New MacBook Air gaming capability is amazing

Here's an astonishing achievement:
I was able to run Assassin's Creed 2 with everything Maxed out on an 11" Air. Graphics are amazing!

And Also Portal 2. And Need For Speed Undercover. Those games aren't ancient. They're recent. I can't believe this. My MacBook Air is more powerful than my Pro. Amazing!

NuggetSauce said:

I just installed Batman Arkham Asylum. The game looks amazing, and its running smoothly. Gaming performance is a non issue with the new airs.

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Is this through boot camp?

archurban said:

I don't understand why you bought MBA if you want to play games. the machine is not capable of playing game enough. with lower setting, I'd better kill myself. gaming is satisfied with full rich settings. if you continue to play that kind of games for long, your MBA will have a big problem. I guarantee it. I think that's stupid.

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Who looks stupid now...

I'm in the process of buying a new laptop, for the same reasons I'm looking too for a lap to carry around, travel, photos, Internet, videos and sometimes play, mostly because I'm getting really bored at work lately.
I really play just one game, wow Mists of Pandaria, always been a fan, and I want to know if it's viable to play wow, dungeons and even endgame raids time to time on a current MBA. I already have a 2008 iMac where I play really well wow all expansion but I want to have the possibility to play sometimes at work or traveling.
I had bad experiences playing wow WOTLK on a 2006 White MacBook with Intel GMA 950, had to play at low settings most of the time and it froze time to time. I've evaluated a Retina MBP, but its too much for my needs. Now I'm really glad to read all these excellent reviews on the Intel HD 4000, and since I want to wait for the next Retina display MacBook Airs, because they really are worth it, would you reccomend me WORLD OF WARCRAFT on a current or future Retina 13" air?

The Air is an amazing little machine, like a swiss army knife. As long as you don't have high expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised at what it can do.

I am still marveling at the design of the Air, it is a beautiful and unique piece of machinery.

As long as the Air doesn't throttle down the CPU it should perform admirably. My Air is in a Sena folio case, which is quite enclosed and doesn't really dissipate heat very well, so if and when I need to game I remove the casing but rarely do I game on it as I have my iMac for that.

Guess I'll be waiting for the next retina Airs, hopfully before Christmas to make myself a nice present. Can you suggest me some good app to check on temperature and fan rpm or any other useful info to control heat?

Drexo said:

Can you suggest me some good app to check on temperature and fan rpm or any other useful info to control heat?

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http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

and

http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

Drexo said:

Guess I'll be waiting for the next retina Airs, hopfully before Christmas to make myself a nice present. Can you suggest me some good app to check on temperature and fan rpm or any other useful info to control heat?

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Next 'Retina Air' ,before christmas . No new updates till maybe May next year and a Retina Air is very unlikely.

archurban said:

I don't understand why you bought MBA if you want to play games. the machine is not capable of playing game enough. with lower setting, I'd better kill myself. gaming is satisfied with full rich settings. if you continue to play that kind of games for long, your MBA will have a big problem. I guarantee it. I think that's stupid.

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I'm guessing he bought it for its performance, that its portable and has a nice design. The fact that you can game while on the run is a bonus. Its not bought for gaming.

If I can work use my computer normally for 95% of the time, then if I want fire up a game if I have a couple of hours while I'm on the run- it's not stupid to have a MBA.

SWPROX said:

and a Retina Air is very unlikely.

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Why would a retina display be unlikely on a MBA, they put it on the 13" MBP, on the iPad and even in the iPhone...It's the last product line left out, together with the iMac which I thought it was already retina equipped, and it's the next predictable mayor update.
I read some reviews on why a Retina, almost the resolution of the 30" apple display, would be a utopia on a 13" display with the hardware graphics, battery life and space, available on a MBA, but you know what? they did it with the MBP 13" and it has the same GPU, it's thicker than the Air cousin for sure, thus having more power resources from the battery but I don't see it that impossible to achieve it even if it takes one more year to engineer it, and even if they have to make the Air thicker than it is now, I don't think it's gonna lose so much portability, and nobody wouldn't mind as long as you can get a clearer image, which on a 13" is mandatory. Then again it's only my opinion, still the current MBA it's a prodigy, given the dimension, even for my needs.

