Macbook recommendation for light game development (Godot)

[Mhaddy]

Hey folks, I'm looking for a Macbook recommendation for some light game development, and having trouble aligning that to what generation and tier of Macbook (x/Air/Pro/etc.). For context, I've got a 5-year gaming PC with an RTX 3700, Ryzen 5 5600X, 32GB DDR4 (details here) that I built in late Nov-2020 and it still has ample horsepower to do any gaming or development I need to do. I'm just tired of being stuck in my office whenever I want to do anything, so looking for an older Macbook to use on the go.

Can you all give me some recommendations on whether I'm looking at an M1 Air, M2 Pro, older Intel-based Mac, etc.? Just looking for something that won't break the bank but has a few years life still left in it. Looks like I can get a new M4 Air (10-core CPU/8-core GPU/16GB/256GB) from Costco for $799+tax, so that'd be my upper bounds in terms of what I would purchase used provided there's a performance/longevity benefit in doing so.

 

[Howard2k]

The Air has no fan, so it will possibly throttle under sustained loads (like long compiles). But The M4 would handle loads better than the M3. The Pro would give you a fan with active cooling which will maintain top performance for longer, and is available with the Pro CPU range but I don't know that there would be even an older Pro in that price range.

Since portability is key over price and sustained performance, the Air sounds like it's probably a decent choice.

 

[GianL]

Requirements:
Recommended: Vulkan 1.0 compatible hardware
Minimal: OpenGL 3.3 / OpenGL ES 3.0 compatible hardware

Are you sure?

 

[Moonjumper]

I do mobile game development in Unity. I moved this year from a 2018 Mac Mini to an M4 Pro Mac Mini. I belive Unity has a slightly higher performance requirement than Godot. My old Mini was getting sluggish for some tasks, but was was mostly OK. My M4 Pro is more than enough.

Any Apple Silicon Mac should be fine for light game development, but the M4 seemed a major step forward. You are likely better getting an M4 over an M2 Pro chip for example. One thing to consider if buying old hardware second-hand, is many models had 8GB as standard, and so relatively few sales are for devices with 16GB or more. The M4 Air you mentioned is a very good device.

 

[Moonjumper]

Requirements:
Recommended: Vulkan 1.0 compatible hardware
Minimal: OpenGL 3.3 / OpenGL ES 3.0 compatible hardware

Are you sure?

Apple Silicon uses MoltenVK for Vulcan support.

 

[chrono1081]

Hey folks, I'm looking for a Macbook recommendation for some light game development, and having trouble aligning that to what generation and tier of Macbook (x/Air/Pro/etc.). For context, I've got a 5-year gaming PC with an RTX 3700, Ryzen 5 5600X, 32GB DDR4 (details here) that I built in late Nov-2020 and it still has ample horsepower to do any gaming or development I need to do. I'm just tired of being stuck in my office whenever I want to do anything, so looking for an older Macbook to use on the go.

Can you all give me some recommendations on whether I'm looking at an M1 Air, M2 Pro, older Intel-based Mac, etc.? Just looking for something that won't break the bank but has a few years life still left in it. Looks like I can get a new M4 Air (10-core CPU/8-core GPU/16GB/256GB) from Costco for $799+tax, so that'd be my upper bounds in terms of what I would purchase used provided there's a performance/longevity benefit in doing so.

Forget Intel based, it's not worth it. Any of the M series airs would work fine, they're far more powerful than people realize.That M4 would be great.

Just for reference some of the software I ran on my M2 perfectly fine:

-Godot
-Unity
-Xcode
-Houdini
-Blender
-Final Cut
-Logic
-Affinity Suite
-Lots of Final Fantasy 14

and many more not worth naming. Oh and fun fact, despite having no fan the Air never even got warm using any of those softwares. I know thats a concern people bring up but it's completely unfounded. M series chips are that good.

 

[Mhaddy]

Ah this is amazing. Thanks a lot, folks. Will update the thread with my decision… likely that M4 Air.