OSX / Mac / Apple boxers - check in

[lacitpo]

I think there's an old thread laying around from a year ago or something, but I thought I'd put the feelers out there and see how many mac boxers there are floating about.

Inviting all the OSX boxers to pop into this thread and maybe give a quick rundown of your setup and why you have opted to use OSX rather than an alternative.

I currently 3-box on an 2006 macbook pro. I have a brand new 27 inch i7 iMac on order scheduled to arrive right around Christmas which I'll be using to 5box. I like OSX as an operating system, though I know it is not for everything and definitely costs more than it's PC equivalent. I have thought about installing Bootcamp in the past, but I PVE with my team and haven't needed the high level of control that some of the PC software solutions offer. The tools that have been available for multiboxing on a mac have been thin in the past but usable, and now with Plexer (thnx owensd) things are brighter than ever for mac boxers.

[Perrigrin]

I'm currently PC boxing (a SSD based older machine which runs 5 instances fine) - I am however debating to go Mac - But need the portable.

Any input on the viability of 5-boxing on a MBP would be great.

[Jayne]

Also running an iMac and everything is heaven - except that the current version of Plexer can't remember the position or size of the WoW windows so it takes a minute to get everything in place. I've chosen to run OSX simply because I really dislike Windows, and if I don't have to install it to multibox, I won't!

[Fef]

I have been 5-boxing on Macs for close to 2 years now. First on an iMac, now on a Mac Pro.

In both cases, it has been under Windows/Bootcamp, though. I now have a small SSD drive in the Mac Pro that has only Windows and WoW on it. I never do anything else in Windows than play WoW.

[Perrigrin]

Fef, I would be very curious how you set that up?

Which MBP do you have? Does it work with a standard intel SSD (which I have laying around)? How many screens do you use, any other hardware considerations? How does it work in Dalaran/AV/WG?

[Holmeser]

Hi
I'm 5 boxing on a Macbook Pro 4,1 and it runs pretty smoothly. Got a new 27inch i7 imac but its more of a family computer so i dont wanna become dependant on it.
THanks
HOlmeser

[Perrigrin]

Hi
I'm 5 boxing on a Macbook Pro 4,1 and it runs pretty smoothly. Got a new 27inch i7 imac but its more of a family computer so i dont wanna become dependant on it.
THanks
HOlmeser

Hmm, I'm not that savvy on apples yet - which one is the MBP 4,1?

[Holmeser]

Its the one that originally shipped with the white macbooks, i think in january 2007.

[lacitpo]

@Perrigrin (http://www.dual-boxing.com/member.php?u=1466)

My older (2005/2006?) macbook pro could 5box just fine for anything PVE back when BC was the latest expac. Currently I'm limited at about 4 boxing it seems, but I believe it has more to do with supreme hard drive fragmentation and the need for OS cleanup. If you want really high end performance, a macbook pro probably won't give you what you might desire for 5boxing, but will allow you to 5box on the go. I used an auxillery monitor for my setup, with 4 gridded out on one screen and my main taking up my main screen.

Recommend getting a USB keyboard so you don't have to fumble with the compact laptop keyboard.

[Fef]

Fef, I would be very curious how you set that up?

Which MBP do you have? Does it work with a standard intel SSD (which I have laying around)? How many screens do you use, any other hardware considerations? How does it work in Dalaran/AV/WG?

Sorry, I don't run a MBP but a Mac Pro, the big heavy thing that could hardly be called a portable ;)

[Perrigrin]

Ahh dang, my bad :P guessing plugging a SSD into the MBP might prove hard :P

[Perrigrin]

So, the concencus is - 5 boxing is doable on a MBP; But don't expect high end pvp or smooth running in Dalaran?

Also, you guys that using MBPs, is it the fancier graphics card versions? How much memory?

[lacitpo]

Stock graphics card. And yeah. Entering Ogrimmar on all 5 characters at once is just asking for trouble. But out in the world, or in an instance, things run at a fully usable level. Things get entirely un-usable in big cities though. Massive graphics lag and that kind of stuff. Note this is on a 3 year old, cluttered macbook pro.

SSD in macbook pro is completely doable

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-notebook-portable,1913-3.html

Thats just the first link from a google search but I know lots of people have done it. I'm sure it would boost performance a good bit. I also just looked it up and my current HD is 5400 rpm so that could account for a bunch of my issues as well. I imagine that with the graphics card upgrade, 4gb of ram (i do have this), and a SSD you might find one of the new MBP to have considerably good performance for 5 boxing.

[Gadzooks]

I've played on Macs the whole way, starting with the first week of release, I played on a G4 Cube, and then upgraded to a dual 2.0 G5. When I got to 5 accounts, I played with 3 on the G5, and two on an Intel Mac Mini I picked up for cheap.

Now I play on a 24" iMac, 2.8 Core 2 Duo, Radeon HD 2600 Pro, with a 20" lcd on the side for two windows (mainly it's for Photoshop and design work, but it comes in handy for WoW too) Runs 5 just fine, with 4 gigs ram, with effects all the way down.

