Mac problems
 

Hey guys.
I have been playing wow for a month and I have an issue I cant fix.
I have a MacBook pro and when I play by my self I have no problems at all.
When my brother gets on and we are playing together, I lag so bad in combat it's unplayable. But the thing is, he never ever gets lag. I know I'm new to wow so I figured that I may be missing something.

I've tried what WoW GMs suggest of deleting certain folders and running repair. No luck. Also, I have 0 addons.

Please help.


Btw my brother has a new windows computer and I have the new MacBook pro. We have recently bought a new router also. I don't know the computer specs off the top of my head but I don't think that will matter anyways. Seems to be a Mac issue.

Thanks

That's most likely not a Mac problem, but you simply have too low bandwidth to accommodate two people using high-volume internet at the same time. Have you tried it with, for example, YouTube HD? You could also go to www.speedtest.net and compare the results of times when you're alone and when your brother is also on the internet.

You might also want to try simply resetting your router.

Hmm, seems a difference between the two probably exists, but yeah, may not be a Mac issue. Could be hardware, software, router, network settings, conflict issue, etc.

Bandwidth may be a part of the problem, but you'd have to have pretty bad internet (56k modem quality) to get affected that heavily by just another person playing WoW. Speedtest as mentioned will be a good test.

Is your brother playing WoW the only activity which causes your latency to increase? Does he use the internet for other things? If so, how do those activities affect your gameplay? Are you both using wireless? Only one of you uses wireless? Bah, too many questions to ask :p

I have the same issues with my iMac (it's the previous "generation" with a radeon 5xxx) and a Windows PC using the wireless internet connection at the same time. The Windows PC is fine, most of the time, while the mac just disconnects again and again. The fun fact is, when the mac runs Windows XP (via bootcamp), it still happens to the mac. I assume they have either some poor wireless device built in and/or some driver issues.

Then again I'm on a damn old G router, it might be that it can't handle to many devices connected at the same time via wireless at once. My connection is 32.000 kbit/s down 2.000 up, for real (if I plug in the cable, not via wireless obviously). That should be way enough, too

Anyway, if you have a new router, it's unlikely to be the connection itself, since I assume it can handle several devices better than old routers do.

Which leaves me with blaming the wireless device in macs :rolleyes:

Hey I tried a few suggestions.

I went to speedtest.net and took both laptops with me and put them right beside our home desktop thats hardwired.

0 Laptops on: 3.45mbps DL speed, 2.12 Upload speed
1 Laptop on: same
2 laptops on: same

I then reset the router

0 laptops on: 23.55 DL speed, 2.12 Upload speed.
1 laptop: 21.12, 2.08
2 laptops: 18.71, 2.02

Im thinking that if i just reset the router every now and then it'll be alright? I reset the router and modem. The router is new. Modem is like 6 years old lol.
Which one would it most likely be?

Thank you,
Hulikner

Resetting it once should've done the trick and cleared out whatever problem you might've had. If it happens again, I would contact your router's manufacturer (the router does seem to be the problem here).

P.S. If you have the opportunity to use an Ethernet cable, then do so. It'll always be much more reliable, and faster, than wireless.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can use an ethernet cord? The router and only phone line is like 50 feet away from where I play. And I'm not able to go to where the modem and stuff is. ( middle of our family's living room where parents watch TV constantly)

Thanks guys. Hopefully that does fix it.

Hulikner

You can either run a cable that distance or use an ethernet bridge. The bridge uses the electrical wiring in the house to carry the signal. It has 2 boxes that plug in to regular outlets each with an ethernet cable plugged in and thats pretty much all there is to it.

I ran 3 dungeons tonight. No lag :). I was so thrilled to be able to play. That bridge thing your talking about, I've never heard of that. That sounds like the way to go for sure. Does the regular electrical wiring not make the signal inferior to a real ethernet cord? I'll for sure get one if it doesn't. I'd much rather be hard wired in.

Since my question seems to be answered I was hoping to ask you guys one more question.

I'm getting money back from college to get another computer and I want to get something that runs WoW perfectly. I'm looking at either getting the 18 inch alienware laptop with dual graphics cards, SSD, and 16gb ram. And keep my current 13 MacBook pro for school.

Or

The 17 inch MacBook pro with SSD, 8gb ram, but lower quality single graphics card. I love Mac and want to get the Mac if the alienware is overkill.

So would I notice a big difference on the alienware running wow over the MacBook pro? The MacBook pro would save me some money too bc I wouldn't keep my current 13 inch bc the 17 is pretty portable.

Opinions requested and I'm sure flaming will come along with it.

Well, anything can run WoW these days ;) I had a 17i mbpro that I gave away to a friend, and it ran WoW pretty well. Just couldn't have graphics settings turned to extreme, and had to keep Shadows and other intensive settings at low.

I know itan run it, and run it well. But when it comes to running the game on ultra and between the addons and stuff, will the alienware be overkill and I won't really be able to tell the difference between the two or is it night and day?

Well, if Ultra WoW settings are a goal, then the difference will be quite large if you kit out the Alienware.

I don't have to have WoW run at the highest level. My macbook pro right now runs the actual game great, graphics are great, its on the medium setting. But I have problems when it comes to addons, I cant use any at the moment, and a few smaller nit pick things. I was just wondering if the alienware would make a much bigger difference all around rather than, yes you can run on ultra.

I don't know, I can't decide because Dell won't let you check out an alienware before you buy it. At least Apple lets you come in and see if you like it. You just have to hope that you'll like the alienware.

The Alienware will be overkill if your only intention for it is WoW; a MacBook Air can run WoW just fine - with plenty of AddOns - so a Pro would be fine. Aside from the monetary savings, you'd also have the benefit of still having a Mac instead of having to get used to Windows.

I've asked a few friends that use the ethernet bridge and they say they have no signal issues. Of course much of this will depend on the age of the wiring your running it through.

I can't say from personal experience however.

EDIT:
I did a little feedback research and overall people seem to be happy with the results. For clarification the official term is Powerline Networking. Plenty of reviews on various devices are available on newegg.com. It's worth giving them a look through.

There can be issues with Powerline Networking - depending on the wiring, two separate wall sockets can be on separate phases which would mean they would be unable to communicate. At my previous place of residence, there were only two sockets in a room (out of around 10 sockets) which were on the same phase as the socket to which the router was plugged in, necessitating an extension cord run under a throw rug.

Ive been so pleased over the past week. I have had no lag since i reset the router. None at all. And I'm used to lagging the entire time :) Thanks for your help guys.

And right when I was about to order the Alienware I see your post. Let me give a little background and maybe that would get a few more opinions from people

1st off, yes, game wise WoW will probably be the only game I run on the computer. I know just as much about Windows as I do Mac so that won't be a problem. I am in my final year in college and my major is computer science, wanting to be a software engineer. So matter of fact all I'm on while I'm in school usually is windows. Ive just always used my macbook when I get home and doing work at home.

So with this knowledge, between programming and running just WoW, would the Alienware still be overkill and the Macbook pro do just as fine?

I feel like computers are so advanced now days that even though some computers are way better than others in areas, people will never use the better computer to the full potential just because they are not doing stuff that require the high end specs. I like mac, its more portable and professional looking to me, if both computers did what I want them to do exactly the same, Id go with the Mac. But if there will be a difference, I don't care at all about holding on to this Macbook and having the Alienware as my home computer.

Thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated, thank you very much again.

Hulikner

About the bridge. If I have one more issue dealing with connections I am going to try it. Everything is running just fine, right now, so Ill just see as it comes around. I appreciate you finding out about that. Ive never heard of it some Im sure I will eventually need something like that if not now then later on.