Can it play... Minecraft

[Nausicaa]

Title pretty much says it all. Any other Minecraft players out there with one of the new MacBook Airs? Preferably someone with the 11", how does it run and what kind of draw distance can you use without frame drops? I imagine if I get an Air this would be the most intense application I run on it.

Feel free to share your experiences with other games as well.

 

[mrdobo]

Well my 13" (why are you getting the 11?!) comes in on Friday, and Minecraft will likely be the first program installed I think CPU plays a decent roll when it comes to Minecraft, so the 11" might have a bit of a harder time than the 13", but I'll let you know nonetheless. I plan on testing a lot of other games as well, so I'll be sure to post those results as well. This is my first Mac, so I'm curious as to how well this thing can handle the games I play. Are you planning on installing Windows 7 as well?

 

[Nausicaa]

Thanks, please be sure to post your impressions.

I'm not even sure I'm buying one at all yet. Already have a new iMac and iPad this year. I'm interested in the 11" because the size appeals to me, but I realize the 13" is probably a better buy in the end.

I personally wouldn't do dual boot on an Air just because of the limited HD space.

 

[elwood58]

My 11" does a fair job with Steam/Portal, so Minecraft should be a synch.

 

[bamloki]

I have the standard 13' with 256gb and Minecraft runs pretty smooth - no problems so far.

 

[catalyst6]

Well my 13" (why are you getting the 11?!) comes in on Friday, and Minecraft will likely be the first program installed I think CPU plays a decent roll when it comes to Minecraft, so the 11" might have a bit of a harder time than the 13", but I'll let you know nonetheless. I plan on testing a lot of other games as well, so I'll be sure to post those results as well. This is my first Mac, so I'm curious as to how well this thing can handle the games I play. Are you planning on installing Windows 7 as well?

Why wouldn't you get the 11?

 

[mrdobo]

Why wouldn't you get the 11?

Look... I get the appeal of a smaller laptop, but 13" for me really is a the "Goldilocks" zone for small laptops. Anything smaller just start to feel cramped... that's just opinion though I guess. The part worth actually arguing is the price. For $300 more you get:

2 more hours of battery
a CPU with roughly 25% better clock-speed and 3MB extra cache
Double the flash storage
1.7" of extra screen (con for some?)

All that for an increased weight of .6lbs. I don't care who you are, that difference will either be unnoticeable for most people, or only JUST barely so. AND, it's not like traveling with the 11" is any easier. Whatever precautions you'd take with the 13" is the same that you'd take with the 11". Not to mention, you get the option for 4gigs of RAM. Seems like a no-brainer honestly.

 

[Nausicaa]

Don't forget the SD card slot, which can provide some additional media storage space.

Bump for other Minecrafters out there who might have an Air.

 

[Pinksteady]

Well my 13" (why are you getting the 11?!) comes in on Friday, and Minecraft will likely be the first program installed I think CPU plays a decent roll when it comes to Minecraft, so the 11" might have a bit of a harder time than the 13", but I'll let you know nonetheless. I plan on testing a lot of other games as well, so I'll be sure to post those results as well. This is my first Mac, so I'm curious as to how well this thing can handle the games I play. Are you planning on installing Windows 7 as well?

Have you had a chance to test this? I'm toying with the idea of the 13" Air to replace my iPad as my primary computer and it would absolutely have to play Minecraft smoothly!

 

[Boston007]

Minecraft is not Crysis.

Of course it will play on the MBA

 

[fs454]

I'm an avid minecrafter and I own an 11" ultimate. It runs great at normal render distance and "fancy" graphics, at full resolution. "Far" works satisfiably but sometimes will skip.

I'm running the better lighting mod and dynamic occlusion mod as well so it's a bit more demanding. Handles it like a knife through butter 99% of the time.


Battery life drops from 5-6 hours to about 1.5 hours though while playing, haha.

 

[Mabyboi]

<Sarcasm>
I have a fully maxed 2010 Mac pro, and minecraft can barely run at over 5fps on the absolute lowest settings. So i dont know how well an air will run it...
</Sarcasm>

Seriously though, a 13" air is more than enough to run minecraft.

 

[justaregularjoe]

What about the whole Java thing? I thought mincraft's performance was not really proportional to your GPU power becuase it is all run on the CPU...

Also, what about heat? I have heard a few people say that running Minecraft creates insance CPU usage and thus heat.

 

[AppleZwei]

I work at Apple at get to play with the 11" Air everyday. On our slow days Ill connect to my server and it plays really well. Played for 4 hours straight the other day.

 

[Acronyc]

Seems like a no-brainer honestly.

For you, maybe, but everyone has different needs. My 11.6” MBA (1.4ghz, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) is a secondary machine and the excellent combination of portability and power is exactly why I got it. Battery life is enough to get me through the day, the screen is plenty big and the CPU and storage are more than enough for my usage. Also, you can upgrade the RAM to 4GB in the 11” as well.

While the 13” might not weigh that much more than the 11”, the footprint is noticeably larger and, for me, the 11” feels so much smaller and is much easier to carry and use while I’m traveling. I use my MBA every day in many cramped situations, and the form factor of the 11” is perfect. It has been such a fantastic computer for my uses, and I can’t imagine using anything bigger.

Anyway, that’s just my perspective. What is a no-brainer for some may not be for others.

 

[Nausicaa]

<Sarcasm>
I have a fully maxed 2010 Mac pro, and minecraft can barely run at over 5fps on the absolute lowest settings. So i dont know how well an air will run it...
</Sarcasm>

Seriously though, a 13" air is more than enough to run minecraft.

No, Minecraft isn't Crysis, but it is still a pretty demanding game, I think. I know my 2010 iMac is not a great gaming machine, but I do get frame rate drops playing full screen, fancy graphics, and the 'far' draw distance. I don't think it is unreasonable to assume that a MacBook Air might struggle with the game at that quality.

I any case, I don't know, which is why I asked.

 

[pandamonia]

My MBP with the 330GT suffers in Minecraft, dont know why but the coding is CRAP, never seems smooth when im trying to move around and lots on screen

 

[Martylaa]

Never mind mincraft can you play online poker ok on them.

 

[warfed]

I tried Minecraft in the store on both the 11 and 13. The base 11 couldn't open it, safari just froze. Tried a couple times no luck. The 13 ran it no problem. Both were base models. Could have been an issue with Safari, no idea.

 

[Xgm541]

Just downloaded MC on my 11 inch with the 1.4 ghz processor, ran a bit choppy with the default graphics settings but setting the performance on "fast" and the view distance to "normal" made it run as well as my friend's core i7 .

 

[gman901]

I have the 11" and began and completed Crysis Warhead on it. I enjoyed the game and did not notice any slow down (until the last boss battle). I guess Warhead is optimized a little better than the original.