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MacBook Air 2012 128GB is Ok for gaming?

D

DJnaknik

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 21, 2012
22
2
Hey everyone,
I recently acquired a new MBA 2012 1.8GHZ 128GB.

I know its not build for gaming but i still would like to play a few games at school.
I tried to play the Batman game, It worked fine but i heard the fan kicking in very early so i got scared and stopped playing.

could this use and play damage the computer?
should I stop installing big games and stick to Angry Birds?

Thank you!
 
Fans will kick in because games are usually CPU and GPU intensive. It's normal, nothing to worry about... The MBA is not really design for gaming, but it can of course play some games at low-medium settings quite decently. If you're Ok playing games at low settings, then you'll be fine.

PS: Beside the fans kicking it, the MBA can / will also heat up quite a bit ( still normal, but it might be uncomfortable to hold on your lap sometimes ).
 
Nothing to worry about. My friend runs D3 on his 2011 2gb ram/64ssd MBA, and it runs just fine (albeit at all lowest settings). The fans do come on, but otherwise, he enjoys smooth and relatively lag free gameplay. :)
 
Thank you!

is there a way I can monitor the stress on the my MBA While I play?
like Temp? Memory? Battery?

thank you again..
 
Why not? You can play Assassin's creed, Batman Arkham City. Portal 2, Need for speed and every game you can think of. In low graphics settings, of course.
 
When I play Dragon Age II, it gets really hot and the fans are at top speed the entire time. I elevated the back of the air a little to help disperse heat which seems to help.
 
Yes. It's a great computer. It runs programs. Including games.

There are SO MANY threads about this.
 
DJnaknik said:
Hey everyone,
I recently acquired a new MBA 2012 1.8GHZ 128GB.

I know its not build for gaming but i still would like to play a few games at school.
I tried to play the Batman game, It worked fine but i heard the fan kicking in very early so i got scared and stopped playing.

could this use and play damage the computer?
should I stop installing big games and stick to Angry Birds?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

I have a 2011 1.6GHZ and it works great for gaming on a lot of games! It can get warm, the fan will blow at full blast the whole time (this is normal and a good thing)...but nothing bad will come of it. You will be fine!
 
Correct me if i am wrong, but there is no Official NFS for mac!!

Are you running windows on AIR?

Retina MacBook said:
Why not? You can play Assassin's creed, Batman Arkham City. Portal 2, Need for speed and every game you can think of. In low graphics settings, of course.
Click to expand...


----------

I am able to play the following games on my MBA 13' mid-2012 128 gigs, 4gb ram:

Trine (high settings)
TF2 (high settings)
All the gameloft games (high settings)
Torchlight (high settings)

Unable to play even on low settings:

Trine2

----------

Hey which Assassin's creed?

Retina MacBook said:
Why not? You can play Assassin's creed, Batman Arkham City. Portal 2, Need for speed and every game you can think of. In low graphics settings, of course.
Click to expand...
 
Getting scared and stopping when the fan kicks in, it's like stopping you car when you hear your radiator fan kicking in :p

Ofcourse the MBA ain't a gaming rig, but to my surprise it runs the games i play actually really smooth, yes it gets a wee bit noisy and hot running Diablo 3, but i even can play WoW without excessive heat and noise.

Havent try any other ' high' end games but it will do fine as long there is a Mac version for it. In my virtual machine (Win 7 x64) the fan kicks in earlier and i only tried to watch some HD video just as a test which also to my surprise actually runs smooth :D

I got the i5, 8GB and 256GB version 13inch

I never thought to fall in love with hardware but goshdarnit this comes very close :D
 
DJnaknik said:
Thank you!

is there a way I can monitor the stress on the my MBA While I play?
like Temp? Memory? Battery?

thank you again..
Click to expand...

Your computer is already monitoring the stress and will shut down if necessary. It does a much better of doing this than you ever could.

There are plenty of applications that let you see the temperatures and fan speeds... You can either use your computer or you can spend your time fussing and monitoring it. The choice is up to you.
 
Getting scared and stopping when the fan kicks in, it's like stopping you car when you hear your radiator fan kicking in :p
Click to expand...

Or rather, stopping exercise when you start to sweat. :p

Seriously, don't worry about stressing your apple laptop from time to time, it is far more durable than people here seem to give it credit for. :D
 
forugaurav said:
Correct me if i am wrong, but there is no Official NFS for mac!!

Are you running windows on AIR?



----------

I am able to play the following games on my MBA 13' mid-2012 128 gigs, 4gb ram:

Trine (high settings)
TF2 (high settings)
All the gameloft games (high settings)
Torchlight (high settings)

Unable to play even on low settings:

Trine2

----------

Hey which Assassin's creed?
Click to expand...
There is an official NFS for Mac, it's the NFS Carbon. And every assassins creed will work heavenly on the MBA. Not sure about the fourth one, though. But I doubt hat it wouldn't work. And yes, I do run Windows on a Mac.
 
forugaurav said:
[/COLOR]I am able to play the following games on my MBA 13' mid-2012 128 gigs, 4gb ram:

Trine (high settings)
TF2 (high settings)
All the gameloft games (high settings)
Torchlight (high settings)

Unable to play even on low settings:

Trine2

----------
Click to expand...

I came back to call shenanigans. I just installed trine 2 just to test out the graphics (haven't beaten trine 1 yet). I set it to medium, no aa, and 1440*900. The game was damn smooth. I'll be playing it at a higher setting most likely. I do have 4gb more ram, but I wasn't anywhere near saturating 4gb it's possible the extra vram helped, but I doubt it. If there's some way I can tell I'll test that out too.
 
macabouttobe said:
Anyone play Minecraft? My kids do and I'm curious as I start thinking about getting baseline 13" air.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

LIES! no way you can afford Apple products and have kids
:D

(i'm in the same boat, my eldest loves minesweeper. i imagine it will run fine on a the newer MBAs)
 
Here's something I learned about Macs, never worry that it'll heat up. The only reason worrying becomes an option is when you block the exhaust for more than 15 minutes. HD4000 should handles the games you want to play. Keep in mind that it will play every single game on the Mac App Store at least low settings around 1080p. COD4 is confirmed to be working at 1080p ultra settings 40~60 fps (some settings may need to be toggled, based off of i7 mac mini). Dishonored and Deus Ex should work around 1080p and medium to low respectively at 30~50 fps. That's pretty respectable.
 
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