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He already mentioned that he has 20-30 GB free on his HDD, so that's fine. Activity Monitor will only tell you CPU activity, not GPU activity.

What GPU do you have? Laptop GPUs generally aren't as powerful as their desktop counterparts, and IIRC Apple underclocks their laptop GPUs on top of that. You're just going to have to get used to the fact that you're going to have to turn down the graphics settings. Another option is to install Windows through Bootcamp and get the Windows versions of all your games. Those games were originally made for DirectX, and will run faster through that. On top of that, Apple's OpenGL drivers tend to be a little slower as well, so you'll likely gain a few FPS by playing the Windows versions.

Budget or not, akb's just stating the facts: Graphics is a weak point of almost all laptops.  Gaming in Windows would definitely help, for the reasons stated.  But even with Windows, the OP would probably still need to turn down the graphics (just not as much).

Or if budget isn't an issue, throw together a $400-$500 desktop. (I'm sorry, I like building things )

Last edited by Mr. T (2009-08-02 1:51 am)

Yea, using Desktop PC is recommended for gamer.
Recommended hardware; HD velociraptor, core2duo E8190, 4GB RAM, and GeForce 8600 GT.

Likely the limiting factor is the graphics rather than the CPU. There are three main factors slowing down the graphics in general:
1. The fact that laptops have weaker graphics cards than on other platforms.
2. The fact that Cider must translate the original DirectX graphics to OpenGL graphics.
3. The fact that Apple's OpenGL graphics drivers tend to be a bit slower than on, say, Windows.

Running on boot camp, issue number 1 will still be a problem. However, you will be able to eliminate issues 2 and 3. You shouldn't expect any miracles, but it should make the game run a bit smoother. In other words, if it's completely unplayable it likely won't be worth it. However, if it's playable but maybe a bit slow or you would like to bump up the graphics just a little, then you should notice an improvement in boot camp.

RavenShadow wrote:

Now if anybody could tell me where my installation discs are since they're needed for the bootcamp process, that would be great... :-)

mine are on a shelf on my desk with all my apple software... though I used to keep the disks in the computer's box which are normally stored in the garage or under the bed.

Last edited by mrreet2001 (2009-08-21 1:39 pm)