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Diablo 3 on 2012 MacBook Air

M

mattATK217

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 11, 2012
8
0
Has anyone tried it yet on the new MacBook Air? How does it run, and does the bottom of the computer get too hot when playing? If someone could shed some light on this I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt
 
Also if you have a video of it running I would appreciate it. **For comparison I am running a early 2008 Macbook Pro with a 8400M GT graphics card now which appears to be pretty crappy comparatively.
 
mattATK217 said:
Has anyone tried it yet on the new MacBook Air? How does it run, and does the bottom of the computer get too hot when playing? If someone could shed some light on this I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...

I was testing it quickly this morning (13") over our lab, and it seemed to be about same as previous generation, fps was jumping depending on scene from 15-40 fps on low settings with native resolution.

About heat, I don't know as I didn't even try playing it on my lap (it would be silly in so many levels).
 
Yeah, I am mainly looking to upgrade from my early 2008 Macbook Pro, and as long as it still runs it decently on low settings it will do the better than my old macbook pro. I was mainly concerned heatwise with it overheating the macbook air. And I know anything without a dedicated GPU isn't great for gaming, but if it handles it without making play unbearable then I can accept it. I may be building a desktop for when I'm at home, but for on the road, knowing I can get a couple hours in of crappy graphic gameplay is a nice plus.

I would love to spring the extra $800+ for the Retina Display Macbook Pro, but I don't have that kind of money sitting around. I don't even really have enough for a new Macbook Air, but I need the upgrade, mine is so outdated. :p
 
mattopotamus said:
honestly, if you are looking to game, a mac is the last thing to use
Click to expand...

Not true, what is true is "if you're looking to game, a Macbook Air is the last thing to use."

I used to game on my 2010 Air and it worked barley, FPS levels were low but it wasn't impossible to play. If you want to game, get the Ultimate Air or a 15 Pro+
 
yes it is passable

I play it mostly on my PC which has Crossfired Radeon 7970 cards, but I also gave Diablo a try on my new Air.

I also tried, Portal 2 and Starcraft 2. All were decent in a pinch.

I was pleasantly surprised.
 
I recently went from a 2008 MacBook Pro to a 2012 MacBook Air. Portal 2 is fine, both in Mac and Windows when pushed to the Thunderbolt display. Diablo 3 less so, I can get smooth play once all the settings are down, but any resolution higher than the 13" internal really struggles. In both counts it's better than my MBP, but as others have said, games are a bit of an unfair task for the otherwise lightening fast MBA.
 
I play Diablo 3 on my 2010 15' low end Macbook pro on default setting, it runs pretty well:)

ScreenShot2012-07-02at55928.png
 
I would advise if you are playing Diablo3 on the 2012 air to turn the in game res down to at least 1280x800, playing at 1440x900 will be pretty demanding on that system.
 
my friend has his diablo III copie running verx smooth at MAXED OUT! settings and max resolution on his early 2011 low end 13" MBP 2,3i5-4gb 1333 ddr ram-intel hd graphics 3000 384 ram.
the game runs really good on his machine, it's just the video sequences in between that are not watchable because of to much lagging...
so i guess it should at least run fine on a 13" bto MBA 2,0i7 (2,0i7 is faster than 2,3i5 right?) as it has the faster ram, better intel graphics and flash drive.
 
I have the i5/8/128 13" and I've played it about an hour.
I'm playing at 1440*900 with medium settings on everything and low if there's no medium option. I don't have an fps counter but it seems to be 30+ fps and pretty smooth. I've also played portal 2, l4d2 and iLoL all at medium settings. Performance is very good and perfect for a quick game.
 
asting said:
I have the i5/8/128 13" and I've played it about an hour.
I'm playing at 1440*900 with medium settings on everything and low if there's no medium option. I don't have an fps counter but it seems to be 30+ fps and pretty smooth. I've also played portal 2, l4d2 and iLoL all at medium settings. Performance is very good and perfect for a quick game.
Click to expand...


what about the video sequences?
are they watchable or are they really laggy...?
 
marcolino said:
what about the video sequences?
are they watchable or are they really laggy...?
Click to expand...

I'm trying to remember now. I think they were watchable but don't distinctly remember one. I was continuing a game from my desktop. I'll report back later.

Also, this game doesn't scale graphics that well, meaning a maxed out game doesn't look that much better than medium settings. In fact, I'm rather disappointed by the quality of the models and shaders.
 
I'm Lvl60 playing on Inferno act 3, and i'll say it's barely playable at minimum res.

Just wanted to test if it would be usable for some casual get together gaming with my brother (i have a high-end PC) the MBA reaches 101c in a matter of minutes and the fan maxes out, making it a bit of a stressful and hot affair.

Normally i use fraps to monitor FPS....what are you using? I´ll happily test the framerate at Inferno for you if you want me to.
 
I'm getting between 14 and 35 fps with my 2011 13'' MBA in Act 3 and 4 Inferno. Still playable.

Settings : 1440x900, textures High, everything else on low.
 
KasperH said:
I'm Lvl60 playing on Inferno act 3, and i'll say it's barely playable at minimum res.

Just wanted to test if it would be usable for some casual get together gaming with my brother (i have a high-end PC) the MBA reaches 101c in a matter of minutes and the fan maxes out, making it a bit of a stressful and hot affair.

Normally i use fraps to monitor FPS....what are you using? I´ll happily test the framerate at Inferno for you if you want me to.
Click to expand...


are the video sequences working well?
does it run better on lower difficulty or/and in a lower act?
cause i've beeb also playing it for about a couple of hours but from the begining and it was running really well with all settings on high...
 
marcolino said:
are the video sequences working well?
does it run better on lower difficulty or/and in a lower act?
cause i've beeb also playing it for about a couple of hours but from the begining and it was running really well with all settings on high...
Click to expand...

I'm wondering the same thing. Perhaps late game there are more spells flashing more frequently.
 
KasperH said:
I'm Lvl60 playing on Inferno act 3, and i'll say it's barely playable at minimum res.

Just wanted to test if it would be usable for some casual get together gaming with my brother (i have a high-end PC) the MBA reaches 101c in a matter of minutes and the fan maxes out, making it a bit of a stressful and hot affair.

Normally i use fraps to monitor FPS....what are you using? I´ll happily test the framerate at Inferno for you if you want me to.
Click to expand...

I'm also playing as level 60 on Inferno on my desktop computer (which will be retired soon). As I still havn't received my MBA I'd be interested in hearing what kind of frame rate you can get on Inferno, both solo and in group.


Pp.
 
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