PCSX2 on a MAC, rate this hardware

The_Merovingian · Nov 13, 2010

I'm buying either a new PC or Mac laptop. For those Mac people on Emuforums, tell me what you think of this hardware? It's a used computer, I'm also considering an i5 or i7 from the Macbook Pro.

Apple MacBook (MB467LL/A) 13.3 in. Mac Notebook Details and Product Specifications - Epinions.com

Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
Graphic Processor: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 256MB
2 GB (DDR3 SDRAM) 4Gb Max
13.3 in. WXGA TFT Active Matrix
250 GB HDD/ 5,400 Rpm SATA (I or II?)
Display Max. Resolution: 1280 x 800
RAM Speed: 1066 MHz
Installed Cache Memory: 3072 KB
CD / DVD Type: DVD±RW Dual Layer/CD-RW
Optical Drive Read Speed: 6x (DVD) · 8x (DVD)
Optical Drive Write Speed: 24x (CD) · 8x (DVD+R) · 8x (DVD-R) · 4x (DVD+R Dual Layer) · 4x (DVD-R Dual Layer)
Optical Drive ReWrite Speed: 10x (CD-RW) · 4x (DVD+RW) · 4x (DVD-RW) · 6x (DVD-RW) · 6x (DVD+RW)

Apple MacOS X 10.5
Battery Run Time: 4.5 Hours
Weight: 4.5 lbs.

Model: MB467LL/A

I do like what is being said about the new MacBook Air. A system that boots within 15 seconds is not something to be laughed at!
http://www.bgr.com/2010/10/29/apple-macbook-air-review
Amazon has kind things to say about it too. Overpriced? Hell yeah. Integrated and smooth running beast? Until someone comes out with better, I'll say yes to that too.
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MacBook-MC506LL-11-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B0047DVVVI

Princess Garnet · Nov 13, 2010

I'm not a Mac person, but you don't need to be to judge that hardware. That hardware would suffice, but not be ideal, for PCSX2. You'd need to overclock the CPU, and the GPU wouldn't let you get very good settings depending on the game either.

If you just have to get a laptop, look at a Core i5 or Core i7, but even then they won't be able to be overclocked, and even then it still won't be much (just better than the above). You'll also likely get less battery time (all else being roughly equal).

masta.g.86 · Nov 13, 2010

Not a Mac person either, but I wouldn't recommend it. As a PC user, the hardware itself is very underwhelming. Heck, for the price of that laptop, you could build and ship my laptop with more/greater upgrades included. I know you're buying it used, so hopefully it's being offered at a more reasonable price.

Comparing it directly to non-Mac hardware, it's pretty weak for gaming purposes. PCSX2 performance on a system like that with Windows installed would be less than stellar. A few games would run fullspeed with some speedhacks enabled.

Since it's running OSX, you'll be using an OpenGL-based graphics plugin. In Windows, D3D performance is greater than OpenGL performance and is recommended for PCSX2. OpenGL performance on the Mac is worse than on Windows. Just a heads up.

The Mac port also isn't updated as frequently as the native Windows PC releases, so performance enhancing updates aren't released as often.

In short though, yes PCSX2 will run on that hardware, but playability is subjective. I guess it depends on your tolerance for playing games at lower than fullspeed with skipping audio and serious slowdowns in certain games and scenes.

The_Merovingian · Nov 13, 2010

masta.g.86 said:
OpenGL performance on the Mac is worse than on Windows. Just a heads up.

Do you see OpenGL performance improving in the future to make it equal to the PC? or will Apple continue to neglect gamers like they have been. Like, ever since forever

oh btw the laptop i found is on craigslist & is listing less than than cost. $700 used, and yes i checked it out it's OK and not stolen (LOL) or been dropped.

Beatrix · Nov 13, 2010

700 can get you a really nice desktop if you shop around for parts...or use CL. I saw someone give a way a Core 2 Duo processor for 10. Don't remember the model though.

Xblade · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
Do you see OpenGL performance improving in the future to make it equal to the PC? or will Apple continue to neglect gamers like they have been. Like, ever since forever

oh btw the laptop i found is on craigslist & is listing less than than cost. $700 used, and yes i checked it out it's OK and not stolen (LOL) or been dropped.

Anything you can do on a mac you can do on a pc.

However this is not a two way thing.

A pc will cost you less for more.

For 2 grand those specs are laughable.

The_Merovingian · Nov 13, 2010

Xblade said:
For 2 grand those specs are laughable.

Please! I didn't come here to be bashed for talking about buying a Mac vs. a PC. You have no idea what I need it for (maybe I need it for work, for school, or just want to mess around with it for fun?)

Keeping that the computer is originally more than 1yr old, $2000 is not that bad.

And as I said in my response, the person is selling it for $700. Don't harp about 2000 when I already said 700.

