Best Macbook for Dolphin?

[Magiknight]

Hi! I've been using a early 2011 Macbook Pro to play Dolphin. My Radeon HD 6750M has played the more intensive Wii games with enhancements just fine. Unfortunately, like so many other early 2011 Macbook Pros, my discrete GPU has died (google "early 2011 macbook pro GPU failure") and I'm left with my Intel HD 3000 and a VERY UNSTABLE system that refuses to boot at times and other times the screen just goes blank.

Unfortunately I liked my macbook too much, I'm a tool, and I'm probably going to get another one. I can't decide if I should get a 13in or a 15in. The problem is that the 13in have an i5 and Iris graphics while the 15in has the i7 and Iris Pro graphics. I understand that an i7 really isn't needed. My hang up is with the Iris and Iris Pro. Are both cards playable with more demanding Wii games? Would I experience much difference between them? Any information or peoples experiences would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone played Dolphin with an Iris?

[bushidounohana]

I can't speak to the Iris Pro, but I've been using the 13" (with Iris) on Windows 8.1 successfully for a bit now. I can play all of my favorite games at 1.5x IR, which at the moment includes Mario Kart Wii, Zelda Twilight Princess, NBA JAM, and Grand Slam Tennis. I only encounter very minor hiccups, everything is extremely playable. The only things I tend to get a lot of hang-ups on are games like WWE13 (I think the CPU is the bottleneck here) and Punch-Out (which is playable, but a lot of hang-ups on menus and the like).

ALSO--Not sure if you're using OS X or Windows, but as I'm sure you're aware, the performance difference is noticeable between the two platforms, with the advantage of course being on the Windows side. I held out for a very long time on OS X, but when I finally moved over to Windows the difference (at least for my laptop) was pretty significant.

Hope that helps!

(12-15-2014, 01:40 AM)Magiknight Wrote: Hi! I've been using a early 2011 Macbook Pro to play Dolphin. My Radeon HD 6750M has played the more intensive Wii games with enhancements just fine. Unfortunately, like so many other early 2011 Macbook Pros, my discrete GPU has died (google "early 2011 macbook pro GPU failure") and I'm left with my Intel HD 3000 and a VERY UNSTABLE system that refuses to boot at times and other times the screen just goes blank.

Unfortunately I liked my macbook too much, I'm a tool, and I'm probably going to get another one. I can't decide if I should get a 13in or a 15in. The problem is that the 13in have an i5 and Iris graphics while the 15in has the i7 and Iris Pro graphics. I understand that an i7 really isn't needed. My hang up is with the Iris and Iris Pro. Are both cards playable with more demanding Wii games? Would I experience much difference between them? Any information or peoples experiences would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone played Dolphin with an Iris?

[KHg8m3r]

Last year, when we saw Iris graphics in relation to Dolphin, the advice was to find a better computer, as the Iris line was relegated to the Ultra-Low Voltage processors, which ran at lower clock rates and were not ideal for Dolphin.

However, Intel has finally added the Iris line to regularly clocked processors, so they are fine to use now. As long as you aren't hitting a CPU bottleneck, you should be able to get between 2-4x IR in games.

Now onto the issue of the Macbook pros. Looking at the line-up, you want to get the CPU with the highest clock speed. That would be the 15-inch with the i7 at a base speed of 2.5 and a turbo up to 3.7 Ghz. However it cost $2500. So getting either the other 15 inch with i7 or the fastest 13 inch with the i5 would be the next best thing.

However, since Windows plays Dolphin way better than OSX, I would recommend getting a gaming laptop, as the specs will be way better than even the $2500 15 inch, and it will have dedicated heatsinks for the CPU and GPU so that when one gets hot the other will not throttle back. Then if you absolutely need OSX, you can look into setting up a virtual machine on it, which I have just done on mine

[Magiknight]

Thanks for the replies, bushidounohana and KHg8m3r. I'm glad to hear that Iris isn't a terrible choice. Specifically, I'm concerned about being able to play Xenoblade. I can play on the lowest settings with my HD3000 but it looks terrible.

I've thought about an iMac, but I really need to be mobile. I've thought about a Windows laptop, but I hate windows (never tried Windows 8). Not easy choices....

[KHg8m3r]

I personally don't like windows 8, so I installed 7 when I got my laptop.

As long as you can justify spending that much on a MacBook Pro, then have at it.

But just so you know, we've documented Dolphin playing better under Windows. Apple writes their own video drivers, and they're subpar compared to windows drivers. So I would at least look into using boot camp on a Mac to run windows.

[bushidounohana]

Yeah, as KHg8m3r said, if you're getting a machine primarily to play Dolphin, you definitely want to look at a Windows gaming laptop. It cannot be said enough that the performance difference for Dolphin between the two platforms is indeed quite significant. That doesn't mean the experience on the MacBook isn't passable, of course, it just means that it's not going to be the best bang for your Dolphin dollar.

I will also say that I'm as much of an OS X guy as anybody else (and as much a Windows 8 hater), but Windows 8 is actually growing on me (minus Metro, of course). I've even had sacrilegious thoughts of updating my dedicated Windows 7 gaming rig to Windows 8 ... though I use Steam Big Picture as my shell anyways so I never actually see Windows without some effort.

(12-23-2014, 01:43 AM)Magiknight Wrote: Thanks for the replies, bushidounohana and KHg8m3r. I'm glad to hear that Iris isn't a terrible choice. Specifically, I'm concerned about being able to play Xenoblade. I can play on the lowest settings with my HD3000 but it looks terrible.

I've thought about an iMac, but I really need to be mobile. I've thought about a Windows laptop, but I hate windows (never tried Windows 8). Not easy choices....