So I normally don't game on my Mac, but both the upcoming Star Wars Battlefronts and MadMax games have me rethinking this. I am deciding between the 13" Air and 13" Pro and would run the games in a Bootcamp partition. I try to buy used but which ones of each from 2013 and newer do you think can run these games decently? I don't mind lower quality but don't want crappy quality.
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Gaming capability
- Thread starter darngooddesign
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Honestly for the price, a console would be the best.
Otherwise if you need it to be an Apple Laptop the only one that is decently good at gaming (in high res with meduim/high settings) is the 15" MacBook Pro, particularly the one with the dedicated video card. The Iris Pro is still pretty good for what it is but the 750m or the newer AMD card would be the best option.
As for a 13" MacBook, I've got a Late 2013 rMBP (2.4GHz, 8GB/256GB, Intel Iris 5100) and the 5100 runs all of the games I play very well in 1080P resolution. But most of my games are older. Such as Burnout Paradise, Guitar Hero III, TF2, Portal 2, Half Life 2, and Call of Duty 4. Anything newer I haven't really thrown at it since I have a PS1/2/3/4 for 99% of my gaming.
The 13" MBP will probably run your games, just don't expect high settings and you'll probably be running them at 1280x800 rather than anything close to the native resolution of the display. But that should still look decent. The HD6000 in the 2015 MacBook Air is pretty comparable to the 2013/14 13" MBP surprisingly. So it would be about the same but the TDP is a little lower so it might not sustain it as well as the Pro. The 2013 MacBook Air has the HD5000 and it's less powerful than the others, but still do able.
Really you can throw what you've got at it and adjust settings accordingly (I gamed on a 256MB 9400M for 6 years) but don't expect it to look great.
So, best - 15" MBP or separate console. "OK" performance - 13" MBP.
I'd shoot for the 13" MBP and a console if you don't need it on your computer. Otherwise the 15" MBP isn't cheap!
Give me a minute and I'll see if I can find system requirements for those games you listed. Battlefront II runs great on my rMBP and PS2, haha.
Looking online the system requirements for Battlefront are just listed as "coming soon" so that's disappointing. But some sources list at least a desktop class GTX 460 or higher for Mad Max. So the 15" rMBP is the only way to go if you need it on a MacBook.
Otherwise if you need it to be an Apple Laptop the only one that is decently good at gaming (in high res with meduim/high settings) is the 15" MacBook Pro, particularly the one with the dedicated video card. The Iris Pro is still pretty good for what it is but the 750m or the newer AMD card would be the best option.
As for a 13" MacBook, I've got a Late 2013 rMBP (2.4GHz, 8GB/256GB, Intel Iris 5100) and the 5100 runs all of the games I play very well in 1080P resolution. But most of my games are older. Such as Burnout Paradise, Guitar Hero III, TF2, Portal 2, Half Life 2, and Call of Duty 4. Anything newer I haven't really thrown at it since I have a PS1/2/3/4 for 99% of my gaming.
The 13" MBP will probably run your games, just don't expect high settings and you'll probably be running them at 1280x800 rather than anything close to the native resolution of the display. But that should still look decent. The HD6000 in the 2015 MacBook Air is pretty comparable to the 2013/14 13" MBP surprisingly. So it would be about the same but the TDP is a little lower so it might not sustain it as well as the Pro. The 2013 MacBook Air has the HD5000 and it's less powerful than the others, but still do able.
Really you can throw what you've got at it and adjust settings accordingly (I gamed on a 256MB 9400M for 6 years) but don't expect it to look great.
So, best - 15" MBP or separate console. "OK" performance - 13" MBP.
I'd shoot for the 13" MBP and a console if you don't need it on your computer. Otherwise the 15" MBP isn't cheap!
Give me a minute and I'll see if I can find system requirements for those games you listed. Battlefront II runs great on my rMBP and PS2, haha.
Looking online the system requirements for Battlefront are just listed as "coming soon" so that's disappointing. But some sources list at least a desktop class GTX 460 or higher for Mad Max. So the 15" rMBP is the only way to go if you need it on a MacBook.
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Agreed with BrettApple. Although I've never preordered a game in my life, and I avoid EA like the plague, I am preordering the crap out of the new Battlefront game. However even with Bootcamp, SSD & 16GB RAM, I'm very much aware that I won't be able to run it smoothly on anything higher than medium - I have the 2012 15" MBP. If I had a next-gen console I'd probably be getting it on that.
It's best just to leave your Mac for work as they're not really gaming machines. That's not to say you can't game on them, but you will be disappointed with its performance. Failing consoles, you can build an extremely capable gaming PC for ~£800; definitely a lot less if you were to skimp on CPU/RAM. The advantages of a desktop PC is you can be assured that it'll be easily upgradeable in the future.
TL;DR: build gaming PC or buy console if you're wanting a decent gaming experience.
It's best just to leave your Mac for work as they're not really gaming machines. That's not to say you can't game on them, but you will be disappointed with its performance. Failing consoles, you can build an extremely capable gaming PC for ~£800; definitely a lot less if you were to skimp on CPU/RAM. The advantages of a desktop PC is you can be assured that it'll be easily upgradeable in the future.
TL;DR: build gaming PC or buy console if you're wanting a decent gaming experience.
Yea, get a PC if you want Star Wars. Specs are not going to be generous for a Mac especially a MacBook.
Nope.
Every couple years they might show a screenshot of a PC gaming run 'great' on a Mac during a keynote. Last one I remembered was like a Diablo 3 one showing off the MBP Retina. That was like 3 years ago.
Look at Game Center on iOS and Mac. Its a joke.
Look at Steam on the Mac and its a joke. If Apple cared, you would assume they could influence Valve to at least update the UI.