Could anyone try Borderlands 2 on an Air? It's available on steam for Mac. It works wonderfully on a MP with a GTX 560Ti, but that doesn't say anything about the air-performance

NuggetSauce said:

I got the new 13" macbook air, and since it has integrated graphics, I suspected to be playing Peggle and Chess.

I installed Steam, and got Borderlands, Diablo 3, Left for Dead 2, and Minecraft.

I'm blown away that it's able to run new games, on medium settings with solid framerates, and older games, maxed out, with good framerates.

Its gaming capability far exceeds my 2008 iMac.

Now i'm glad I didnt pick the Pro. I'm not saying the Pro is a bad buy, the retina display is amazing, and I know many people need the DVD drive, wired ethernet, and more HDD space, but the Air does everything I need it to do.

For anyone concerned about the integrated graphics, dont be. Unless you need to run Skyrim on max settings and get 60FPS, this laptop will satisfy 99% of gamers out there.

Heck I might just sell my iMac and have this be my everything computer.

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You are A ******** lier !

Your MBA will burn if you trust this dude ...

MBA are not build for playing !!!!!!!

Scellow said:

You are A ******** lier !

Your MBA will burn if you trust this dude ...

MBA are not build for playing !!!!!!!

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Why is he a liar? Sounds perfectly believable to me...last years model could run the games he mentions.

neverhadanewton said:

Why is he a liar? Sounds perfectly believable to me...last years model could run the games he mentions.

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Yeah you could run the games smootlhy but in wich condition ? your MBA will reach 100+°C ...

Dude i have a MBA mid-2012 even with minecraft it reach 100°C ..

MBA are not build for gaming .. it's ultra thin, i don't know why they put all this stuff in this little case if you can't enjoy correctly some basic things ..


Buy a MBP but not a MBA if you plan to play games

Scellow said:

Yeah you could run the games smootlhy but in wich condition ? your MBA will reach 100+°C ...

Dude i have a MBA mid-2012 even with minecraft it reach 100°C ..

MBA are not build for gaming .. it's ultra thin, i don't know why they put all this stuff in this little case if you can't enjoy correctly some basic things ..


Buy a MBP but not a MBA if you plan to play games

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OMFG,*you make me angry - you're so wrong, you can stress test it (which is far more demanding than just playing a 3d game) and it would still be fine - you can have it do that 24/7 - only if it shutdown (which would indicate it hit 100 degrees celsius I believe) would it be too hot, otherwise it would be just fine.

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Scellow said:

You are A ******** lier !

Your MBA will burn if you trust this dude ...

MBA are not build for playing !!!!!!!

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Find a swamp, go there,*stay there.

NuggetSauce said:

I got the new 13" macbook air, and since it has integrated graphics, I suspected to be playing Peggle and Chess.

I installed Steam, and got Borderlands, Diablo 3, Left for Dead 2, and Minecraft.

I'm blown away that it's able to run new games, on medium settings with solid framerates, and older games, maxed out, with good framerates.

Its gaming capability far exceeds my 2008 iMac.

Now i'm glad I didnt pick the Pro. I'm not saying the Pro is a bad buy, the retina display is amazing, and I know many people need the DVD drive, wired ethernet, and more HDD space, but the Air does everything I need it to do.

For anyone concerned about the integrated graphics, dont be. Unless you need to run Skyrim on max settings and get 60FPS, this laptop will satisfy 99% of gamers out there.

Heck I might just sell my iMac and have this be my everything computer.

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Only the classic MBP comes with the bigger HDD and DVD drive, and that doesn't come with the Retina display, which lacks a DVD drive and has an SSD the same as the air.

PraisiX-windows said:

OMFG,*you make me angry - you're so wrong, you can stress test it (which is far more demanding than just playing a 3d game) and it would still be fine - you can have it do that 24/7 - only if it shutdown (which would indicate it hit 100 degrees celsius I believe) would it be too hot, otherwise it would be just fine.

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Find a swamp, go there,*stay there.

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LOOL i'm wrong ? i reached 105+°C and the mba didn't shutdown or anything ....

