June 11 2013 08:11 GMT
#4
15 inch retina here. if you plan on using your laptop for gaming, you should look at the pro/retina line with their discrete graphic cards. however with the announcement of new macbook airs yesterday, apple started moving it's laptop line to intel's haswell generation. i would wait for the first batch of reviews and performance benchmarks, intels hd 5000 graphics chip is supposed to be a big improvement over the previous generation.

a piece of general advice, apple updates their models only about once a year and macbook airs are updated right now while apples 15 inch pro and retina models where introduced almost exactly a year ago. the 13 inch pro/retina was updated in october. if you end up deciding on an air, you can buy it right away – but if you want a retina macbook pro i would wait a few weeks, they will very likely update these to haswell specs very soon. my guess is that the non-retina macbook pros will be discontinued, so the currently available specs won't change but inventory will get spare.

edit: anand already has a new air, and is promising an extensive review soon link

I just got my hands on a 13-inch 2013 MBA and I'll be running performance tests (including the first look at Intel's HD 5000 graphics) over the coming days. I'm still traveling until Thursday but I'll do my best to run battery life tests while I'm on the road as well. More soon!


i would wait for his say before making any buying decision.
o_O
EkiTh
Profile Joined January 2011
France12 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-06-11 14:53:02
June 11 2013 14:49 GMT
#5
Got a Macbook unibody (3 years old) with standard GPU (Geforce 9400M, 256 Mb) and 2 Gb RAM boost (4 Gb total), Core 2 Duo (2,26GHz) and a 13" screen. Computer still working extremely well (4+ hours battery life, 2 hours with flash playing) for what I do on a daily basis.

SC2 is still playable but at the lowest game settings in 1v1, 2v2 is pretty laggy in late game (no surprise...), fans are turning on crazy mode.

My advice would be to get the best GPU currently available on apple machines and also a bigger screen because SC2 on a 13" isn't really amazing.

If I had to (and had the money to), I don't know if I would buy a macbook as my next computer because it sucks pretty bad not being able to play many games.
theinfamousone
Profile Joined February 2011
United States103 Posts
June 11 2013 16:33 GMT
#6
If gaming is not your main purpose, I'd get the new Macbook Air. For anything non gaming, those things are incredibly fast. The SSD is faster and Haswell gives you 12 hours of battery life, and OSX Mavericks that supposed to be coming out in a few months is going to increase performance and extend battery life even more (?!). Plus the price is actually quite reasonable. If the Air gaming isn't what you you want, you have a simple solution. Just find someone on Craigslist selling their gaming rig (desktop) for $500 or whatever is in your budget. This was my solution. The multitasking on OSX is lightyears ahead of Windows and I just have to have a Macbook Pro for that, but I still enjoy having a gaming rig. It's also nice to just plug into your TV/receiver full time and have a dedicated home theater PC. I like watching Starcraft streams on TV while I do work on my laptop.
Kevin_Sorbo
Profile Joined November 2011
Canada3217 Posts
June 11 2013 16:57 GMT
#7
I used to play sc2 on a macbook when the game came out.
I noticed that the game had a MUCH easier time on windows than on the Mac OS I had back then.
I dont know if its still the case but it worked a while for me.


but as stated earlier, im pretty sure that with a 2013 macbook pro, you can play sc2 on low/medium without fuss.
The mind is like a parachute, it doesnt work unless its open. - Zappa
cmcaneff5502
Profile Joined February 2012
United States116 Posts
June 11 2013 17:09 GMT
#8
i have a 15 inch MBP that is two years old this week and it still plays sc2 with absolutely no problems. also, mousefixer/deathadder can take care of the mouse acceleration problem with macs.
The_Goliath
Profile Joined July 2012
11 Posts
June 11 2013 19:08 GMT
#9
Really appreciate all of the advice so far. As of right now, I think I will take auqbu's advice and wait to see if a new MBP will be a released as well as see if the new MBA can play sc2 comfortably based off of anand's review.

And just to clarify, the main uses in order of priority for this new laptop would be as follows:

1) general internet browsing
2) netflix and hbogo streaming
3) music storage (but will be on external hard drive)
4) sc2
5) sc1/d3/d2
Ponchmeister
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States73 Posts
June 11 2013 20:08 GMT
#10
the thing with playing on a mac is that you get significantly less frames then you would in windows. I installed windows on my mini mac last year and i went from 25 frames max to 45-50 frames. It is an extremely noticeable difference unless anything has changed since.
"Son, you're as stupid as a mule and twice as ugly. So if a stranger offers you a ride, I'd say take it." -Abe Simpson
Ben...
Profile Joined January 2011
Canada3485 Posts
June 11 2013 20:18 GMT
#11
On June 12 2013 04:08 The_Goliath wrote:
5) sc1/d2
You will need a VM (either for Windows or Snow Leopard) or to dual boot to play those. They took out support for old PowerPC applications a couple years back and SC1 and D2 were originally made back in the PowerPC days. There may be some work around to get them to work (I haven't checked lately), but out of the box they are no longer supported on OSX. It sucks but that's how it is.

