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Macbook Air 11'' gaming performance?
- Thread starter luffytubby
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I received my stock standard MBA11 on Friday, but I can't test any games out. I have to wait to get a wireless modem, trying to find a good one.
However, on my iMac 2ghz C2D, 2gig RAM, RadeonHD2400. Team Fortress 2 runs like **** in OSX but great in bootcamp.
The only real upgrade in the MBA is the vid card and of course flash storage.
but on the plus side, the 11 looks fantastic (not just aesthetically) it is super thin, super light, but doesnt feel fragile. I mean, it really is quite amazing in real life. Photos and videos just cant grasp the realness (kinda like how porn looks nothing like real sex)
the screen is cool, but do take into consideration that it will make long gaming sessions..... uncomfortable. I'm only interested in SC2, and D3 and previously wrote that I'm considering about returning my 11 for a 13. But I'm not going to do that for a couple of games. Pretty ridiculous spending that money just for that
However, on my iMac 2ghz C2D, 2gig RAM, RadeonHD2400. Team Fortress 2 runs like **** in OSX but great in bootcamp.
The only real upgrade in the MBA is the vid card and of course flash storage.
but on the plus side, the 11 looks fantastic (not just aesthetically) it is super thin, super light, but doesnt feel fragile. I mean, it really is quite amazing in real life. Photos and videos just cant grasp the realness (kinda like how porn looks nothing like real sex)
the screen is cool, but do take into consideration that it will make long gaming sessions..... uncomfortable. I'm only interested in SC2, and D3 and previously wrote that I'm considering about returning my 11 for a 13. But I'm not going to do that for a couple of games. Pretty ridiculous spending that money just for that
Wouldn't the screen size make that impractical?
Actually, the screen size is cool for casual playing. But for something like WoW, I wouldn't think so. You have to spend too much time in that game, the bigger your screen the more you could enjoy wasting your life
I find the 320m in my 13" MBP pretty decent for gaming, but the slow processor would probably be pretty hard on performance.
Wouldn't the screen size make that impractical?
Not really. think about the small UIs you have on 4'' mobile devices and handheld consoles. It's pefectly fine. As for WoW it has a build in scaler, that can increase/reduce the UI seperate from the resolution. And you can clock away lots of the interface by disabling hotbars and such
I think you won't be able to play wow really decent, but I recommend buying some simple steam games. The best deal would be the indie pack because the games are light, cheap and super awesome. And if you are really bored you can also try UT2004.
Has anyone tried WoW, Cataclysm and Steam games yet? I would love to see how those would run
come on, people. just don't get it, do you? macbook air is not for gaming. why don't people understand, and continue to ask this question? retarded or what? even though those games could be played on that. but you can't expect full gaming experience. it will be problematic so much. during playing, do you want to see your mac lagging, suffering from performance? I don't know why people keep asking.
You'll be trying a ~20GB game on a computer with 64GB of storage. Good luck. And besides, I'm pretty sure you'll have a hard time playing WoW on something with a 1.4GHz processor. Only Air that can do some gaming (decently) would be the highest end 13 inch. There's really no point in you buying an ultraportable buisiness oriented computer to play games.
Lol at the replies here. The MacBook Air has a slightly faster processor with more cache then the Alienware M11X core2duo standard model and the M11X play's games fine.
Also have a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zhWIe3t4nw
Also have a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zhWIe3t4nw
I think some people here need to read up on CPU's...
The 1.4ghz dual core CPU in the air is easily enough to run the likes of world of warcraft. Coupled with the GPU thats now available in the air you can easily play WoW to a decent framerate (Of course it will drop allot in areas that are highly populated by players but should still be playable)
Any source game will run on those specs too absolutely fine (even team fortress 2 if you set everything to low)
I could play all of the above on my old Netbook with ion graphics. 1.6ghz atom with the nvidia ion chipset. (That wasnt even dual core cpu either the 1.4 dual in the new airs is MILES and MILES faser than the atom processors)
Modern warfare 2 will play great on the 11" air too.
The 1.4ghz dual core CPU in the air is easily enough to run the likes of world of warcraft. Coupled with the GPU thats now available in the air you can easily play WoW to a decent framerate (Of course it will drop allot in areas that are highly populated by players but should still be playable)
Any source game will run on those specs too absolutely fine (even team fortress 2 if you set everything to low)
I could play all of the above on my old Netbook with ion graphics. 1.6ghz atom with the nvidia ion chipset. (That wasnt even dual core cpu either the 1.4 dual in the new airs is MILES and MILES faser than the atom processors)
Modern warfare 2 will play great on the 11" air too.