The only places I have issues is Dalaran. I can run my team around Ironforge and Shattrath all day with no problems, but if I try to zone into Dalaran, two of them will guaranteed DC, and framerates go to no kidding about 1 frame per 3 minutes. It's UGLY. So, if I have to go through, I go one at a time.

The new 27" iMac is on my list to get next year, not only for design work, but if I get back into MBing, it will be a lot better with 8 gigs ram total - most of the problems with Dalaran I know are from running 5 accounts with 4 gigs.

I have Snow Leopard sitting here, haven't installed it yet, I'm hoping there's a little bit of a boost with it. I need to back up my main drive first, and I need to buy a new drive for backup, and I'm not going anywhere near a computer store until after Xmas, so that will happen next week. I also have to work out some driver issues for some other software I use for design, that I've read about.

Been having some issues with Plexter lately, while running it's fine, but if I start quitting characters, it will crash after the first couple. Next time it happens i'll grab a report and send it to the author.

I've been tempted to BootCamp my copy of Windows and get a KeyClone license, but with all the nasties out there, I feel safer on the Mac.

Have the iPhone authenticator, too.

[Valsharess]

I'm 5 boxing on a Mac Pro 8Gb, 2x Quad core Xeon, 8800 GT.
I have all 5 WoW instances on the same hard disk partition. I have other storage options but that seems enough.

I'm using the following software: Jamba (http://wow.jafula.com/) (free), Plexer (http://www.kiadsoftware.com/products/plexer/) (25$), and SizeUp (http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/) ($13).
@Gadzooks: I also had the Plexer crash when terminating wow instances, other than that runs fine.

At work I have used Linux, Solaris, and Windows. At home I only use Mac because it is easier, prettier, more reliable, and a real Unix.

I like Macs because


They are easier. The basic philosophy is to dumb down the UI so it disappears (that is, the user shouldn't wonder how the UI works, not a for second). Overall I see more work on interaction design on Mac applications, eg: iPhoto = best home photo organizer.
They are reliable. Less hardware options mean less driver headaches, and less hardware incompatibilities.
They are high end. This means better quality of construction and little details like the magnetic power connector (reeeally handy).
OS X. It's unix. It has the better desktop manager. You won't miss any kind of software (maybe CAD apps?, not sure).
No DLL hell, no need to reinstall anything, no malware, no more antivirus nonsense.
iChat. See the ones you love without buying and installing additional bullshit. It also lets you share screen and do tech support on remote.
..other reasons i don't remember i guess. :P

[Revoemag]

I 5 box on a Quad core Mac Pro, 8 gigs Ram, and a GTX 285. Have an SSD and run all copies from the one directory. Plexor used for the broadcasting.

I use one 30" monitor but run the games windowed at 1920x1200 max effects for all 5 copies. I use Spaces to run all 5 copies in the same place/same res on each Space. Simply hotkey Ctrl+1,2,3,4,5 to each Space, and I have near instantaneous switching to any client, even at that resolution. You can even use Expose to see all 5 copies running at once if you want. Impressive stuff given it's all at the OS level.

Compared to the years of dual boxing on a high end PC this setup is much more stable & more usable. OSX just seems more capable at multi-tasking multiple high end applications.

Use a N52 speedpad for handling all the extra bindings needed. Just got a G13 and quite impressed so may switch to that.

Dalaran is still laggy, but that's the only place I'm not seeing 30fps constant. I just avoid running all 5 thru there on follow :p

[Perrigrin]

Well, I just went down to 2 accounts (from 5) and will stay that way until I maxed my main out to start raiding after Cataclysm release.
I'm still boxing with 2 accounts though (tank+dps for quick LFG and dual combos for dailys).

This have made me really eye the Macs again, but I want a portable machine - And looking at the specs of the MBPs and what components you get for the cost (comparing with things like Dell or Alienware) really put me off.

Is your perception that you get more mileage out of the components in a Mac environment, or is it just simply more expensive?

[Fef]

Is your perception that you get more mileage out of the components in a Mac environment, or is it just simply more expensive?

If you like to think in terms of investment, you should take into account the resell value. Macs sell very well second hand. The entry ticket in the Mac world is indeed expensive, but the fact that your machine is actually still worth something significant when you want to buy a new one makes it very relative. That's a huge difference compared to the PC world.

This is especially true for MacBook Pros.

[Perrigrin]

Thanks, what about performance though:

Imagine that I get a Dell laptop with similar components as a 15' MBP and launch up one instance of WoW on both - Would you expect the Mac to perform better? (using wow as it's an example we are all familiar with).

[dozigden]

I'm running 3 sessions on my 2 year old 20" imac (4gb 2.4C2D, HD2600). I've previously run 4 but 5 kills it. With 3 Dalaran is still painful but nothing else is much of a problem. I'm waiting to see what the MBP refreshes are like and hoping to expand out to 5 boxing, either with a MBP or *fingers crossed* with some network support. Failing that I'm going to look at something beefier hardware wise. but I wanted this machine to last me 3 years when I bought it (before getting into multiboxing) and its perfectly good for everything else I need.

