The news about the new MacBook Air cannot have escaped anyone reading this: if you're online at all, you have seen effusive mentions of this new, incredibly tiny, laptop. And it is pretty cool, if you don't mind sacrificing almost everything on the altar of size.
But for gamers, the sacrifice is large. Integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics with 144mb of shared video memory is a poor display driver, very poor, and games from six or seven years ago can tax it. While obviously Apple has no intention of targeting gamers with this road warrior laptop, it is another sign that Apple never targets gamers. Which I find odd: the Aqua UI and technology like Quartz Extreme run better the better your video card is. If you please gamers, you'll please everyone with your performance. And you'll be able to run the most lucrative consumer software outside Microsoft Office.
Comments (2)
I am an avid Apple user and an avid gamer. While I may be in a minority, I don't want my computer to supply me a gaming platform. I look to my computer for number crunching, program coding, media creation/cleanup (iPhoto, Photoshop, iMovie HD, Garage Band, etc), business apps (Office, Mail, etc.), and surfing the internet and talking to family/friends out of state (iChat AV and Skype).
I gave up computer gaming long ago as the same RTS, FPS, Civ xx, games and clones were being released ad nauseum. To me, the computer gaming industry became stale and redundant about 5-6 years ago. Bored with the lack of original IPs and plot/play originality, I gladly converted to a console in 2002 and haven't looked back. Yes the processor power/speed gets locked in until a new generation of consoles are released, but the consoles are what the majority of coders are writing for, not computers. Therefore you have a plethora of gaming genres to choose from. I will gladly give up scalable processing speed for a great variety of games in a heartbeat.
If I were a computer gamer, I would purchase a Mac Pro and max out the CPU clock speeds, RAM, and upgrade the video card to the max available. I would duel boot the system, set up XP on one partition, and use it for gaming. Desktops are better for games than laptops, in my opinion.
Again, I realize I am in the minority here, but it doesn't concern me that Apple doesn't target me as a gamer. I'm content they target me as a savvy user and give me hardware and software that works as intended straight out of the box for the jobs I use my computer for.
Posted by Scott | January 22, 2008 10:35 AM
Posted on January 22, 2008 10:35
hey guys!
I recently found that apple is gonna to release new macbook and macbook pro,
has anyone already tested it?
I found good article about new laptops on [url=http://macbook.su]macbook news site[/url] ,
and i just love new macbook pro.
But any info how much it will cost and when it will be avaliable to buy?
Cheers :)
Posted by Michaeldede | February 28, 2008 3:35 AM
Posted on February 28, 2008 03:35