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danistyping

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 8, 2009
181
100
Boston, MA
So I have the 13" 2ghz i7, 8gb RAM, 256SSD MBA. I'm wondering what popular games run well? I know some games tax the graphics card too much and get choppy. I have a Steam account so I'm hoping there's a few on there.
 

Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
So I have the 13" 2ghz i7, 8gb RAM, 256SSD MBA. I'm wondering what popular games run well? I know some games tax the graphics card too much and get choppy. I have a Steam account so I'm hoping there's a few on there.

Team Fortress runs buttery smooth, as does Counter Strike GO.

Diablo 3 ran well too.

Fans kick in to keep things cool, but performance was sound.

Mine is a standard 13" 2012 MBA
 

l0gikb0mb

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2012
136
1
None that are 3D from my experience.

All games made the fans go extremely loud and the MBA hot to the touch. All with poor FPS. It's not a gaming machine, 2D side scrollers and others (like Bastion) are fine.
 

Wokis

macrumors 6502a
Jul 3, 2012
931
1,276
Stockholm, Sweden
None that are 3D from my experience.

All games made the fans go extremely loud and the MBA hot to the touch. All with poor FPS. It's not a gaming machine, 2D side scrollers and others (like Bastion) are fine.

I disagree. Fans are there for a reason and the machine has no problem being hot. If ut gets too hot it will take action by itself.

Been playing vindictus (windows, bootcamp) on medium and WoW (osx) on custom medium/high. No problems there. I did also try some batman arkham asylym (the osx port) on medium settings and it played just fine.
 

Robyr

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2010
226
0
None that are 3D from my experience.

All games made the fans go extremely loud and the MBA hot to the touch. All with poor FPS. It's not a gaming machine, 2D side scrollers and others (like Bastion) are fine.

You just can't resist giving wrong/misguided/baseless "information", can you?
 

Raggsokk

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2012
78
0
Portal 2 works well, and would be the best in my opinion. Also Half life 2 (and episodes).

Bastion would be better for a decent experience on a 13" jet plane airbook though.
 

MacLappy

macrumors 6502a
Jul 28, 2011
529
390
Singapore
I did complete diabolo 3 inferno mode on the MacBook Air 2012 11", had it connected to a 30" external display. The game was very playable at lower settings. Was for the most parts quite enjoyable. #
 

l0gikb0mb

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2012
136
1
You just can't resist giving wrong/misguided/baseless "information", can you?

Actually my information is more accurate than lies spread on the forum. Maybe all you've had in your life are MacBooks, but they do not run the games well at all. I have a gaming desktop and even simpler 3D games run awful on the Air.

Of course, my definition of 'running well' includes >=30 FPS.

If your definition is 15 FPS, then sure.
 

Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
Actually my information is more accurate than lies spread on the forum. Maybe all you've had in your life are MacBooks, but they do not run the games well at all. I have a gaming desktop and even simpler 3D games run awful on the Air.

Of course, my definition of 'running well' includes >=30 FPS.

If your definition is 15 FPS, then sure.

Hmm...

48157.png


Like I said, TF2 runs great.
 

Robyr

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2010
226
0
]Maybe all you've had in your life are MacBooks, but they do not run the games well at all.

Hey, pal, heres a tip: you're idea of what a powerful computer is or isn't is an opinion, and you've shown over and over you don't have any time for accurate depictions.

You can't just call me a fanboy (btw: the Air is my second Mac, and I have over 10 years in systems engineering and have owned machines that could light you on fire from 100ft away) and act like that dismisses anything.
 

Violet1337

macrumors member
Jan 19, 2013
53
0
So I have the 13" 2ghz i7, 8gb RAM, 256SSD MBA. I'm wondering what popular games run well? I know some games tax the graphics card too much and get choppy. I have a Steam account so I'm hoping there's a few on there.

I noticed that you're MBA has 8GB of RAM, just wondering whether that's too much for your usage or is it good enough? I'm just not sure whether to get the 4GB or 8GB.
 

Boomhowler

macrumors 6502
Feb 23, 2008
324
19
Counter Strike : Global offensive works decently if you run it without the phat:est presets on textures etc.

League of Legends (using iLol from boompje.net) is also fun.
 

danistyping

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 8, 2009
181
100
Boston, MA
I noticed that you're MBA has 8GB of RAM, just wondering whether that's too much for your usage or is it good enough? I'm just not sure whether to get the 4GB or 8GB.

The 8GB comes in handy when I'm running a lot of apps or apps that use a lot of memory. If all you do is surf the net and play music, 4GB will get you by for many years. 8GB will future proof you if you do any more than basic use.

From what I understand, 4GB vs 8GB does not affect games/graphics. A recent firmware update made it so that both models use 512mb RAM for the video card.
 