Otherwise though, I definitely recommend getting a Mac of some kind (if you want to play SC2 get something with switchable graphics between the discrete card and the integrated GPU. It gives you the best of both worlds. Power when you need it, battery life when you don't. There's a handy application that lets you control which GPU is in use and with that I can easily get 7 hours on my 2012 15" Pro). They're wonderful machines. I do all my work on mine. If not for game support, I would fully switch over to OSX. Plus Mavericks is looking pretty amazing so far and I can't wait to try it.
"Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide" -Tastosis
billy5000
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States865 Posts
June 12 2013 00:17 GMT
#12
2013 13" air. It can play sc2 pretty smoothly but I wouldn't recommend it as the laptop runs around 100 C w/ fans at max speed even at lowest settings. This is probably due to the integrated graphics card, so get a pro with a discrete gpu. Even though there are improvements with the next gen integrated graphics, the temperatures will run higher than you want regardless.
Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land; Man got to tell himself he understand. Vonnegut
Quakecomm
Profile Joined April 2012
United States344 Posts
June 12 2013 00:38 GMT
#13
My macbook pro 13" from about 2 years ago really chugs running sc2. I wouldn't recommend mac.
gorkey island is the only good map
Quakecomm
Profile Joined April 2012
United States344 Posts
June 12 2013 00:40 GMT
#14
On June 12 2013 04:08 The_Goliath wrote:

5) sc1/d3/d2

You can't play sc1 on a mac these days
no powerpc support
gorkey island is the only good map
sluggaslamoo
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Australia4494 Posts
June 12 2013 01:26 GMT
#15
Well I found SC2 to be pretty terrible on mac simply due to mouse movement. You actually can't disable mouse acceleration, on Lion, you kinda can but its 1:1 which means you need a really high sensitivity mouse and it still didn't feel right to me.
Come play Android Netrunner - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=409008
Rollin
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia1552 Posts
June 12 2013 02:21 GMT
#16
On June 12 2013 10:26 sluggaslamoo wrote:
Well I found SC2 to be pretty terrible on mac simply due to mouse movement. You actually can't disable mouse acceleration, on Lion, you kinda can but its 1:1 which means you need a really high sensitivity mouse and it still didn't feel right to me.

Why would you want anything other than 1:1, ever?
Throw off those chains of reason, and your prison disappears. | Check your posting frequency timeline: http://www.teamliquid.net/mytlnet/post_activity_img.php
sluggaslamoo
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Australia4494 Posts
June 12 2013 04:09 GMT
#17
On June 12 2013 11:21 Rollin wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 12 2013 10:26 sluggaslamoo wrote:
Well I found SC2 to be pretty terrible on mac simply due to mouse movement. You actually can't disable mouse acceleration, on Lion, you kinda can but its 1:1 which means you need a really high sensitivity mouse and it still didn't feel right to me.

Why would you want anything other than 1:1, ever?


Because optical mouses (which are superior to laser mouses) aren't sensitive enough for 1:1.

Come play Android Netrunner - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=409008
SecondHand
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
United States329 Posts
June 12 2013 04:11 GMT
#18
I have a 2 and a half year old macbook pro and it plays starcraft on all low settings without ever dropping below 40-50 fps even in large battles.. I would recommend going for a pro if you're going to get a mac.
Ladder more, win less
Rollin
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia1552 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-06-12 04:14:49
June 12 2013 04:14 GMT
#19
On June 12 2013 13:09 sluggaslamoo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 12 2013 11:21 Rollin wrote:
On June 12 2013 10:26 sluggaslamoo wrote:
Well I found SC2 to be pretty terrible on mac simply due to mouse movement. You actually can't disable mouse acceleration, on Lion, you kinda can but its 1:1 which means you need a really high sensitivity mouse and it still didn't feel right to me.

Why would you want anything other than 1:1, ever?


Because optical mouses (which are superior to laser mouses) aren't sensitive enough for 1:1.


1. There are optical sensors that go beyond 2k dpi.
2. I don't think there is a sensor that is worse than not being at 1:1.
Throw off those chains of reason, and your prison disappears. | Check your posting frequency timeline: http://www.teamliquid.net/mytlnet/post_activity_img.php
T.O.P. *
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Hong Kong4685 Posts
June 12 2013 04:15 GMT
#20
On June 12 2013 09:38 Quakecomm wrote:
My macbook pro 13" from about 2 years ago really chugs running sc2. I wouldn't recommend mac.

2 years ago is quite a while.

The 15 inch MBP will run SC2 great. The 13 inch MBP or the Macbook Air could still run it. But if you're sensitive to low frame rates then it's not a good idea.
Oracle comes in, Scvs go down, never a miscommunication.
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