MacBook Air 2013 Gaming Performance (Intel HD 5000)

[Mirai 11]

This thread always seems to keep coming back haha.
Rogue Squadron is now playable on the Dolphin Emulator, and I thought I'd give them a try on my Air.
They work really well, its just the music that's the main issue it seems.
I've got a few more shots here, but here's some of the two games to give you an idea.

 

[enigmapl]

Has anyone tried GTA V and the Witcher 3 on MBA13? (mine is i7, 8GB and I'm curious)

 

[fedecape]

Has anyone tried GTA V and the Witcher 3 on MBA13? (mine is i7, 8GB and I'm curious)

GTA V works very well (low res, medium graphics)

 

[apoenq]

Hi, is there any performance difference with mba 13" mid 2013 i5 4gb and 8gb ram when playing games like gw2 and tf2? I read some posts in the internet mentioned that playing games depends more on CPU and GPU but not RAM. Please correct if I am wrong. many thanks guys!

 

[fedecape]

Hi, is there any performance difference with mba 13" mid 2013 i5 4gb and 8gb ram when playing games like gw2 and tf2? I read some posts in the internet mentioned that playing games depends more on CPU and GPU but not RAM. Please correct if I am wrong. many thanks guys!

that is correct. In this particular case, those two games won't benefit from the extra ram. Also not only the CPU, but the graphics also play a big role.

 

[droodles]

I spent about two months contemplating a new gaming PC to play DOTA 2 and Diablo III. I tried playing DOTA 2 on my MBA (i5, 4GB, 5100 graphics) today and it was actually alright on medium @ native res 1440x900.

 

[twilite2000]

Hi I'm new here. My daughter wants to play WOW on her new MacBook Air 13" core i5 8 gb Intel HD 5000. When she goes to download this game it gives a warning that her gaming experience basically will be very laggy. Should she not even bother loading this game or are there certain specifications she will need to change in her settings to give her the best gaming experience? If some settings need to be changed, what are they and how do I accomplish that? I need step by step instructions. I'm a tech idiot. Thank you in advance.

 

[Suture]

Hi I'm new here. My daughter wants to play WOW on her new MacBook Air 13" core i5 8 gb Intel HD 5000. When she goes to download this game it gives a warning that her gaming experience basically will be very laggy. Should she not even bother loading this game or are there certain specifications she will need to change in her settings to give her the best gaming experience? If some settings need to be changed, what are they and how do I accomplish that? I need step by step instructions. I'm a tech idiot. Thank you in advance.

Lots of people play WoW on MBAs. Shouldn't be an issue. Just turn down the graphics options some and see how the performance plays out.

 

[BrettApple]

Hi I'm new here. My daughter wants to play WOW on her new MacBook Air 13" core i5 8 gb Intel HD 5000. When she goes to download this game it gives a warning that her gaming experience basically will be very laggy. Should she not even bother loading this game or are there certain specifications she will need to change in her settings to give her the best gaming experience? If some settings need to be changed, what are they and how do I accomplish that? I need step by step instructions. I'm a tech idiot. Thank you in advance.

Lots of people play WoW on MBAs. Shouldn't be an issue. Just turn down the graphics options some and see how the performance plays out.

Not sure how much WOW has changed in requirements over the years. But way back when I used to play it on a Core 2 Duo, GeForce 9400m equipped MacBook with zero issues. So I'd imagine the HD 5000 would do just fine. It's right that she won't hit 60fps in 1080p. But medium settings on the native resolution would probably work alright.

I did just dig up their requirements page here. She will be just fine. Ironically enough it looks like the card I used to use is now unsupported. Haha. This was back in 2008-2009 so I'm not really surprised.

 

[LetsTryMac]

how about StarCraft II on an MBA 11" 2014? It has HD500 and i5 1,4ghz with 8gb...

I think I'll have no problem in the native resolution, but using an exterior screen will stress a bit more....

 

[Suture]

This thread always seems to keep coming back haha.
Rogue Squadron is now playable on the Dolphin Emulator, and I thought I'd give them a try on my Air.
They work really well, its just the music that's the main issue it seems.
I've got a few more shots here, but here's some of the two games to give you an idea.

Mirai 11 -- what controller are you using for the Dolphin emulator?

 

[VNJ85]

Does anyone know if Arma2 DayZ will run on the MBA?

(Using Bootcamp Windows)

 

[Iperzampem0]

Hey guys, I want to keep up this thread so do you have more news/suggestions for gaming on our already "old" (but not too much) MacBook Air 2013?

 

[asoksevil]

Hi I'm new here. My daughter wants to play WOW on her new MacBook Air 13" core i5 8 gb Intel HD 5000. When she goes to download this game it gives a warning that her gaming experience basically will be very laggy. Should she not even bother loading this game or are there certain specifications she will need to change in her settings to give her the best gaming experience? If some settings need to be changed, what are they and how do I accomplish that? I need step by step instructions. I'm a tech idiot. Thank you in advance.

Tried WoW a couple of weeks ago on my 2010 MBA with no problems. Everything set to low but screen res which was the default one.

 

[mackie8]

anybody tried playing ragnarok online on base model 11inch... using wineskin..

hows the performance? im planning to get the air 11 i5 2015.. but im thinking if u should go for 8gb or 4gb will do the job...

 

[nlordberg]

I thought it would be useful to make a thread collating the experiences of users here in various games. Please state which OS you are in (OS X or Windows, with gaming performance of course much much better on the latter), your specs, the game and it's video settings and the FPS and/or general gaming performance you get.

Let's try and fill this list in with results (Last updated: 18/06/13):

FarCry 3 - (Win 8) 20-35fps in DirectX 11, all medium/high but shadows low, 1280x800 (vid)
Bioshock Infinite [FPS Drop Fix]
Battlefield 3
Team Fortress 2 - (OS X) 50-80fps on all max settings (vid)
Black Ops 2 - (OS X) 40-55fps on all max settings (vid)
Modern Warfare 3 - (Win 8) 45-60fps on all max settings, 1360x768 (vid)
Minecraft - (OS X) 30-60fps on all possible graphics settings set to max, 1440x900
Sim City
Star Craft 2 (OS X) 25-35fps on high settings, 1440x900 (vid)
Diablo 3 (OS X) 20-40fps on all high settings bar shadows, no AA, 720p (15-25fps at 1440x900 with AA) (vid)
The Walking Dead
Europa Universalis V (release date 8/13)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Skyrim
The Witcher 2
Civ 5
Portal 2 - (Win 8) 60+fps in all conditions, all settings max, native resolution (vid)
World of Warcraft - (OS X) 35-45fps in all conditions, all settings max, 1080p external display
Tomb Raider
Dead Space 3
Crysis
Crysis 2
Crysis 3

Don't forget MegaVolatic's 6 Ways to Boost Gaming Performance on the Intel HD iGPUs. These steps can give you between 10-20 additional frames per second during games (Windows only).

Dude, maybe I'm late to tell you but, I got the same MBA 13" w/ the same specs, early 2014 and I tried to play a 1GB game and it also destroyed but my CPU. My macbook turned into an uplifting airplane. I only use it for music production and web browsing and it works fine.

 

[Pitagora]

curios to know if a macbook air 2014 8gb ram and hd5000 will be able to play on medium and on good resolution the following games:
1. dota 2.
2. starcraft 2 legacy of the void.
3. assassin's creed 3 and black flag.
4. crysis 2.


as i read on google seems the opinions are quit divided when it comes up with dota 2.

will the perfomance be enhance dramatically via bootcamp?