I'll take this question over to the Mac support forum.

Xblade · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
Please! I didn't come here to be bashed for talking about buying a Mac vs. a PC. You have no idea what I need it for (maybe I need it for work, for school, or just want to mess around with it for fun.)

Keeping that the computer is originally more than 1yr old, $2000 is not that bad.

And as I said in my response, the person is selling it for $700. Don't harp about 2000 when I already said 700.

I'll take this question over to the Mac support forum.

I missed the part that it was for 700$, but otherwise you still over reacted.

The_Merovingian · Nov 13, 2010

Xblade said:
I missed the part that it was for 700$, but otherwise you still over reacted.

You missed nothing! The person above me also said 700. There are too many retards & bullies on the Internet who are just waiting for someone to make a mistake before they attack. The way the foul idiots act, the Internet will become an arm of the U.S. govt to shut down all this mess before it undoes the entire world.

Xblade · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
You missed nothing! The person above me also said 700. There are too many retards & bullies on the Internet who are just waiting for someone to make a mistake before they attack. The way the foul idiots act, the Internet will become an arm of the U.S. govt to shut down all this mess before it undoes the entire world.

I'm still failing to see or comprehend where it was I attacked you.

Are you high?

Generally when someone post a thread about buying a particular item from someone they give the price in the opening post. My reply was directed at the opening post, and it was obvious that I didn't read any subsequent post. Even if I had my post was perfect viable and not derogatory towards anyone as I was still referring to the retail price of the product and its capabilities vs another product.

masta.g.86 · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
Do you see OpenGL performance improving in the future to make it equal to the PC? or will Apple continue to neglect gamers like they have been. Like, ever since forever

oh btw the laptop i found is on craigslist & is listing less than than cost. $700 used, and yes i checked it out it's OK and not stolen (LOL) or been dropped.

Performance will likely improve in the future.

Valve has made a push to the Mac platform with its Steam service. They ported several of their Source Engine games over and have commented that some of the performance issues were/are their fault, but a majority of the slowness seems to be because of the OpenGL drivers which are designed more along the lines of stability than performance.

OpenGL performance of Linux is better (than Mac) and just as stable, so long as the proper drivers are used and setup properly. I think this is a pretty good indicator of things to come for the Mac, though a platform-specific graphics API would probably be a better solution.

SCHUMI_4EVER · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
You missed nothing! The person above me also said 700. There are too many retards & bullies on the Internet who are just waiting for someone to make a mistake before they attack. The way the foul idiots act, the Internet will become an arm of the U.S. govt to shut down all this mess before it undoes the entire world.

Even for $700 you can get a better system if you go PC so your anger is irrelevant.
And if you plain needed a mac you wouldn't be asking us, you'd buy and then moan about how it can't do anything. So stop making a mountain out of a molehill.

As for the laptop itself, granted this is an actual game with no emulation but here's what happened on a local forum with regards to the exact same system.
Really, really bad framerate in SC2

Kaizen · Nov 13, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
Do you see OpenGL performance improving in the future to make it equal to the PC? or will Apple continue to neglect gamers like they have been. Like, ever since forever

oh btw the laptop i found is on craigslist & is listing less than than cost. $700 used, and yes i checked it out it's OK and not stolen (LOL) or been dropped.

Imagine you have a very nice and fast car.
A Gallardo or something.

Then you only use this car to drive on roads that are coated in toffee goo and in first gear. That's using a mac for pcsx2.

Now realize that there are no Lamborghinis for macs and instead you're driving a 1.2L Fiat Pinto with 60 horsepower but still on the treacle soup MacOS X road with the first gear performance of opengl.

Now realize that for the price of your Fiat Pinto, you could buy a prety smashing BMW M5 and have a free copy of linux mint!

Where the roads also suck but whatever, you can use any hardware you want and it's free toll.

If you must avoid windows to be a hipster or whatever, at least use proper linux instead of the crap unix that mac is.

The_Merovingian said:
Keeping that the computer is originally more than 1yr old, $2000 is not that bad.

It really is.

A built computer for 2 grand years ago would destroy the specs posted by an incredibly large margin.

We're talking an ANCIENT Q6600 @ 3.5, 4gb ddr2 and a 9800gtx+

All of these quite frankly suck today but absolutely DEE-STROOOOOOOY that mac.

$700 is too much.

If you really want a macintosh, build a hackintosh and have a decent pc.
If you want to be some sort of indulgent child, spend the same cash for the white plastic for the same functionality with much worse (and slower) parts

And if you honestly would rather buy a proper mac, realize you don't actually like macs for their function but only for their brand and what it does to your ego.

Bill_gates · Nov 14, 2010

The_Merovingian said:
I'm buying either a new PC or Mac laptop. For those Mac people on Emuforums, tell me what you think of this hardware? It's a used computer, I'm also considering an i5 or i7 from the Macbook Pro.

