[Solved] Graphics cards that require up to 225W Vidock Please help!

Hello, I am a college student that like to a little light gaming. Being a college student, I am watching my money. I have recently looked into buying a "Vidock 4 Plus" because I have a 1st Gen macbook pro that is unable to handle many games that I would like to play ex: Total War Franchise, and similar games. My first question is has anyone had any experience with the Vidock? If so, what was your experience. My second question is the "Vidock 4 Plus" states "ViDock 4 Plus adds a second 2 x 3 pin power connector to accommodate graphics cards that require up to 225W." With this said, What graphics card do you recommend keeping in mind my needs. I will be buying a new monitor so I am unsure of the resolution that I will be playing at. Thank you for all of the advice. Just another college student trying to game.

For the price of the Vidock and a video card you can buy a full PC that will handle games better than your macbook. You can put together a gaming PC for $500 or even less if you start out with a used dual-core PC. Plus mac and gaming are not the best of friends, unless you dual-boot the thing to Windows.

My advice, take the cash you are about to drop on a dead-end tech and get a PC for gaming. If you are worried about space, you can get a case like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6856101115

What are the specs on the laptop? Model?

A vidock 4+ is $280, for that price you could get a quad core, mobo, and 4gb ram. If you're really set on an external gpu, a diy solution is ~$120 which is exactly like a vidock but no nice metal box. Both setups still need a gpu which will be ~$150. $300-400 just to play games on a low spec macbook doesn't seem to be a good idea to me. The only way an external gpu is a good idea is if you could find some really cheap used parts.

I thought about doing this myself for a wile. The point is you end up spending all this cash on this vidock and an GPU and the results you get are not that great. So I would suggest a better solution..... Take the $400 and buy a new laptop. I have a 2year old gateway I got for $500 it will play the total war games just fine. So 2 years later im sure you can get something in the $400 range that plays those games. Unless there are some power power hungry games you want to play I think you should at least look into that. And as other have said, keep in mind for about $500 you could have a gaming desktop that would beat the pants off of the $400 laptop or your macbook/ViDock combo.

hmmm, I haven't seen any $500 laptops that had anything other than built in Intel crappy graphics cards? Unless you are talking about a used laptop with like at least a 9800m, 555m, 4860 or higher, then yes he may find a $500 laptop that would work.

For the time being, I will be keeping my mac. I am going to buy a netbook in the near future for class but other than that I doubt I will be buying a computer. I am open to build one I just need to find one for the right price. This may be a dumb question and I am sorry if it is but would this netbook play Total War (even shogun 2)? Or do you know of a netbook that is very nice, light and can play games?

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=30dqaE10a0LUo9XJ

It would be a better idea to get a desktop with higher specs at the same price of a laptop and keep the macbook for mobility.

Edit: Some reason my page didnt refresh. It was just an idea of what he could get, of course to make it $500 for him he'd drop down to dual or tri core and probably a 5770. It's still better than macbook+vidock. My main point was the cpu, mobo and ram was the same price of the vidock (although quad core).

No, not a dumb question at all. The plan you just mentioned was my father's(aka. the one who pays for most of the goods while i'm in college). He was very hesitant about me getting a new laptop but he said that he would be ok about a netbook. I know there is not much of a difference besides weight. So is there a laptop/netbook that I could pass off for a very lightweight netbook for the next two years? Also being a college student, money matters so it can't be too hard on the bank account. Is the netbook I mentioned above not a good one? Thanks again for all the help.

curve ball here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6883108456

I know that would play total war. Because I had it for a short wile .

You could keep your mac for portability. As long as you have some space for a desktop that system would give you much more utility than any netbook when you consider the combo of your macbbook and that desktop. Also would be better to get the desk top and a new net book rather than getting a ViDock and and a net book as far as what you get for your money.

This computer also has a PCI X16 slot. So in the futue you could upgrade it buy getting a GPU and swapping out the powersupply. Befor I returned it I swapped out the PSU and installed a 6870. Was playing crysis lol. So total war would be easy peasy. But the 3200 would play total war without any upgrades.

How would one get that student discount? lol im very interested. Could a friend in school by it for me without me having any issues?

All you need is a student email, so your friend could buy it with his email and give it to you, no problems. Some colleges have deals with microsoft, I can get pro for free but its only 1 per student, and the student store has ultimate for $30. Otherwise get it off the microsoft website. http://www.microsoft.com/student/e [...] fault.aspx It used to be home premium, now its pro.

This topic has been closed by Pyree