Lemma Soft Forums

Hello! I've been meaning to get a laptop for the longest time, and my family finally decided to get one, but I need to pick it out.

My two options are the Macbook Air and the Macbook Pro.....but the Pro is way more expensive than the Air. I wanted to know if the Air can even hold and process the program successfully, and store my games so I can edit them later, etc... Otherwise I'd just get the Pro.

Does anyone here own a Macbook Air? What's your opinion?

I don't know what the specs on Macbooks are like, but my laptop is a sub-$1000 Win7 notebook from about five years ago with no dedicated graphics card, and it has never had the slightest difficulty running Ren'Py for dev or games. I suspect either of your options will work just fine.

Why Mac? Why not the usual Windows laptop?

I have a relative who uses a MacBook Air, and I've tested my VNs on her computer with no problem. So, it would depend on what else you wanted to do; I've found Ren'Py works on everything I've had access to over the past few years (netbooks, some older desktops, etc), but if you ever want to use something like Photoshop or manage higher-resolution art assets, you might want something better.

I think in my opinion it is best you don't go for any macbook if you're focused on working on Renpy / Visual Novel Work / Game designing. Majority of the support such as great game applications (Unity / RPG Maker / Renpy / GameMaker) is in Windows OS. Sure they may have MacOS version but the crucial updates will be coming first in WinOS then second priority Mac. If you're into designing, a powerful Windows laptop that is the equivalent price of a Macbook is better I assure you. But just to put a positive in Macbook, I think they're still excellent in video editing (I don't know why but I feel comfortable with a mac when it comes to that). Document, research and all the basic activities you do on a computer is good in a mac butttttt....

There's also the price, those damn macbooks are expensive and due to how exclusive they seem to be, repairs and replacement if you don't have the extended warranty is high. If you're from the US or first world countries, you may have SOME luck in getting it cheap but if residing in developing countries? You better have a ready budget/emergency money with that.

Lastly is the reliability, just like I said in repairs, with Windows laptops you get a better chance to budget the repairs due to a huge number of pc repair shops and individuals who could fix it. If you think you're still leaning for a macbook check the tech specs and compare to a Windows laptop with 1000USD price, you be the judge. Also difference in SSD and HDD is obviously crucial for speed/performance

Conclusion: Renpy will work but if you're just focused on that go with an WinOS laptop

Source: Your truly. I have an Imac that cost 2k USD but busted after 3 years (!@#@%$@#$!), 2009 macbook pro laptop worth 1000USD that lived for 5 years after upgrading (+400 USD) and replaced it 2014 Macbook Pro which I only use for minor editing, document, light activities such Renpy and coding). The real meaty / heavy stuff I work on an Alienware (lol what? I like gaming as well) for around 1000USD

Hope this helps

The other side would be that I've been on Macs for ages and I find their customer service excellent, their stability also excellent, and I find them great for audio work, and I've had no problem doing renpy stuff with it.

Has anyone here opened their heart to Linux?

(ducks and covers)

PyTom wrote:Has anyone here opened their heart to Linux?

(ducks and covers)

Actually, I have Linux Mint as a dual boot on mine (Ubuntu didn't like my hardware, but Mint was okay after a bit of driver editing). I use it mostly for programming classes, and I find it very satisfying! I was considering switching over to it completely (since I was already using Linux-native programs like GIMP and Libre Office anyway :p), but I rely on a couple of Windows programs for my D&D campaigns that won't run, even under WINE. Pity :\

PyTom wrote:Has anyone here opened their heart to Linux?

(ducks and covers)

I did but I feel incompetent and scared when I tried it.

It's a whole new world

(and I feel a song is coming on...)

PyTom wrote:Has anyone here opened their heart to Linux?

(ducks and covers)

Mint 17 on a five-year old laptop, renpy and games made in it working perfectly.
OP, renpy will probably work decently on anything above a toaster, so choose your machine based on whatever else you may need for your games. Photoshop or whatever is the Mac equivalent, for example, or your sound-editing soft, have significantly more demands.