11" Macbook $999 Config - Games?

[TheMacBookPro]

Blah Blah Blah. Try running ONE Windows 7 VM in a base model Air and come back to me. Does it work? Sure. But I bet you any of the Pros will blow it out of the water with the same amount of RAM allocated to it. That's what I'm talking about. It's not about CAN it game, but SHOULD it game. My answer is no. Get a Pro for power.

I have a 13" i7 Pro. My Air games much better than it, tyvm.

The requirements for a VM is different than the requirements for gaming. It's like saying my Hummer is better than your Ferrari because it can go off road and your car cannot. Two completely different things.

Look, I know you guys love your little bastard Air and that's fine, but here's reality check dude.

GPU matters - yes.
Drive TYPE matters - yes.
RAM matters - YES.
Capacity matters - YES.

It all frickin matters when gaming.

GPU: Absolutely.
Drive type: Absolutely.
RAM: Absolutely.
Capacity: Erm, no. If my computer's pagefiles etc are set up the same way, a 512GB SSD will make no difference to the performance I get from a 64GB SSD (assuming both drives have sufficient free space)

Why? School:

GPU is obvious. It's not just about the type of card but your front cache as well as how it interacts with the CPU. Doesn't matter if you have a stronger card if the cache is low nor does it matter if you have a stronger card if the CPU can't keep up with the crap. You might be able to start the game up and play a while but you're not going on a 4 hour binge I guarantee you.

I 'guarantee you' that I just played MW2 for around 3 and a half hours on my Air before running out of battery.

Also- the i5-2537M (SB ULV) has 3MB cache, same as the SU9400/9600 which is used in the current gen Airs.

Where are you pulling this crap out from?

Drive type matters because of read/write which DOES happen when gaming. A SSD will blow a regular HDD out of the water in that regard. So the Air has that, sure.

So does my Pro, but that doesn't make it a better gaming machine than my Air.

RAM matters because - UH OH - PAGING. Gaming isn't a free ride, the crap will take up RAM. The more RAM, the less paging. The less paging, the better performance, SSD or not.

Yep. But in the YouTube video you linked to, showing a modern game running smoothly, the Air shown has only 2GB RAM, same as the Air OP has.

Capacity matters because for those so less inclined about how SSDs work, the lower your free space, your SSD performance goes in the crapper. Between cache and paging, yes, a 128GB SSD is going to be better in the long run than a 64GB one especially since roughly 20 of those GB's aren't even accessible off the jump.

Twenty? Mac OS X only takes around 10GB if you remove the printer drivers, localizations, etc.

Say 15GB for OS X. Install a game (say another 15GB?)(even though OP only mentioned a lower end game- RCT- which only takes a few GBs). That leaves you are around 25GB free (accounting for the way drive capacities are displayed). MS Office- 20GB free. Assorted apps, documents, 15GB free. That's still enough free space for the SSD to perform maintenance etc and have performance not 'go into the crapper'.

If you want to game GET THE MACHINE THAT IS BUILT TO DO IT. Hell, at least Ultimatize the bastard and stop being cheap.

Your suggestion of a Pro is not 'a machine that is built to do it'.
Also- in the YT video you linked to, that user only has the 1.4/2 Air (ie same specs as OP) and it clearly runs games smoothly.
Your point being...?

BTW you really need to calm down. Just because you were wrong doesn't mean you have to start making stuff up. It misleads readers, you know?

OP- your Air will run RCT just fine. It isn't graphically intense or anything. You don't need an Alienware Aurora to play games- computers don't have to be designed to play games before you're allowed to play, like the above poster seems to think

 

[Xeem]

If you want to game GET THE MACHINE THAT IS BUILT TO DO IT. Hell, at least Ultimatize the bastard and stop being cheap.

When it comes to gaming, Apple doesn't really make any computer that is "BUILT TO DO IT" without being prohibitively expensive to most people. When I build a gaming PC (I always keep a gaming tower along with a Mac laptop), I don't need to approach the $1000 mark to make any game on the market run well.

As other posters mentioned, however, the OP isn't looking to play Crysis 2 or SC2 or anything even modern at all. Telling anyone (especially a student!) that wants to play some extremely casual games on his new $1000 laptop to "stop being cheap" is ridiculous.

 

[KnightWRX]

It's not about CAN it game, but SHOULD it game. My answer is no. Get a Pro for power.

Wait, you're telling us what we should be doing with our Airs and you're also telling us to get a lesser gaming laptop for gaming.

Seriously, stop it now, you're confused. The MBP 13" is a lesser gaming machine thanks to its sub-par GPU. It's a lesser overall machine thanks to its lower screen resolution (more pixels = more stuff on screen = less scrolling during assignments for students/work for pros). It's a lesser machine thanks to its HDD.

What you're drinking, we don't want. I think I'll fire up a game right now on my MBA. Just because I SHOULDN'T.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

Wait, you're telling us what we should be doing with our Airs and you're also telling us to get a lesser gaming laptop for gaming.

Seriously, stop it now, you're confused. The MBP 13" is a lesser gaming machine thanks to its sub-par GPU. It's a lesser overall machine thanks to its lower screen resolution (more pixels = more stuff on screen = less scrolling during assignments for students/work for pros). It's a lesser machine thanks to its HDD.

What you're drinking, we don't want. I think I'll fire up a game right now on my MBA. Just because I SHOULDN'T.

I think he's just looking at the name and not the specs