Keep or return M1 MBA?

[InlawBiker]

Maybe I bought the wrong computer, not sure. Would you keep or return it in my shoes?

I was hoping to replace my gaming desktop, I really like being mobile. Tried a gaming laptop, hated the size and weight. I mainly play indie games anyway, no FPS but I do play some RPG's.

Figured the MBA M1, it's probably good enough for gaming, but actually, it's not quite there. A 16gb/512 finally showed up on the refurb site so I bought it and I'm using it now.

Man, this thing is nice but I'm probably better suited for the rumored M1x pro's with better GPU. Plus not having a fan will throttle performance.

So, keep this thing and sell it if a better one comes out? Or return it now. I can still return it to Apple for a full refund. I can't really overstate this enough, this is the finest laptop I've ever touched.

 

[JohnnyGo]

For gaming you’re better of returning your MacBook and waiting for an M2 or M2X model down the road

 

[Ratsaremyfreinds]

im not upgrading till there next die size shrink

 

[Significant1]

You are not very specific about what is not quite there. You might be running intel app through rosetta and not see the full potential of your machine. For your use case it will also matter a bit, whether it is 7 or 8 gpu core model you bought.

 

[Spudlicious]

If gaming is a major interest for someone then I suggest Mac may possibly not be the best platform, and never will be regardless of what new models are launched. The OP seems to have made a purchase unsuited to his needs.

 

[ericinboston]

Not hating on Apple but as Spudlicious said, Apple is not the best platform for gaming. What brand/model/specs desktop did you have and are thus trying to replace with a laptop? What laptop brand/model did you try and already return?

The Wintel world offers hundreds of choices of brand/model/specs. I am partial to Lenovo or Dell as there are always promos/sales/discounts. You can, however, go with more mom and pop shops that offer you unbelievable flexibility and cutting edge technology, but will be at least 30% more expensive than Dell and Lenovo.

Remember that you are always going to pay a premium for a laptop over a desktop because you are paying for mobility, paying for size, paying for everything squished into a tiny box WITH a monitor. I am not a fan of laptops other than they can be really slim and eye candy. You may want to plunk down $1400 on a nice desktop (without monitor) rather than $2500+ for a comparable laptop and allow yourself years of easy upgrading or simply adding more technology. I wouldn't start with searching for a "gaming machine" because so many companies jack the prices up to get you to buy their "gaming machine" which sometimes is far overkill for the average gamer. I would start with looking at some i7 and i9 machines with SSD or NVMe drives and a quality GPU. Get some prices and think realistically how much power from the CPU and GPU you need. You can always (and easily) swap out the GPU months or years down the road (at least on Windows).

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

With respect, this isn't a particularly helpful thread. You haven't told us much. about what types of games you play, the settings, whether you use an external display etc..

 

[xraydoc]

With all due respect to Apple's engineering, a first (or second, or probably third or fourth) generation Apple ARM-based laptop will not replace a gaming desktop.

 

[deeddawg]

Two things in play here...

When wondering whether to buy a computer today or wait for the next better version, ask whether you need to buy today or whether you can wait. If you can easily wait, do so.

Don't buy a computer that doesn't fully meet your needs unless there's simply so such thing.

 

[jerryk]

Wrong system for gaming. Great for many other things.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

For gaming definitely return it, and buy yourself a PS5/Xbox X or PC laptop is you really need mobility.

 

[MysticCow]

Send it to a poor, starving teacher like me.

 

[InlawBiker]

I wasn't clear, my apologies. For the games I want to play Mac has always been fine, using an iMac or MBP. They were fine because both of those had a dedicated GPU. Not a great one, but enough to make my games playable.

It's true, the M1 Macbooks do indeed blow away Intel laptops with integrated graphics. But they are not quite at the level where they can replace a dGPU for some light gaming. I'm talking Diablo 3, Divinity 2, the upcoming Baldur's Gate 3. I even fired up Dying Light, it warns you that it wants a dGPU but it runs pretty well at reduced resolution. This is actually a compliment to this little machine. It's really almost there in the 1st generation!

It gets quite warm so already I see the Pro or Mini is a better choice. So, I think the M1 platform really will be capable of all-in-one productivity, small package, and light gaming without a dGPU.

So wrong computer too early? Yeah probably but I'm going to keep my eye on the upcoming M1 models.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Return it.

I am in exactly the same boat and I determined I need to wait for the next version and order one with more GPU resources

 

[robco74]

The GPU performance of M1 is pretty good, for it's size and power usage. That being said, I would definitely return the Air and wait for chips with more GPU cores and more RAM.

 

[pmiles]

Hate to break it to you but all those games you are playing are through rosetta. Rosetta is going away.. and with it goes your ability to play said games. They will never be ported to ARM.

You have the wrong computer. You'd be better off with an INTEL Mac because it doesn't rely on rosetta to play those games.

 

[jdb8167]

Hate to break it to you but all those games you are playing are through rosetta. Rosetta is going away.. and with it goes your ability to play said games. They will never be ported to ARM.

You have the wrong computer. You'd be better off with an INTEL Mac because it doesn't rely on rosetta to play those games.

It is unlikely that Rosetta 2 is going away any time soon. Since Rosetta 2 was written by Apple and not licensed like the first Rosetta it is possible that it will be around for many years.

 

[InlawBiker]

I don't know anything about the future of Rosetta support but I expect those big-name games to be ported to native. It will just take some time. There's no way I'm buying an Intel Mac at this point.

 

[Maconplasma]

Maybe I bought the wrong computer, not sure. Would you keep or return it in my shoes?

Well I'm not sure if I can fit your shoes or if I need to wear them to keep or return the product.......but to honest I think you should return it because you wouldn't have created this thread if you didn't have second thoughts.

 

[InlawBiker]

I did return it, thanks all. I'm going to miss the little Air, man what a sweet little machine it is. It punches way above it's weight, to use a tired sports cliche. I have used an Intel 13" MBP for work, and I hated the thing. The fan was always running. The M1 blows it away honestly.

I do hope the rumors of a 14" revamped Macbook Pro are true, it would be a dream machine. It's almost too much to hope for that it could also replace a gaming desktop for light gaming, but if they can pull it off then Apple wins for sure.