Scared to leave Mac, but wanna game

[tech-illiterate]

I have no real tech knowledge or confidence to speak of. I have been using the same MacBook for the past 7 years. I want to do some light gaming (Minecraft, DOTA, Civ 5, Red Alert 3) and feel that I would need something more than the intel 4000 integrated video card, but can't afford to go with the MacBook Pro 15' which has the Nividia...

Any suggestions?

 

[Cons29]

go windows and build your own pc

 

[joe_newbuilder]

I have no real tech knowledge or confidence to speak of. I have been using the same MacBook for the past 7 years. I want to do some light gaming (Minecraft, DOTA, Civ 5, Red Alert 3) and feel that I would need something more than the intel 4000 integrated video card, but can't afford to go with the MacBook Pro 15' which has the Nividia...

Any suggestions?

All modern Macs can be dual booted so that they can run windows as well as the mac OS.
I currently have windows8 running as well as osx. Even a 13" macbook had enough power to run many of the games you mentioned.

 

[Supermuncher85]

You never mentioned size or price, so Asus G series is on my recommendation. There are several models ranging from 14inch to 17 inch.

 

[c_for]

I can't say much for the other games mentioned but Civ 5 is light on the GPU but hard on the CPU. If you use maps any larger than small be prepared for a decent amount of time between turns. In my desktop i'm running a 3570k with a decent air cooler and a case ambient of about 24C. I'm still running about 30 seconds between turns on standard in the late game.

 

[tech-illiterate]

Thanks for your responses!

So, to clarify. I am looking for a laptop that is 13-16 inches, and ideally I would not spend more than 1500, but might be willing to go up a few extra hundred dollars. I know that most of the games that I mentioned can be run on many computers, but for the Mac, the graphic system reqs for Civ 5 and Red Alert 3 suggest that I will need a dedicated video card. (I def will if I want to play their sequels). In many respects I understand that a PC would be a good route, but I am attached to the Mac OS at this point and worry about viruses and not knowing all the fancy stuff many of the people on here do to maintain and protect their PC's.

So, If you have any suggestions for PC's or steps to take to protect a PC from all the crap online or just getting slow I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[pteradox]

So, If you have any suggestions for PC's or steps to take to protect a PC from all the crap online or just getting slow I would greatly appreciate it!

The virus/malware "issue" on Windows is overblown by non-Windows users. Sure, it is the most dangerous system for viruses and malware, but you can install a couple of relatively non-intrusive programs to easily combat that. In my opinion, it really isn't worth it to spend $1500 on a gaming computer, especially a Mac since games on Macs are very limited. For the same price, you could build a custom computer that would rip through any software you threw at it. But in the end, if you want to stick with Apple then you're limited to the choices they offer, which means chances are that Pro 15' is the only one that will be able to support high-quality graphics and such.

If you want a laptop (not a desktop) then I'd just get a solid $600 laptop with optional NVidia or Radeon graphics. For surfing the web and other things that risk virus or malware attacks, you could always install a copy of Linux alongside - Mint is fairly intuitive for beginners, and Ubuntu isn't bad if you aren't afraid to get dirty with the command line. In actuality, you can have a machine that is as safe and powerful as a Mac for half the cost if you install a good SSD - however, you won't quite be able to match the battery life of a Macbook Pro with a budget laptop.

The short answer is that if you want to stick with Apple, you buy what Apple offers, or you swing for a PC.

 

[tech-illiterate]

So, If you have any suggestions for PC's or steps to take to protect a PC from all the crap online or just getting slow I would greatly appreciate it!

The virus/malware "issue" on Windows is overblown by non-Windows users. Sure, it is the most dangerous system for viruses and malware, but you can install a couple of relatively non-intrusive programs to easily combat that. In my opinion, it really isn't worth it to spend $1500 on a gaming computer, especially a Mac since games on Macs are very limited. For the same price, you could build a custom computer that would rip through any software you threw at it. But in the end, if you want to stick with Apple then you're limited to the choices they offer, which means chances are that Pro 15' is the only one that will be able to support high-quality graphics and such.

If you want a laptop (not a desktop) then I'd just get a solid $600 laptop with optional NVidia or Radeon graphics. For surfing the web and other things that risk virus or malware attacks, you could always install a copy of Linux alongside - Mint is fairly intuitive for beginners, and Ubuntu isn't bad if you aren't afraid to get dirty with the command line. In actuality, you can have a machine that is as safe and powerful as a Mac for half the cost if you install a good SSD - however, you won't quite be able to match the battery life of a Macbook Pro with a budget laptop.

The short answer is that if you want to stick with Apple, you buy what Apple offers, or you swing for a PC.

I think I will look into a PC more. I like your idea for running Linux. Thanks for the help!