M4 Max worth the extra price for Gaming?

[FrankySavvy]

I have the 14" M4 Pro 14/20gpu, I know this system is way more than I need for my graphic design needs, but I do like the extra horsepower for playing games.

Unfortunately, my two favorite games at the moment, Mircosoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Age of Empires IV, are still unplayable in Crossover, but every day, more and more games are becoming playable on the Mac, and I feel like I want to be ready when they do. I plan to keep this laptop for at least 2 years.

Do you think it's worth the extra $700 for the 14" M4 Max 14/32 gpu or $1000 for the 16" 14/32gpu? Is it okay to run an M4 Max chip in the 14" chasis?

 

[Gnattu]

Is it okay to run an M4 Max chip in the 14" chasis?

Probably not too okay for gaming because it will throttle for sustained GPU+CPU load like gaming, but if you want more portability and an accept the reduced frame rate (about 15%-20% lower when throttled) you can still get one.

The M4 generation still has some driver issues where the M4 Pro users are seeing kernel panics during gaming and you will want to wait for a few OS updates if you are going to play games on this laptop.

 

[FrankySavvy]

How much better will the FPS be in games between the M4 Pro and the M4 Max?

 

[FrozenDarkness]

Andrew Tsai's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Andytizer is pretty good at playing games on all the new chips. Obviously it's not every game but it'll give you some inklink on performance differences.

 

[dmr727]

Unfortunately, my two favorite games at the moment, Mircosoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Age of Empires IV, are still unplayable in Crossover

From what I hear, MSFS 2024 is terrible on just about anything.

 

[LogicalApex]

To me, no it isn't worth it for gaming. But it depends on what you're gaming focus is like.

I have a Windows PC I use for gaming with an AMD 7950X3D and a 3090Ti it also has 4TB of NVMe SSD storage. I have games that exceed 100GB of space so having lots of fast storage is important. Runs anything I throw at it with ease too which I love.

Apple's pricing for 4TB of storage alone is crazy (that 4TB cost me $200 on PC and they are Samsung 990 Pro SSDs so not slow or poor quality)...

 

[FrankySavvy]

Do you think MSFS 2024 will ever run on a Mac through crossover?

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

Is it okay to run an M4 Max chip in the 14" chasis?

There are several sources on the internet that say that a M4 Max 14" has thermal throttling and noisy fans. If you want a M4 max, go for the 16" or next year for a Mac Studio.

 

[dmr727]

Do you think MSFS 2024 will ever run on a Mac through crossover?

Isn't MSFS a CPU heavy game? In that case, probably not until 2034.

 

[hovscorpion12]

Do you think MSFS 2024 will ever run on a Mac through crossover?

Maybe on the Ultra chips. The system requirements are insane. This is one of those games where you dedicate a 14900KF & 4090 combo for.

In all seriousness, if its a native Apple Silicon game, The M4 Pro & M4 Max will be a dream.

 

[FrankySavvy]

It's such a shame how good these chips are and how good they would be to game on!

This video shows how good the M4 Max is compared to an RTX 4090

 

[dsc888]

Maybe on the Ultra chips. The system requirements are insane. This is one of those games where you dedicate a 14900KF & 4090 combo for.

In all seriousness, if its a native Apple Silicon game, The M4 Pro & M4 Max will be a dream.

I just bought a 16" M4 MBP base for my normal productivity needs coming from a 16" M1 MBP mid tier.

But I have a dedicated gaming rig with a 13900KF and 4090 for when I want to run MSFS 2020 and the newly released MSFS 2024. I routinely get 70-105 FPS with the game set to Ultra graphics running on my Samsung 49" OLED 5120x1440 resolution. The game is a serious resource hog (on top of data hog now that the 2024 game is "streamed" live).

I suppose you can run it via Crossover but I don't think too may folks are running it that way given how processor and GPU intensive the game is. You lose some via the translation and then you have the heat soak issue even with the fans on full blast. But I would agree that if there were a setup that can potentially run it reasonably well would be the upcoming M4 Ultra in its top config.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

To me, no it isn't worth it for gaming. But it depends on what you're gaming focus is like.

I have a Windows PC I use for gaming with an AMD 7950X3D and a 3090Ti it also has 4TB of NVMe SSD storage. I have games that exceed 100GB of space so having lots of fast storage is important. Runs anything I throw at it with ease too which I love.

Apple's pricing for 4TB of storage alone is crazy (that 4TB cost me $200 on PC and they are Samsung 990 Pro SSDs so not slow or poor quality)...

Yeah I finally broke down and bought a gaming laptop. For $1,650 I got a magnesium-cased laptop (MSI) with an 8GB RTX4070 (105W max), 32GB RAM (expandable to 64) and 1TB SSD but had a second empty m2280 slot that I put a 4TB SSD into for a total of 5TB SSD space. I forgot the intel CPU model# but it’s a 12th generation model. The display maxes out at 144Hz, but is only 1900x1200 and doesn’t cover 100% of color range but since I’m using it for gaming, it wasn’t a huge concern of mine. All my games so far have been buttery smooth.

I was gaming with my 2020 iMac, but AMD hasn’t updated the 5700XT drivers since 2023, so I had to switch to something else.

 

[dmccloud]

Do you think MSFS 2024 will ever run on a Mac through crossover?

It barely runs on Windows PCs now, I'd wait for the existing bugs to be fixed before even worrying about running it via Crossover.