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Starcraft 2 on an 11inch MBA.. thoughts?
- Thread starter i0Nic
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I'm more or less wondering the same thing. But for the 13" model! I'm in the process of trading in my current mbp, and gonna replace it with a new machine and a new mba is very tempting.
Yeah I'm thinking of selling my MBP and going for the iMac/MBA combo. I'd love it if starcraft 2 would work on the MBA even with every setting turned down. Obviously the 13" would have a better chance, looking forward to hearing some comments and eventually seeing some tests!
I bet it will. The 13" should perform about the same as the 13" pro, although the higher res display will mean it will perform a little bit worse because it needs to do more work.
Probably the best SC2 system is the 11.6" with the 1.6Ghz CPU, but that is just splitting hairs. The point is that it won't be very pretty, but it will be playable.
Probably the best SC2 system is the 11.6" with the 1.6Ghz CPU, but that is just splitting hairs. The point is that it won't be very pretty, but it will be playable.
Well I have my mini, and played it on that it is playable on low settings after having more then 2 GB of memory (played in OSX not windows) But I built a pc for video encoding and starcraft 2 shortly thereafter and ever-since have been playing it on that. My real only concern is the lack of processor speed. I mean the 13" mbp is the same gpu so there isn't really a difference unless bumping tot he 15". I definitely don't need it to play with great graphics, but it needs to be very playable even if every setting is low as it can go. Cause buying a laptop for gaming is stupid, so don't care about graphic richness just playability.
i see the 11" mba as being very similar to the alienware m11x r1 (spec-wise), which is a gaming laptop. it should handle sc2 very well.
Considering my 24-inch iMac 3.06Ghz C2D with 4GB RAM and nVIDIA 8800GS 512MB video card can barely run SC2 on medium, even after the graphics driver updates, I wouldn't hold much hope that either Macbook Air could run SC2 on anything but the lowest graphics settings.
It isn't even close to the m11x.
The m11x has a faster video card than the MBP 15. And it is a ton cheaper.
If you want a portable gaming machine, don't even kid yourself with this thing. It will handle starcraft at the very lowest settings, but that is it.
it's similar in that they both have good GPUs, but are using old Core 2 Duos. the 13" MBP plays SC2 just fine on medium settings. Since the new MBA has the 320M as well, it should run the game well.
The 320m is not that great of a GPU, its very low end, the MBP's 15 and above the gpu thats in use is rather disappointing.
have you even tried running sc2 with the 320M? Any ways, here is a thread that should be helpful:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904957/
Here's a good youtube video with the SC2 settings one person used:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KadMac25#p/u/1/VTULKStb7NM
You can even overclock the GPU if you need those extra FPS:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904300/
It's really just a matter of playing with the settings, but the 320M can handle much more than just the lowest details.
As an aside, if anyone is interested in gaming on this thing, the best results will be under windows.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904957/
Here's a good youtube video with the SC2 settings one person used:
http://www.youtube.com/user/KadMac25#p/u/1/VTULKStb7NM
You can even overclock the GPU if you need those extra FPS:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/904300/
It's really just a matter of playing with the settings, but the 320M can handle much more than just the lowest details.
As an aside, if anyone is interested in gaming on this thing, the best results will be under windows.
The 335M in the M11x is leaps and bounds better than the 320M in the new Air. Heck, it's significantly faster than the 330M in the 15" and 17" MBP.
And the M11x has been using Core i3/i5/i7 processors for a long while now.
The M11x is a gaming netbook. Plain and simple... it's going to destroy the Air when it comes to gaming.
Not saying the Air isn't awesome. I'm looking to get one. But, don't accept to game much at all except with the lowest settings.
The R2 is using the new Core i processors. Note that I mentioned the R1 version, which has a 1.3 Ghz Core 2 Duo (OC to 1.7).
As for the second comment, please see post above.
I don't expect to play a lot of games on it, but I do plan on playing a lot of SC2. Having owned the 320M based MBP, I have a lot of confidence that the 320M on the MBA will do well. If it doesn't, then it doesn't (like you mentioned, it's not really meant to be a gaming laptop like the m11x). If it does, great for all of us
As long as it's playable with decent FPS at the lowest settings that's fine. I'll have an iMac for heavier gaming. But if it will chug along even at the lowest settings then I may have to rethink a MBA purchase and keep my MBP.
well hopefully people will give it a try and post their settings/fps. I'll be posting mine when I receive the unit.