2015 MacBook Air much better than 2012 gaming?

[in2tech]

Is there that much difference in my 2012 MacBook Air for flight simulation, compared to the 2015 model? Only game I use is flight simulation. Will the newer integrated graphics and the 8 gb ram and newer i5 processor have any effect on my 2017 released sim?

Flight Sim World is the simulator!

 

[gkarris]

Don't know.

Looks like you are using the new Dovetail one...

Depends on what you are using the FS for. For Private Pilots just practicing checklists or IFR Pilots actually doing IFR flying, they don't need much outside the plane so can get away with much lower graphics settings.

Just like anything else gaming/flight sim - depends on what you are using it for.

Maybe contact Dovetail for a demo?

I will now - thanks for the heads up on the program...

 

[in2tech]

Don't know.

Looks like you are using the new Dovetail one...

Depends on what you are using the FS for. For Private Pilots just practicing checklists or IFR Pilots actually doing IFR flying, they don't need much outside the plane so can get away with much lower graphics settings.

Just like anything else gaming/flight sim - depends on what you are using it for.

Maybe contact Dovetail for a demo?

I will now - thanks for the heads up on the program...

Yeah, I already have Flight Sim World running on my 2012 MacBook Air, and mostly at Low, sometimes High settings. I mainly do light coding on my MacBook Air, and the only game/simulator I run was FSX, and it was so old it screamed on my MacBook Air. But now Flight Sim World is in Early Access and is an awesome simulator working towards the future. It has a lot of work toward's getting up to speed with some other sim's, but they are closely listening to the community so the future looks bright.

Was just wondering if the 2015 would provide any better performance for me!

Also, how would it work if I had a Mac mini hooked to my MacBook Air? Just wondering, for flight simulation ONLY! Would that even work?

 

[gkarris]

Also, how would it work if I had a Mac mini hooked to my MacBook Air? Just wondering, for flight simulation ONLY! Would that even work?

???

 

[throAU]

If you want to run flight simulators, you're better off building a cheap gaming PC for it, and buy a lower spec macbook rather than try to buy a macbook to run flight simulators.

If you do insist on trying to use a macbook of any description for it and want to be future proof, get one with thunderbolt 3 so you can hook up an external GPU in future if required.

 

[flybius]

There is little practical difference between the Intel HD 4000 in your 2012 MBA and the Intel HD6000 in the 2015 MBA. Flight Sim World really needs a new generation GPU (one that will support VR) to perform. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro 15" with the AMD M370X 2GB DDR5 and Flight Sim World runs like crap in Bootcamp. I do not attribute this to the Windows AMD drivers because XP11 and FSX:SE both run great!

 

[gkarris]

There is little practical difference between the Intel HD 4000 in your 2012 MBA and the Intel HD6000 in the 2015 MBA. Flight Sim World really needs a new generation GPU (one that will support VR) to perform. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro 15" with the AMD M370X 2GB DDR5 and Flight Sim World runs like crap in Bootcamp. I do not attribute this to the Windows AMD drivers because XP11 and FSX:SE both run great!

Yes, according to this, the PassMark for the M370X is about 1915

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+R9+M370X&id=3299

The current mainstream cards, like the RX 550 are at 3650, which is probably what you need to run Flight Sim World somewhat decently...

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Pick up an Apple eGPU dev kit and go crazy.