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MacBook Air 13" (Late 2010) - Gaming Benchmark Thread!

FAsnakes said:
ok, i've read through the entire thread and figured i'd add my contribution - i've been busy trying my best to break this thing..

So i'm running an 11" ultimate -

  • Call of Duty 4 Modern Warefare - (COD4 is well documented and works just fine using decent settings.)
  • Need for Speed Most Wanted - (This game plays just fine under high settings. I've played this game at length for hours at a time without issue)
  • Need for Speed Pro Street - (This game plays just fine under medium settings.)
  • Command and Conquer 3 - (This game plays just fine under low settings.)
  • Assassins Creed - (This game plays just fine under low settings. I've had limited time with this game..)
  • Sims 3 - (This game plays just fine under low settings. Played for hours)
  • Starcraft 2 - (This game plays just fine under low settings. I've had limited time with this game..)

I still have Civilization 3 left to test. .
If requested i could certainly test FPS, fan speed / heat - if requested.

This little machine can do everything!
I'll see if i can get my hands on any other games and post up..
Click to expand...

Thats great! If all these games can run well enough on the 11" then im sure they will run slightly better on the 13" right?
 
Is anyone else having trouble with SC2 on Battle.net? Any B-net match I play is very quickly reduced to a slide show. I can play single player matches on low no sweat.
 
need for speed hot persuit

has anybody tried the new need for speed hot pursuit on the new macbook air
 
13" should be a bit better, of course because of a little faster CPU and as well because the resolution of 13" is a little lower than on the 11" (native).
 
thorbenh said:
13" should be a bit better, of course because of a little faster CPU and as well because the resolution of 13" is a little lower than on the 11" (native).
Click to expand...

Resolution of the 13" MBA is HIGHER than that of the 11" MBA.
 
1,86 GHz, 4 GB RAM:

Played Left 4 Dead 2 with native res and with high settings and runs very well. No stuttering even on massive zombies attacks.
 
asoksevil said:
1,86 GHz, 4 GB RAM:

Played Left 4 Dead 2 with native res and with high settings and runs very well. No stuttering even on massive zombies attacks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this info! I've been waiting to know how it handles when the hordes come. Thanks!
 
I can also try Counter Strike and Condition Zero, but if L4D2 runs well, no need on testing CS.

BTW, these all games were run under OS X, not using Bootcamp or Parallels.
 
asoksevil said:
I can also try Counter Strike and Condition Zero, but if L4D2 runs well, no need on testing CS.

BTW, these all games were run under OS X, not using Bootcamp or Parallels.
Click to expand...

Haha even better! I would prefer not to use Bootcamp if possible so thats great news. Thanks again. CSS will definitely run. What about TF2?
 
linkandzelda said:
Haha even better! I would prefer not to use Bootcamp if possible so thats great news. Thanks again. CSS will definitely run. What about TF2?
Click to expand...

CS:S on all high gives you 40-60fps at native 1440x900 res on 13" 4gb 1.83 config.

everything maxed out thats on OSX not bootcamp.
 
I played CS:S, HL2 + EP1 and EP2, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and Vice City in native resolution and no game of these are stuttering...

On Source Games I put the AA off and enable wait for vetikal synch and now is all good...

Oh, and all played on MacOSX 10.6.5 no windows anymore :D
 
Anyone get a chance to try Battlefield Bad Company 2?

It was just on sale on Steam for $6.79, so I thought more people might've picked it up.
 
Just tried bioshock 2 on the stock 1.86ghz 13inch. Game was very playable on ALL HIGH SETTINGS WITH 1400 900 res! Game with this setting avg around 19FPS which may seem low but for bioshock 2 its is smooth. For 30FPS I had to drop the res to 1200 800 and turn off vsync. Very impressed with this result considering my MBA is the minimum specs for this game (2gb ram, 256mb vram ect...)
 
Teamfortress 2, native resolution, all settings on high, except for shadows which are set on low. Avg ~ 30 FPS, and completely playable. I think my eyes are spoiled though -- I'm use to my PC rig, and anything below 60 FPS I can notice.

Performance will probably be better on Windows, but I don't want to blow a few gigs running a crappy OS just for one or two games.

--

oops, looks like I've posted on the wrong thread. I have a 11" maxed out with 4 gb, 1.6 ghz.
 
How much of a performance boost in games (such as CoD, WoW, Oblivion, SC2) does the upgraded 2.13 GHz CPU give over the stock? Ditto for the 4GB over the 2GB stock RAM? Which $100 is better spent? I'm getting a 13" MBA for Christmas, going to be used for mainly iOS app dev, light gaming/movies/music.
 
omniatlas said:
Teamfortress 2, native resolution, all settings on high, except for shadows which are set on low. Avg ~ 30 FPS, and completely playable. I think my eyes are spoiled though -- I'm use to my PC rig, and anything below 60 FPS I can notice.

Performance will probably be better on Windows, but I don't want to blow a few gigs running a crappy OS just for one or two games.

--

oops, looks like I've posted on the wrong thread. I have a 11" maxed out with 4 gb, 1.6 ghz.
Click to expand...

why's windows a crappy os? i find it to be more intuitive to use than the one on my mba.
 
Would appreciate it if someone with a 2.13 4gb 13in could post real cod4 benchmarks (IE cod4 promod)

Not particularly interested in how fast the singleplayer runs, but me and my mates hold regular lan matches (My iMac isn't particularly portable for those situations :D)

For those who don't know what promod is, it's the mod anyone who plays cod4 seriously uses - increases FPS by around 40% normally so just wondering how this beaut runs it - be amazing if it did a solid 125 but would like at least solid 80 or 90 minimum (I play 800x600, high texs and x4 AA but the rest of it turned down)

[Should probably add I play in bootcamp, and also that it is no biggy if it doesnt work too well - I play on my iMac 95% of the time ]
 
hA1TcH said:
Would appreciate it if someone with a 2.13 4gb 13in could post real cod4 benchmarks (IE cod4 promod)
Click to expand...

Per my original question, if anyone has benchmarks/experience w/the stock Air compared w/the upgraded model...thanks!


How much of a performance boost in games (such as CoD, WoW, Oblivion, SC2) does the upgraded 2.13 GHz CPU give over the stock? Ditto for the 4GB over the 2GB stock RAM? Which $100 is better spent? I'm getting a 13" MBA for Christmas, going to be used for mainly iOS app dev, light gaming/movies/music.
Click to expand...
 
DeusEx said:
Per my original question, if anyone has benchmarks/experience w/the stock Air compared w/the upgraded model...thanks!
Click to expand...

I'd go with the RAM upgrade over the CPU upgrade, although I don't have the benchmarks to back that up.
 
On my 13,3 1,86 4ghz i got my 2 favorite games working:

Starcraft 2
All settings on low
Resolution 1440x900
Framecap 25 fps

This way I can play 4v4 multiplayer ladder games for hours without problems. And the all-low settings look kinda cool too; the game looks much more cartoonish, which isn't bad.

Counterstrike Source
All settings very high (also high water reflextions etc!)
Anti-Aliasing off, Filtering Anisopotropic 2x
resolution 1440x900

The game plays fine in 32 player online multiplayer servers.

Anyone who has higher settings in these games; tell me how and why it works :)
 
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