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2013 MBA useage questions web/gaming

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bytejunkie

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 16, 2013
2
0
hi,

I'm hoping to upgrade from a 2011 MBP with 8GB and i7 quad core, to the 2013 Air with dual core i7 and 8GB again.

I have a couple of resonably taxing use cases, so would love to hear from anyone who does similar with an Air.

web stuff
I tend to have MAMP, a few coda windows, transmit, a few browsers and a mail client open. I'm reasonably sure this scenario won't pose an issue, since the MBP i already have copes for fun with this.

gaming
I play starcraft 2 a little. not a lot, but i do output to my 27" apple screen. How well will an Air cope with this? I've read a few threads that suggest output to the screen isnt an issue, but I do wonder how well it will play the game when hooked up to the screen. If anyone has tried this, or is a SC player, please chime in and let me know.

thanks.
 
I have been playing SC2 in osx hooked up to a 1080p 23" screen. Plays well at medium settings (30-40fps). I cannot imagine it will play at your native 1440p res.
You can lower the res or run it in a window though
 
ninja2000 said:
I have been playing SC2 in osx hooked up to a 1080p 23" screen. Plays well at medium settings (30-40fps). I cannot imagine it will play at your native 1440p res.
You can lower the res or run it in a window though
Click to expand...

how are the fans during this?

on my 2011 air they spin up and are somewhat loud, thinking about upgrading but want to know what I would be getting into. I don't have a huge issue with them getting loud but I am weighing it in on my decision between a mba and rmbp
 
tbolt11 said:
how are the fans during this?

on my 2011 air they spin up and are somewhat loud, thinking about upgrading but want to know what I would be getting into. I don't have a huge issue with them getting loud but I am weighing it in on my decision between a mba and rmbp
Click to expand...

in clamshell fans run full tilt (6500rpm) whilst the air is open the fans seem to run 4000-5000. At 4000 it is quite comfortable but full tilt is a little annoying. But I put the air at the back of my desk and it is less noticeable.

The air itself doesnt get that hot (compared to my 2010 pro)
 
I would say it would be impossible to get playable frame rates at 2560x1400. The iGPU will start to throttle causing even further frame rate drops. I would stick to a single screen mode + a resolution of below 1366x768. The fan is going to be loud no matter what ;)
 
sounds like the graphics card will be the bottleneck. doesn't 100% put me off one, cos I've got a windoze box to play games on if i want. thanks for the replies.
 
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