You guys need to spend more time reading and definitely learning before you give advice on the Mac forums.
You're one of the most ignorant people on these forums, unless you're trolling in which case you're doing a horrible job at it. The base model will play WoW nicely with low settings and a lower resolution.
CS:S and TF2 will play well on the MBA with lower settings and a lower resolution. You can even load up an FPS config, I have made one for extremely bad computers that is used quite a lot in competitive play, and get a 30-40% in FPS.
Seriously, stop trolling in these threads when you have no idea what you're talking about.
The only thing I want to know is if the miniDVI will be able to do 120Hz through a dual-link DVI. That will sell me on this laptop in a heart beat, because I know I can easily get 120+FPS at 640x480 with my FPS config on CS:S.
Mind on basing your statements? I never said it wouldn't play the games on low settings, but that's not what I consider playing them at all, because then basically any current computer can run anything. And besides, it really doesn't make sense to buy an ultraportable for gaming, whether you like it or not. Unless you mean the very simple pinball type things that come with Windows, for example.
Wow, you REALLY don't read do you? I think you should email Alienware and all of the M11X owners to tell them they are all wrong and your an utter genius because to you it 'makes no sense' ?
And you should tell them to stop playing Crysis et all and load up pinball straight away because under your genius it just doesn't make sense Running around Northshire at native resolution with the main slider bar set to Low I was sitting at an average of 60fps.
Turning draw distance to fair caused the fps to drop down to about 45 average.
You could probably toy with settings to get a better look without too much of a drop in fps, but the Air is quite capable of playing WoW.
Don't expect anything too amazing though.
Turning draw distance to fair caused the fps to drop down to about 45 average.
You could probably toy with settings to get a better look without too much of a drop in fps, but the Air is quite capable of playing WoW.
Don't expect anything too amazing though.
Wow, you REALLY don't read do you? I think you should email Alienware and all of the M11X owners to tell them they are all wrong and your an utter genius because to you it 'makes no sense' ?
Woah, hold on there. The M11X is small alright, but it's nowhere near the MBA. It's almost twice as heavy as the MBA, not to mention not even close to as thin. And specs. That thing is more powerful than 15 inch base MBP's for god's sake. It has a 1GB GPU. The MBA has an INTEGRATED 256MB one. They're clearly different machines for different purposes. Don't bring Alienware into the discussion because they make computers FOR gaming, and Apple doesn't. The M11X is not in the same category of ultralight notebooks as the MBA. It just has the same screen size. I guess now I'm reading too much right apolloa?
It's really funny how people play the number game and don't understand what they are talking about. Having 1GB of GDDR is not that much over 256MB GDDR. That will be the difference of 1-5FPS in a real-world demonstration. Unless however you are running your games at HD resolutions, higher than 1920x1080, then you will need the bigger GDDR. Since pretty much most laptop GPUs can't handle HD+, there is no point in adding more GDDR.
The GPU inside the MBP has to be dedicated because of Intel's policies. So again, you are wrong. That is why the MBA had a C2D and the MBP has a Core i3/5/7. If Intel lifted its policy, we would have seen a MBA with a Core i3.
Err, the GPU's in 13 inch and below Apple laptops are NOT dedicated. They are just nVidia integrated ones that perform better then the Intel HD ones. And besides, they are not even GDDR, they are just shared DDR3.
They have to be dedicated, or Apple is violating a huge policy with Intel. So, they are dedicated/discrete graphics with Nvidia and integrated with Intel.
I understand that some technologies still use DDR instead of GDDR, for intent's purposes I was using a different term so people would understand I was talking about video DDR.
The difference between DDR3 and GDDR3 is less than having 1GB and 256MB, especially if you aren't running at HD+ resolutions.
Again, everything you stated is wrong.
Hey, get your facts right. I'm not wrong, as I am talking about GPU's in the 13 inch and BELOW laptops, which ALL Apple ones use C2D's. Apple isn't violating ANYTHING, you are stating wrong stuff here. The 15 and 17 inchers, well, that's a completely different matter on their 330M GT. 320M are integrated, not dedicated. And I see you are typing from an iPad. Or at least that's what your signature states. I know what's inside my computer, whereas you clearly have no clue.