Soo since the launch of TS3, I have come to the conclusion I need to brake down and get a different laptop. I bought this one in August, but did not think at all ahead and had it built with a crappy integrated chipset for graphics. Its a dell, has 2.0 ghz, 4gb, and 250gb hard drive.

Pretty much, I bought that thing thinking I would only be using it for school....then I started playing WoW and now I have TS3 installed on it. WoW runs fine (blah blah) but TS3 is obviously not going to run very well with my graphics setup, the sims I make can't even be on the plumper side because their body parts look separated from each other LOL.

but Anyway, the point of this (and sorry it took me so long to get to it) is that I've been trying to decide on a new laptop to purchase. I built another dell with everything up to spec, but its like $1,500...which is a bit much for me

So today I went on Apple and was looking at both the iMac 2.6ghz and the White Macbook 2.13 ghz.
I bumped both up to 4GB ram and 250gb hard drives. The iMac was around 1,300 (give or take a bit) and the lil' Macbook was at 1,084 (after a student discount) & both have the Nvidia 9400m graphics card i believe

I'm definitely trying to spend as little as possible, and I've always wanted a Macbook, so I guess what I'm looking for here are some suggestions, some HELP lol

(Sorry this was SO long!)

well just remember that you'll get the bigger bang for your buck if you choose to get the desktop instead of the laptop. With the laptop your paying for portability, and with the desktop, its mostly specs.

With PC's you're paying for quality and processing capabilities.
With Macs, you're paying for image.

And as a preference, I'd go with desktops for gaming.

I'm sorry to contradict you but with Macs you are paying for credibility and trouble free usage.

Touche! Not a crash and never a virus. And oh, what graphics! But definitely get the iMac as opposed to the Macbook. The laptops are not strong enough to play games for long periods of times - plus they heat up quite a bit!

i'd go with the imac if you want to do some gaming. if you're willing to spend more the 2.93ghz 24" imac has the option for better video cards (nvidia gt 130 or ati radeon 4850) which would give you a better gaming experience. that route would cost you around 1800 if you got the gt 130 video card with your student discount (this is a similar setup i'm looking at upgrading to in a few months).. it's a lot of dough to drop but i think it would serve you well in the long run. fwiw, it looks like the 9400M is an integrated graphics card also.

as a side note i personally don't believe you pay for the 'brand' with apple. i've been so impressed with my little macbook since i made the switch last year. the os is SO stable, i find it to be very intuitive & user friendly (once i got used to the differences with windows), and the thing is DURABLE! i've watched my 3 year old step on the closed notebook (i wouldn't recommend trying this though) a few times with no harm to the computer. and not having virus issues is the icing on the cake.

Thank you all for the feedback.
I agree with you that laptops generally aren't for gaming, and that the iMac would be a better choice. I do, however, think I will need the portability of a laptop unfortunately, so getting an iMac might have to wait a bit.

If I go ahead with it and buy one in a month or two, I'll make sure and post what I think, which I'm sure will be nothing but positive

I recently purchased an iMac and I must say it's one of the best moves I've made. I have the 24" version and playing TS3 is a breeze.

uhlissuhrose wrote:Thank you all for the feedback.
I agree with you that laptops generally aren't for gaming, and that the iMac would be a better choice. I do, however, think I will need the portability of a laptop unfortunately, so getting an iMac might have to wait a bit.

If I go ahead with it and buy one in a month or two, I'll make sure and post what I think, which I'm sure will be nothing but positive

I would just like to suggest, if the pice is right, that you upgrade the RAM on your future Macbook. I mean the computer is a great piece of work either way, but I think you would really appreciate it while playing TS3. And if you do, dont upgrade it with a custom order. Apple charges a hefty price for a simple upgrade, when you can just go to newegg.com and make it a DIY.

So far, my MacBook Pro is doing a great job with TS3! I do have 4GB of RAM though.

I think you'll like playing on a Mac. Walk into the light…

piratey0h0 wrote:With PC's you're paying for quality and processing capabilities.
With Macs, you're paying for image.

You're paying for quality? I'm okay with you saying they're cheaper and whatnot -- but i've never heard that weird argument made. LOL

And as far as "image" - um no. Just because people buy well-made, well-designed computers that doesn't make them brainless trendy image freaks.

piratey0h0 wrote:With PC's you're paying for quality and processing capabilities.
With Macs, you're paying for image.

And as a preference, I'd go with desktops for gaming.

But keep in mind, with any mac, they are always equipped with the years current and up to date specifications. So there is more than just aesthetics.

I hate replying to posts...but I have the new aluminum 13 inch macbook, working off of 2GB...playing TS3 is a breeze!!! No crashes, no lagging, no heated computer, and I was on this thing alllll day yesterday playing. I built like 4 houses, and still no problems. Plus remember I can move from room to room bec of portability. I love my 13 inch macbook 2GB. Trust.

CariLea wrote:I hate replying to posts...but I have the new aluminum 13 inch macbook, working off of 2GB...playing TS3 is a breeze!!! No crashes, no lagging, no heated computer, and I was on this thing alllll day yesterday playing. I built like 4 houses, and still no problems. Plus remember I can move from room to room bec of portability. I love my 13 inch macbook 2GB. Trust.

im getting my macbook soon..how are the graphics cause on my HP laptop they are sorta bad?

I switched to mac last year after another windows computer crashed on me. It took me 3 weeks to get it out of its box because i had never used a mac and was worried it would frustrate me. Now i can no longer stand windows, at all. I have not had any issues so far, which means my life has been less stressful- calling darn tech support all the time can wear you out! TS3 runs smoothly on it, i have a 4gb set up, macbook pro. With all the bells and whistles mine cost me $4000 but i have friends that buy the out of the box set up and theirs run just fine too. I strongly disagree with the image comment, i want reliability and security in my laptop, it can look like a huge brick for all i care. It just happens to be a mac. Apple concentrates more on the area i care most about and for that, they have a new customer for life.