I run an extra monitor for the slaves and browsers and am using a Razor Naga for some extra keys which I like a lot.

[succulent]

I used to 5-box on a Mac Pro, 12gb RAM, 30" monitor, using Spaces to hide my followers. This worked okay but I tend to key-spam in instances, which caused some lag issues the Clonekeys. Login was annoying as I had to arrange windows etc., lag in Shattrath (this was last summer 08 or so) was a bitch. I switched to all-hardware and I like that better.

Current setup is 24" iMac, 27" i7 is in the mail to me supposedly. This is where I run my main/iTunes/vent/etc., graphics mostly turned up. Followers are on 4 x Mac Mini, each with a 19" monitor on a 2x2 vesa mount, graphics mostly turned down. Input is via wireless non-bluetooth keyboard, all 5 computers set to the same channel. Mouse input is via main machine and synergy. Additionally I have a 4-input KVM with keyboard and trackball, but that doesn't get used very much.

This setup works very nicely. 30fps+ on the follower boxes, 60fps on main machine, no problematic lag anywhere -- except that Dalaran is quite laggy on my main machine since 3.3, which I think has to do with one or more mods that I only have on my main (followers use a minimal mod suite) or perhaps insufficient system memory, since the slaves are unaffected. My only complaint really is Synergy won't let me mouse off the main machine if it's in full-screen, so I have to run that one windowed -- I'm used to it but would rather run full screen.

You can of course boot Macs into Windows via bootcamp, so there's never been any question for me as to which hardware to buy. You get a Mac you get the ability to run Windows for games and Mac OS for, well, everything else. Having to reboot for games is mildly irritating at times, but with WoW that isn't an issue.

I raid on my main pretty regularly (not multiboxing), and not a night goes by where at least one person doesn't DC at some point during the night due to their machine crashing. Not just WoW, but they're off vent as well for a minute or two while they reboot. This is never one of the four or five of us who play on a Mac. Anecdotal I know, but amazingly consistent.

[Valsharess]

Thanks, what about performance though:

Imagine that I get a Dell laptop with similar components as a 15' MBP and launch up one instance of WoW on both - Would you expect the Mac to perform better? (using wow as it's an example we are all familiar with).

For gaming, PC > Mac.

With "similar components" it should still run faster on PC because game companies optimize first the Windows version (eg: Blizzard adding multithreaded opengl in WoW 2.0). And if the game is a port (eg: call of duty) you can expect worst graphics because implementing DirectX features that don't have a counterpart in OpenGL (eg: D3DFMT_R32F) results in more memory/less quality.

For general use and disregarding the price, a macbook pro is an excellent choice. I remember reading it was the fastest vista laptop or something like that. But if your goal is gaming, or to get the lowest price with the highest speed -which I doubt it's going to make you happier on other departments- you should stick with PC.

[lightstriker]

MacPro 1,1 (2006 i think), 9 gig ram, 2 dualcord 2 GHz
5box on 4internal, one exteral HD
ATI Radeon HD 3870
27' samsung for main, 4slaves on 20' turned 90 degree for long document and web browsing

Leatrix Gfx http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info12739-LeatrixGfx.html
VERY IMPORTANT addon, it reduces any WoW window in the background to 5fps. It has almost triple my main's framerate.

[alcattle]

since you bought up an old thread, what MB software are you using? also I did not understand the HD comment. Sounds good though

[mikekim]

i think the HD comment is referring to changing out the old 5400rpm drive for an SSD.

I looked into this and instead went with a 500gb 7200rpm Segate Momentus.

My MBP is one of the older ones (2008 - 2.5Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4Gb Ram, NVidia 8600m GT).

I can run 4 copies quite happily, but 5 seems to lag in places.

i only tend to use my MBP (for wow) when I'm away on business or around friends houses.

[Ñightsham]

I have been reviewing new laptop's for multiboxing and am considering the ASUS G51Jx
..Specs include:
Intel Core i7 Quad 720QM
8Gb Ram
500Gb, 7200rpm HD
Nvidia GTS 360M / 1024k vram

Anyone have any comments on this particular laptop?

[mikekim]

I have been reviewing new laptop's for multiboxing and am considering the ASUS G51Jx
..Specs include:
Intel Core i7 Quad 720QM
8Gb Ram
500Gb, 7200rpm HD
Nvidia GTS 360M / 1024k vram

Anyone have any comments on this particular laptop?

With regards to this thread..... I don't think it qualifies as a mac :)

[Ñightsham]

With regards to this thread..... I don't think it qualifies as a mac :)


My bad........ I was doing a search on multi-boxing with laptops and responded here with an inquiry about which one's may be good for that. If it's any consolation, I do use my Macbook Pro for single play, but having switched to IS Boxer I feel the need to get a different laptop.


Thanx