Gaming on 1080p TV...

[Yumunum]

Okay, this question is probably different than you expected.

Right now I do some very light gaming on my Air, but the games are JUST playable enough to bear at the computer's normal 1440x900 resolution. I'm buying a 1080p HDTV very soon, and I want to use it as an external monitor for my computer. I need the high resolution for everything except the games... If my resolution in System Settings is set to default 1080p res. (forgot the exact res.) and I open my game of choice, then go to the GAME'S settings and change the game res. to 1440x900, will it run just like it would've without the monitor? I can't afford a drop in performance with this already weak GPU

 

[sammich]

Yes. The GPU is really only working on those pixels you've told it to work on (the 1440x900). It's the same situation if you change the game resolution while playing just on the Air to something lower, the screen will change resolution.

Note however, that if you have an external screen, you need to close the lid so that the laptop screen is off. Otherwise both screens will be powered by the GPU and you will suffer a slight drop in performance.

 

[Yumunum]

Yes. The GPU is really only working on those pixels you've told it to work on (the 1440x900). It's the same situation if you change the game resolution while playing just on the Air to something lower, the screen will change resolution.

Note however, that if you have an external screen, you need to close the lid so that the laptop screen is off. Otherwise both screens will be powered by the GPU and you will suffer a slight drop in performance.

Only a slight stutter? That's surprising. For some reason I thought it'd be unusable with both screens open + a game. I can't wait to test all this out... I'm sitting next to my new TV right now. I'm waiting for employees to help bring it to my car!

 

[MadMac84]

First, the resolution of output monitor doesn't matter while gaming, only the rendered (in game) resolution matters. It will then be scaled to the monitor's resolution.

Second, if you're getting frame rates that are just borderline acceptable lower the resolution down to 1280x800 while on the Air or 1280x720 while on the TV. Thats 720p in 16:10 and 16:9 ratios. I doubt you'd really notice the lower res and the Air's GPU needs all the help it can get if you're playing anything remotely modern.