OSX / Mac / Apple boxers - check in

[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/...le,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 (free), Plexer (25$), and 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

[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.