Apple MacBook (MB467LL/A) 13.3 in. Mac Notebook Details and Product Specifications - Epinions.com

Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
Graphic Processor: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 256MB
2 GB (DDR3 SDRAM) 4Gb Max
13.3 in. WXGA TFT Active Matrix
250 GB HDD/ 5,400 Rpm SATA (I or II?)
Display Max. Resolution: 1280 x 800
RAM Speed: 1066 MHz
Installed Cache Memory: 3072 KB
CD / DVD Type: DVD±RW Dual Layer/CD-RW
Optical Drive Read Speed: 6x (DVD) · 8x (DVD)
Optical Drive Write Speed: 24x (CD) · 8x (DVD+R) · 8x (DVD-R) · 4x (DVD+R Dual Layer) · 4x (DVD-R Dual Layer)
Optical Drive ReWrite Speed: 10x (CD-RW) · 4x (DVD+RW) · 4x (DVD-RW) · 6x (DVD-RW) · 6x (DVD+RW)

Apple MacOS X 10.5
Battery Run Time: 4.5 Hours
Weight: 4.5 lbs.

Model: MB467LL/A

Even at the 700 dollar price point, those specs are terrible...
you seem to have your mind made up on the Mac though so
buy what you want :???:

The_Merovingian · Nov 14, 2010

The reason I'd want a MAC is work-related. I have enough cash to actually buy both a Mac & a PC. I have enough to buy an expensive, new in the box Mac, but would probably never use it (LOL). This is not a status thing. I've found that when I buy something used, I actually put it to use more. Sound strange? Not really, human psychology is a strange thing. Those who do that for a profession are even more strange. It's kind of like someone wanting to go into the mortuary business. Pays damn well, but omg you deal with dead people all day. WTF?

Kaizen said:
And if you honestly would rather buy a proper mac, realize you don't actually like macs for their function but only for their brand and what it does to your ego.

Nope, that's not me. But it describes many people I know. They are all status status every minute of the day. Wormfood for the gods, that is what I say.

Once i make a decision on the PC side, or Mac, i'll put some videos up of both. (And i'll probably put OSX on the PC anyway, since I might need to take both to work every so often.) It's nice to know that this emulator has a nice community of folks that do their best to share the knowledge. That's all I want to do. AND PLAY GAMES!

/rant

Beatrix · Nov 14, 2010

Well the only things MAC are efficient at are high end.....Toast Titanium, Photoshop, Final Cut. All those cost serious money. My mom has a Mac Pro (8 Core) because she is into graphic design. The comp cost around $4,800. So you still will be getting a better deal by going the PC route. Most people who buy cheap MACs buy them for the name. One of the most widely advertised MAC abilities is the ability to run Windows. They even make a point of it in their TV ads.

I mean Alienware M11x vs Apple MacBook Air. No contest.

Xblade · Nov 14, 2010

Windows Mac, oxymoron.

Kraftwerk · Nov 14, 2010

Xblade said:
Windows Mac, oxymoron.

Need a new one?
- Steve Ballmer

Fadingz · Nov 15, 2010

MAC is just a statue.
After you buy it, it will just sit on your desk.
You cannot do anything else with it but to stare at it.

and your model is not even running Snow Leopard...

runawayprisoner · Nov 15, 2010

The heck?

Apple ain't loved here, I guess... (or anywhere else)

Anyways, install Windows 7 on that Macbook via Bootcamp. Problem solved. The rest is pure PC vs PC specs, and a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo is nothing to sneeze at. If you play PCSX2, simple games will run alright, though don't expect Gran Turismo 4 or God of War to even go at a slideshow pace. But to be honest, I concur you can buy a much better PC laptop (specs-wise) *coughwiththreetimesworsebatterylifecough* for the same price.

So in my opinions, it all comes down to whether you need Mac OS *coughandbatterylifecough* or not. If you really don't need Mac OS *coughandbatterylifecough* for any reason at all, then go get a PC laptop. Honestly. $700 can buy you a very decent brand-spanking new Core i5 system.

A Macbook for PCSX2 is about the most incomprehensible thing I can think of, no offense. I love Mac, but I just don't see how you should buy a Macbook only for PCSX2. If you're asking about how PCSX2 would run, it would do decent, but not really that well, and you still need to buy a Windows license, so another $100 to that price tag. So again, if you really want something to play PCSX2, try a Windows 7 laptop.

PCSX2 on a MAC, rate this hardware

The_Merovingian

Princess Garnet

masta.g.86

The_Merovingian

Beatrix

Xblade

The_Merovingian

Xblade

The_Merovingian

Xblade

masta.g.86

SCHUMI_4EVER

Kaizen

Bill_gates

The_Merovingian

Beatrix

Xblade

Kraftwerk

Fadingz

runawayprisoner

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