I am about to buy a new MacBook Air (8GB ram) and was wondering how well it runs Minecraft. Will it run on 'fancy' graphics and distance set to 'far' at reasonable FPS?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Minecraft on MacBook Air 2012
- Thread starter KimHansenDK
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Don't bother.
It's playable FPS wise, sure, but the amount of heat that comes with playing Minecraft is ridiculous. I wonder how all these people game on the macbook airs like they suggest - must be cooking the object under the mac under them. It's laughable at best.
It's playable FPS wise, sure, but the amount of heat that comes with playing Minecraft is ridiculous. I wonder how all these people game on the macbook airs like they suggest - must be cooking the object under the mac under them. It's laughable at best.
He's probably using a $200 Acer Aspire One and thinks all ultraportables are like his.
The heat is really quite manageable. It's really not an outlandish idea to use a laptop on a solid surface.
Minecraft runs great on my 2012 MBA with 8gb ram and i7 upgrade. I run it and Skype to chat with friends and temps max out at 165F (74C) which doesn't not feel hot to the touch and is not bad considering diablo 3 takes me up to the threshold of the temps at 200F (94C). Heck using face time is about the same temps as MC toping out at ~150 (70C) It never lags and I play for hours at a time.
Hahaha, the fanboys are hilarious in this thread.
I'm typing this on a 2012 macbook air base model right now. I've played minecraft. You guys are in denial if you think the heat is manageable. Top left corner can literally burn you if you hold it there for more than 30 seconds when minecraft is all loaded up.
I'm typing this on a 2012 macbook air base model right now. I've played minecraft. You guys are in denial if you think the heat is manageable. Top left corner can literally burn you if you hold it there for more than 30 seconds when minecraft is all loaded up.
I have to agree on that. I'm really happy with how cool my 2012 air runs for my everyday tasks, and it's only slightly heated when in moderate to heavy web development. It's a very different story when gaming though, and I find it hard to go on anything but short spurts without feeling the need to pull back (however irrational those concerns may be).
hot, but it's not really gonna cause burns. This is everything set to high/far/advanced OpenGL on a 2011 11" 1.6 i5 4gb FPS was between 20-40. Minecraft is entirely CPU bottlenecked. My workstation (AMD 1100t, 16GB ddr2000, ATI HD6970) gets around 60fps.
EDIT: That's case temp in the top left corner above the CPU, by the esc button.
How the hell do you play games if anything other than the keyboard bugs you? I've played a bit on mine, and sure if I lay my hand sideways across the top above the keyboard it might be warm, but never once while hitting a button have I thought, "Hm this button is too hot."
The buttons transfer heat terribly, so the heat isn't an issue.
The buttons transfer heat terribly, so the heat isn't an issue.
It can be variable. Depending on various components (i.e. what you're doing, multiplayer vs. not, and some of the other settings), you may not run perfectly, but I've never had a problem. I'd suggest testing whether turning down the graphics or the distance will give you better FPS. I think the graphics are a better sacrifice (I like to see as far as possible), but it may not have a big enough effect. On the whole, though, it should be fine.
Only concern is breaking the hardware
I just got a 2012 MacBook Air for my family for Xmas. My 11 year old plays minecraft. The fan goes crazy and the uppe left corner gets hot... Well... Warm bordering hot...
Anyway my only concern is will this heat DAMAGE the laptop?
I imagine that the case is designed to get hot to help dissipate the heat and the fan goes crazy for the same reason - that's why it's in there and I'm totally ok with hardware doing what it's designed to do. The only real issue for me is this: WILL THE COMPUTER SHUT ITSELF OFF IF IT GETS TOO HOT, BEFORE CASUING PERMANENT DAMAGE? If yes, cool beans... My son gets to play minecraft and I don't have to return the laptop
He has played for about 45 minutes and the game works fine... Just a little (ok lots compared to normal operations) fan noise as the fan blows the heat away.
The laptop is on a table, not his lap, and has free airflow behind it. A call to my 90 days of free Apple support said "if you think it's too hot take it the apple store and talk to a genius" ... Ummmm ... Ok, I'm lazy and don't want to drive to my local apple store. So I'm looking here for answers instead
I just got a 2012 MacBook Air for my family for Xmas. My 11 year old plays minecraft. The fan goes crazy and the uppe left corner gets hot... Well... Warm bordering hot...
Anyway my only concern is will this heat DAMAGE the laptop?
I imagine that the case is designed to get hot to help dissipate the heat and the fan goes crazy for the same reason - that's why it's in there and I'm totally ok with hardware doing what it's designed to do. The only real issue for me is this: WILL THE COMPUTER SHUT ITSELF OFF IF IT GETS TOO HOT, BEFORE CASUING PERMANENT DAMAGE? If yes, cool beans... My son gets to play minecraft and I don't have to return the laptop
He has played for about 45 minutes and the game works fine... Just a little (ok lots compared to normal operations) fan noise as the fan blows the heat away.
The laptop is on a table, not his lap, and has free airflow behind it. A call to my 90 days of free Apple support said "if you think it's too hot take it the apple store and talk to a genius" ... Ummmm ... Ok, I'm lazy and don't want to drive to my local apple store. So I'm looking here for answers instead
I just got a 2012 MacBook Air for my family for Xmas. My 11 year old plays minecraft. The fan goes crazy and the uppe left corner gets hot... Well... Warm bordering hot...
Anyway my only concern is will this heat DAMAGE the laptop?
I imagine that the case is designed to get hot to help dissipate the heat and the fan goes crazy for the same reason - that's why it's in there and I'm totally ok with hardware doing what it's designed to do. The only real issue for me is this: WILL THE COMPUTER SHUT ITSELF OFF IF IT GETS TOO HOT, BEFORE CASUING PERMANENT DAMAGE? If yes, cool beans... My son gets to play minecraft and I don't have to return the laptop
He has played for about 45 minutes and the game works fine... Just a little (ok lots compared to normal operations) fan noise as the fan blows the heat away.
The laptop is on a table, not his lap, and has free airflow behind it. A call to my 90 days of free Apple support said "if you think it's too hot take it the apple store and talk to a genius" ... Ummmm ... Ok, I'm lazy and don't want to drive to my local apple store. So I'm looking here for answers instead
Intel CPUs will shut off long before reaching a damaging temperature. Welcome to 2013.