I continue to say it's dangerous and it's NOT normal ...

Looks like you don't realise what's 105°C mean ..water boils at 100 ..

Scellow said:

LOOL i'm wrong ? i reached 105+°C and the mba didn't shutdown or anything ....

I continue to say it's dangerous and it's NOT normal ...

Looks like you don't realise what's 105°C mean ..water boils at 100 ..

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You're the one who doesn't realize what 105C means... Please tell me, WHY is 105C anymore dangerous than 100C or 95C or 80C? So what if water boils at 100C, is your CPU made of water?

Do you know why 100C is bad for the CPU? Chances are you probably have no clue what you're talking about.

I don't believe you hit 105C anyways, the CPU has a Tjunction of 100C and will significantly throttle itself once it goes over 100C. Edit: You have a 2012 MBA, the i5 in that CPU has a Tjunction of 105C. http://ark.intel.com/products/65707 The i5 in the 2013 MBA has a Tjunction of 100C.

jadam said:

You're the one who doesn't realize what 105C means... Please tell me, WHY is 105C anymore dangerous than 100C or 95C or 80C? So what if water boils at 100C, is your CPU made of water?

Do you know why 100C is bad for the CPU? Chances are you probably have no clue what you're talking about.

I don't believe you hit 105C anyways, the CPU has a Tjunction of 100C and will significantly throttle itself once it goes over 100C. Edit: You have a 2012 MBA, the i5 in that CPU has a Tjunction of 105C. http://ark.intel.com/products/65707 The i5 in the 2013 MBA has a Tjunction of 100C.

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Well, i took some screenshot :

Scellow said:

Well, i took some screenshot :

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Like I said in my edit, the i5 in your 2012 MBA has a Tjunction of 105C, within specs. The 2013s are 100C.

NuggetSauce said:

I got the new 13" macbook air, and since it has integrated graphics, I suspected to be playing Peggle and Chess.

I installed Steam, and got Borderlands, Diablo 3, Left for Dead 2, and Minecraft.

I'm blown away that it's able to run new games, on medium settings with solid framerates, and older games, maxed out, with good framerates.

Its gaming capability far exceeds my 2008 iMac.

Now i'm glad I didnt pick the Pro. I'm not saying the Pro is a bad buy, the retina display is amazing, and I know many people need the DVD drive, wired ethernet, and more HDD space, but the Air does everything I need it to do.

For anyone concerned about the integrated graphics, dont be. Unless you need to run Skyrim on max settings and get 60FPS, this laptop will satisfy 99% of gamers out there.

Heck I might just sell my iMac and have this be my everything computer.

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Just curious...did you go with the i5 or the i7?

NuggetSauce said:

I got the new 13" macbook air, and since it has integrated graphics, I suspected to be playing Peggle and Chess.

I installed Steam, and got Borderlands, Diablo 3, Left for Dead 2, and Minecraft.

I'm blown away that it's able to run new games, on medium settings with solid framerates, and older games, maxed out, with good framerates.

Its gaming capability far exceeds my 2008 iMac.

Now i'm glad I didnt pick the Pro. I'm not saying the Pro is a bad buy, the retina display is amazing, and I know many people need the DVD drive, wired ethernet, and more HDD space, but the Air does everything I need it to do.

For anyone concerned about the integrated graphics, dont be. Unless you need to run Skyrim on max settings and get 60FPS, this laptop will satisfy 99% of gamers out there.

Heck I might just sell my iMac and have this be my everything computer.

Click to expand...

How did you install more than one game in the computer? I can't install a lot of games in my computer because it just says that the startup disk is full. My computer slows and I have to delete the game. Did you do anything special?

how many fps can you get on Left 4 Dead 2?

Scellow said:

Well, i took some screenshot :

Image
Image

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Minecraft really punishes computers, macbooks espessily, i had hoped it won't be so severe in Mavricks

On my Old Pro i used to pre-cool by setting my fan to high before playing.

Actually there was some quirk, where the cooling system didn't trigger when playing minecraft, despite doing so for other titles, so it tended spike to over 100c before the fan would even kick in.