FFXIV on a Macbook Pro?

Hi all,

I do a lot of business travel. At home I'm running a fast gaming PC (32 GB RAM, i7, 980Ti, SSD, etc). However, on the road I have a MacBook Pro 13" Retina (latest model I believe). 8GB RAM, Intel Iris 6100 built-in for graphics.

I love the laptop, but it is most certainly not a gaming machine. However, I'd love to be able to play during lonely hotel nights while on the road. Has anyone tried running FFXIV on a laptop like this? I know I'd have to purchase an OS X version, not a problem... and would likely have to run the lowest graphics settings possible... and it'd look bad. But I'm not going for beauty here, just a means to pass the time when I don't have access to my main system.

Thanks.

"They" have said multiple times that the FFXIV Mac client is not the best, but like all other programs, just refer to the minimum requirements. A quick search yielded this, I don't know if this is the most recent. Lodestone Post about Mac stuff

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Originally Posted by M0xie

"They" have said multiple times that the FFXIV Mac client is not the best, but like all other programs, just refer to the minimum requirements. A quick search yielded this, I don't know if this is the most recent. Lodestone Post about Mac stuff

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Thanks. I just read it, and it sounded terrifying! Well, +1 for transparency and honesty. Perhaps I'll just bootcamp into Windows 10 and run it on the laptop like that. This isn't a huge deal... but I travel so much and it'd be nice to get on even if the performance is terrible for an hour or so here and there. I'll google about and see if anyone has had success using Windows 10 on Macbook's w/the game. The whole OpenGL instead of DirectX thing... youch. I love my Mac so much for programming... but gaming... argh.

So, I did a bit of searching around. Apparently quite a few people are able to run the game on a Macbook Pro and get good results running in Bootcamp. By good, I mean "playable." I.e. don't use retina resolutions, probably set everything to low, and reduce expectations. Again, that's fine... as long as it works. So, I think I may fork over the bucks and get a W10 license and just go that way... costs a bit more... but seriously, such is life. ;-)

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Originally Posted by doronat

So, I did a bit of searching around. Apparently quite a few people are able to run the game on a Macbook Pro and get good results running in Bootcamp. By good, I mean "playable." I.e. don't use retina resolutions, probably set everything to low, and reduce expectations. Again, that's fine... as long as it works. So, I think I may fork over the bucks and get a W10 license and just go that way... costs a bit more... but seriously, such is life. ;-)

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If you're just going to use Bootcamp why not boot something good like Win7? Cheaper than a Win10 licence, and it works.

I did bootcamp (extremely simple process; just need a valid windows key and the process will hold your hand through the rest of the setup. Give it at least 60GB of space) and installed FFXIV there. My 2015 Macbook Pro 15" is able to run FFXIV on Laptop medium settings at a consistent 40fps or higher. I could go higher but I don't want to really dip below 30-40fps.

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Originally Posted by Tolmos

I did bootcamp (extremely simple process; just need a valid windows key and the process will hold your hand through the rest of the setup. Give it at least 60GB of space) and installed FFXIV there. My 2015 Macbook Pro 15" is able to run FFXIV on Laptop medium settings at a consistent 40fps or higher. I could go higher but I don't want to really dip below 30-40fps.

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Same person as the original poster different account. I did go ahead and install Windows 10 in a bootcamp partition and it was dead simple. Anyway, only thing I had to be careful of is that I use FileVault to encrypt my OS X area. So I had to decrypt that, then do bootcamp, and then I'll encrypt it again.

Anyway, final question on this... do I need to purchase another copy of FFXIV? I.e. can I just use a "PC Download" EXE and the key... but install it on two different machines. I'm sure I "can" ... but am I "allowed" to based on the licensing, etc.

Thanks.

I used to do bootcamp and while the game itself seemed to run a bit better, the lack of good support from bootcamp to support the trackpad really annoyed me. If you are going to play with an external kb/mouse, bootcamp might be the better option.

I picked up the mac license when it was on sale a bit ago and was pleasantly surprised. The game seems to run well enough for most content, even in really populated areas. Occasionally it would have some graphics glitching, but it only seemed to be if something loaded improperly. Teleporting to another zone and back would fix it. Very rarely would it crash entirely, but on that note my windows copy on my desktop PC crashes to.

If you have the extra money and like the convenience of not having to switch partitions, and also plan to use the native trackpad, I would suggest the mac version. If you want very slightly higher graphics and marginally less crashing as well as using an external mouse, I would suggest boot camp. Since buying the mac version, I have not used my bootcamp version. Bootcamp can also be a data hog if you have limited space on your harddrive.

My 2012 MBPr is still running XIV very well on Bootcamp (w/ Windows 10, I might add). Depending on where I am and how many people are there, the frame rate is between 30-50 FPS. Don't believe a lot of the naysayers out there.

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Originally Posted by start4646

Anyway, final question on this... do I need to purchase another copy of FFXIV? I.e. can I just use a "PC Download" EXE and the key... but install it on two different machines. I'm sure I "can" ... but am I "allowed" to based on the licensing, etc.

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You don't need to buy another copy. I play on my home pc and work laptop both too. Only thing I recommend you do is copy all the local character files on a cloud or USB Stick so you always have the newest version in your game.