Violet1337

macrumors member
Jan 19, 2013
53
0
The 8GB comes in handy when I'm running a lot of apps or apps that use a lot of memory. If all you do is surf the net and play music, 4GB will get you by for many years. 8GB will future proof you if you do any more than basic use.

From what I understand, 4GB vs 8GB does not affect games/graphics. A recent firmware update made it so that both models use 512mb RAM for the video card.

Ahh, I see. Thank you very much! ^^
 

Acronyc

macrumors 6502a
Jan 24, 2011
904
391
I tried out a lot of games on my recently gifted 2010 11" MBA and was always surprised at how well the little computer gamed. I'd imagine the 2012 will do just as good if not better as the HD4000 should be better than the 320M. Some games I spent some time on over two+ years were:

1. Mass Effect 2 (Bootcamp, played through this completely on the MBA)
2. Portal
3. Portal 2
4. The Walking Dead
5. Bastion
6. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Bootcamp)
7. Dead Island (Bootcamp)
8. Braid
9. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Bootcamp)
10. Starcraft II

Most of the above are on Steam and I would imagine they would run great on your machine. My MBA had 4GB of RAM and all of the above played fine, which for me was 25+ FPS in the most taxing games (ME2, Dead Island, and SCII). The MBA is a great little computer and if you have reasonable expectations it can smoothly play a lot of great games.

Edit: Let me add Legend of Grimrock. I haven't played this much (hoping to in the future) but tried it out when I still had my MBA and it played great. If you are into old school dungeon crawlers definitely give it a try! It's on GOG or Steam.

Have fun!
 

l0gikb0mb

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2012
136
1
Hmm...

Image

Like I said, TF2 runs great.

Oh nice, not only is it not running in native resolution (2 notches down actually), but it's a source game.

Source games are well optimized. Playing Portal 2 is all I hear for the "Macs can play games too!!!" argument.

Still, expect tons of heat.
 

GoPro

macrumors member
Dec 10, 2012
82
0
I have the same exact model (2012, 2.0ghz, 8gb ram, 256gb ssd) and I can say without hesitation that TF2 and CS Go run like beasts (over 60fps) on highest settings (not AA set low, like x2 or something)
 

Acorn

macrumors 68030
Jan 2, 2009
2,642
349
macrumors
I play Torchlight 2 in parallels and it runs smooth as butter. im really enjoying the game compared to the first one. i love the added outdoor areas. much more fun to explore. its a cheap game too which is always a bonus.

there is no mac version yet only the first release had a mac version.

parallels is on sale for like 40 bucks all the time though so.
 

coldjeanzzz

macrumors 6502a
Nov 4, 2012
655
17
I have a 2012 8 GB MBA

I play Left 4 Dead 2 on high and its very smooth

The fans go berserk when I play online and the top near the hinge gets too hot to even touch but that's normal I think
 

Mike in Kansas

macrumors 6502a
Sep 2, 2008
962
74
Metro Kansas City
I play a FPS called Sauerbraten that does well on the MBA. I have the same model MBA. It does better than my 2008 iMac with the ATI 2600; not that the 2008 is a beast, but it shows than in 4 years the integrated gfx are better than mid-level cards from 4 years ago.
 

petsk

macrumors 6502
Oct 13, 2009
477
417
During the last month I've been playing Battlefield 1942 in Parallels Desktop.

11" i5 with 8GB ram, connected to a 27" ACD... Fans run as crazy but who cares :D
 

Stingray454

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
593
115
I run World of Warcraft on my Air from time to time. Works great! I get anywhere from 30-100 fps depending on what I'm doing (can of course go lower during very intense 25man+ fights, but usually not). I have set the fps limiter to 30 fps (type "/console maxfps 30" in the game), this keeps the computer at about 75-80 degrees, which is perfectly fine.

I've also tried Diablo 3, Tales of Money Island, Baldur's Gate (through Wineskin) and a few others, never had a problem or noticed bad performance (<30 fps) in any of them.
 

Project538

macrumors regular
Sep 26, 2010
174
0
Iowa, USA
Can anybody offer up some info on how Minecraft runs? I'm in the market for a new computer, and the Air is one of the ones I'm considering. Obviously "ability to run Minecraft" is relatively low on the priority list since the computer is primarily for school use, but it'd still be good to know. Thanks in advance!
 

thoughtmecca

macrumors newbie
Oct 10, 2011
4
0
Minecraft!

I run Minecraft fine on a mid-2011 MacBook Air 11", without any real lag - it keeps a nice framerate, though the fans are cranked for the duration of playing.

I even ran around in the Westeroscraft server the other day, and it didn't have any problems.
 
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