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Apple didn't make the MBA capable of self-harm, you can be sure about that. Running the thing at 100% usage for hours and hours will heat it up for sure, but never to the point where it becomes an issue, close to an issue or even close to something you should be concerned about.

This.
 
It'll go up to 90ish after about 15-20 mins, that post of mine earlier is with a 13" ultimate as well

What frame rate do you get with the settings bumped up like mine, at 1440x900? I think it caps out at 85 completely, even during long sessions. I monitor the temps quite frequently during prolonged gaming and haven't seen it go beyond that.
 
However I did install DA2 and am pleasantly surprised at how well it seems to run, res 1440x900 on low settings (still not bad looking though) and had perfectly playable frame rates through the prologue and up to and including the ogre battle that kills your sib'.

Thanks! Might plop down the 30$ for it after all then. Except I'll either have to get it as a digital download outside of Steam (bleh!) or buy an external optical drive.
 
Awesome! How did you remove the old thermal paste? Is there anything specific or just wipe it off with something?

He wiped it off with Unicorn tears which are about as real as the thermal paste problem.

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Your lowest measurement was 60 which is more than high enough to avoid any issues. I play CCS on a 1900X1200 monitor without issue. I have the 1.8 ghz 13" but that shouldn't be much different than yours.

FPS fluctuation in CSS affects everything starting from hit registrations to weapoon shooting animations, hence such high fluctuations make it unplayable.

I could've tried an FPS cfg but didn't feel like it as I wouldn't be playing on the MBA anyway.
 
Anyone having an issue were mouse input does not work in CSS when you are actually in game? If you hit escape it works in all the menus, but I can not move in the game with anything other than keys.

edit: figured it out, plays way better than I expected.
 
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Are we for the most part considering the 4/128 macbook air? How would the baseline 2/64 model run games? Obviously half the RAM and a little less GPU memory would make a difference.
 
Higuys , can you recommend some FPS mac games, that are free to play, like the battlefield heroes and battlefield game from EA ? Games aside call of duty,left for dead or portal

I wanted to install Team Fortress 2 but the install, bout 8gb or so takes so much time to download, and steam is so buggy.
 
I'd have to agree with ZBoater and Knight here...having your CPU run at 90C when the TJMax is 100C is nothing to worry about. Yes 90C FEELS hot to us, and in retrospect to everything else, it is pretty hot, but these CPU's are designed to run up till 100C.

Even though these are the ULV variants, people are forgetting that Air is, at most, 0.68" thing. It is very easy for heat to get trapped, no matter how efficient the heatsink that is used due to lack of space. Personally, I do agree that an ultraportable running at 90C is not ideal, but I will point you towards ZBoaters "pro-Apple" post, with which I agree with 100%.
 
World Of Warcraft on the lowest settings runs a respectible 30-40fps and is entirely playable (with external mouse of course!)

as for "heat".

playing WoW is really the only time so far i've managed to make the fans audible at all. and compared to my desktop computer. it's minor
 
World Of Warcraft on the lowest settings runs a respectible 30-40fps and is entirely playable (with external mouse of course!)

as for "heat".

playing WoW is really the only time so far i've managed to make the fans audible at all. and compared to my desktop computer. it's minor


I concur with this. I have an i5 11" 2011 MBA with 4GB ram and it plays WoW just fine. I do not do a tremendous amount of raiding with any of my toons (yet) but I have absolutely no problem running instances, flying, solo'ing, grouping, etc.

The machine DOES run hot and if you run it on battery the battery drops to zero in no time at all. I have not heard the fans kick in. Really it runs great.

I also recommend an external mouse. I use the Razer Naga - works very well with WoW.
 
I concur with this. I have an i5 11" 2011 MBA with 4GB ram and it plays WoW just fine. I do not do a tremendous amount of raiding with any of my toons (yet) but I have absolutely no problem running instances, flying, solo'ing, grouping, etc.

The machine DOES run hot and if you run it on battery the battery drops to zero in no time at all. I have not heard the fans kick in. Really it runs great.

I also recommend an external mouse. I use the Razer Naga - works very well with WoW.

I agree. I have 11" 1.6 C2D with 4 GB of ram and when i first went to play WoW it auto set graphics to "good", i can care less about stuff like spell detail and the grass detail on the ground so i turned about everything down except view distance and some other things. It works and runs great. I don't really raid anymore and just been doing bgs and arenas. I second the razor naga mouse. The first one i had got stolen and i just had to get another one. Its so useful
 
I agree. I have 11" 1.6 C2D with 4 GB of ram and when i first went to play WoW it auto set graphics to "good", i can care less about stuff like spell detail and the grass detail on the ground so i turned about everything down except view distance and some other things. It works and runs great. I don't really raid anymore and just been doing bgs and arenas. I second the razor naga mouse. The first one i had got stolen and i just had to get another one. Its so useful

Same here only I have 1.4 instead of 1.6. I also run it on bootcamp.
 
So, I bought Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD, because I got my MBA (i7, 4GB) today and I wanted to test a game on it. It works, I played the first 10 minutes of the game on High settings.
 
Oh ok, I wonder if there is something wrong with my MBA

Always keep in mind that the room temperature has a big effect on your laptop's temp.
At summer my MBP would reach 100C, in the winter 80-90C with the same usage. So you can never really know if it's "too hot", and obviously loudness is very subjective.
 
Did the firmware upgrade affect temperatures at all?

Until last night, I'd last played Starcraft 2 on 12th August (i5/256/13); and whilst performance was great on lowest settings (solid 30+ FPS even when busy), temperatures would reach 94 within seconds and stay there.

Played it again last night, and temperature never exceeded 82-85.
 
I wouldn't even attempt to game on a macbook air. I have the 2011 macbook air and I feel scare that my macbook air is going to burn when I play blooms tower defense 4. But then again, I never really had my air warm until i play a flash game.
 
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