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MBA 11" vs. Diablo III

denaliOnDubs said:
Blizzard did another round of beta invites a few days ago I received an invite. Though I liked playing the beta on my HP better... my MacBook Air played it just fine. I had everything turned on low with the resolution set on whatever the lowest that was still 16x10. I also set the effects off. My fans were going full blast during the game but I normally use my iPhone headphones with my air anyways so I did not hear it.
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Come on, seriously. That is nowhere near "just fine". And you are not gonna convince us that the stock iPhone ear buds help in any way toward noise cancellation.

I have been playing the beta on a '11 13" MBA and it is not really what I would call an enjoyable experience. Playing it on a friends desktop at high settings and antialiasing with a perfectly smooth frame rate, was an entirely more enjoyable experience.
I realize that is the way I will have to go unless either, MSI release a fantastic external GPU at a fair price, or Apple release a fantastic 13" MBP with a discrete GPU that somehow stays quiet and cool at the same time.
 
denaliOnDubs said:
Blizzard did another round of beta invites a few days ago I received an invite. Though I liked playing the beta on my HP better... my MacBook Air played it just fine. I had everything turned on low with the resolution set on whatever the lowest that was still 16x10. I also set the effects off. My fans were going full blast during the game but I normally use my iPhone headphones with my air anyways so I did not hear it.
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Yes, it can play it. No, it's not an enjoyable experience. I have noticed playing it more the physics (when you kill something and the body gets knocked back for example) seem to be in slow motion on the air to help it be playable.. takes away from the game imho
 
Bosmonster said:
I run Diablo 3 on my 11" i7 Air. It is playable in single player, but multiplayer is mostly unplayable. Too many effects for the Air to handle. Also outdoor area's are notably slower than indoor area's.

It's cool to play the beta on, but I wouldn't wanna play the retail version on it.
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That's good news... Blizzard has stated that the Beta hasn't been optimized yet.. and even high end graphics cards have had issues with beta... stuttering etc.. Maybe there is hope!! :)
 
Starcraft 2 is a heavy cpu intensive game, until you push high + settings its more dependant on cpu then gpu.

use a laptop cooler on your macbook air and it will suffice, if your going to get a new laptop and want to play, just get a 15 or 17 mbp

hd3000 and 4000 might be passable, but if you get a choice, get a discrete gpu
 
Surklyn said:
That's good news... Blizzard has stated that the Beta hasn't been optimized yet.. and even high end graphics cards have had issues with beta... stuttering etc.. Maybe there is hope!! :)
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Could you link the article where Blizzard says the Beta still hasn't been optimized? How recent it is? That does give some hope!
 
BeachChair said:
Come on, seriously. That is nowhere near "just fine". And you are not gonna convince us that the stock iPhone ear buds help in any way toward noise cancellation.

I have been playing the beta on a '11 13" MBA and it is not really what I would call an enjoyable experience. Playing it on a friends desktop at high settings and antialiasing with a perfectly smooth frame rate, was an entirely more enjoyable experience.
I realize that is the way I will have to go unless either, MSI release a fantastic external GPU at a fair price, or Apple release a fantastic 13" MBP with a discrete GPU that somehow stays quiet and cool at the same time.
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Honestly, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. That is my experience. I didn't have any problems playing the beta. With the volume up on my apple iPhone earbuds I do not hear the fans running at all. Notice that I did say I enjoyed playing it on my HP more... I realize what my MacBook Air is capable of and didn't have high expectations. If it was my only computer I would play the game on it. But it's not and I don't.
 
I also picked up the beta. I enjoy playing it on my 13" Air at low settings but max resolution. I'm not expecting high end from a laptop anyways. Plays it well enough for me to enjoy the game and that's all that matters to me.
 
bogatyr said:
I also picked up the beta. I enjoy playing it on my 13" Air at low settings but max resolution. I'm not expecting high end from a laptop anyways. Plays it well enough for me to enjoy the game and that's all that matters to me.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
Toast487 said:
Since Beta is open now, have more people tried it out on the MBA?
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yea i play on my mba, first thing don't try it without a mouse. lool
laggy, use all low setting and it may be passable but sooo much has been dumded down. I honestly wouldn't strive to just play on a mba everything is slower and less smooth, when hoards of monsters come in everything gets choppy and annoying.

see my sig for my mba specs
 
I've got the top spec 2011 (4GB, 256GB, 1.8GHz i7) 13" MBA and was super stoked to try the Beta when it went public. In a nutshell, it plays really poorly. I started it with the default settings and it lagged really bad and was very choppy. I dumbed all the settings down to low and it was smoother, but by no means enjoyable. I guess I'll be waiting for the console version or a reasonably priced Thunderbolt video driver.

Glad they did this public beta, saved me $60, ha.
 
I have played the beta a few weeks ago with my 1.4ghz 2010 MBA and it worked very well. This is via boot camp.

This is of course a subjective judgment as very well for me means playable whereas for others not seeing max settings is not considered enough.

Also to the person claiming that you should be able to hear your MBA fans with headphones in, please check it yourself. If you have headphones on you should NOT hear your fans.

And finally, make sure you guys let the game download 100% before playing. My friend was trying to run the game before it downloaded, when the play button was not gray anymore and his gaming desktop lagged like crazy. After download he played 60+ fps on max.
 
2010 MBA here with the open beta. First had to dump all settings to min or off. In single player its about 25 FPS with multiplayer being around 20, but drops to >10 in crowded areas with 4 players. To be honest it was enough to make me wait on buying the game until I get the 2012 MBA. Also this was under OSX, would love to hear how 2010 MBA works under bootcamp.
 
I am considering to buy the MBA or MBP but I just don't get why I have to pay 1200 bucks for a machine that has not the muscle of a 600$ PC/laptop equipped with a decent graphic card (7470) and able to play Diablo 3.
When I bought my Mac Book in 2007, I was happy but discovered that I could not run any games on it (it was an Intel 945). That was quite frustrating. Then last year I was fed up an bought a desktop equipped with windows 7 and a decent graphic card.
So if I want to run Diablo III well, and go for a Mac, I understand that I would better buy an MBP 15 which will cost me 1700$ (price of an Alienware or high end gaming laptop).
 
macmahon70 said:
I am considering to buy the MBA or MBP but I just don't get why I have to pay 1200 bucks for a machine that has not the muscle of a 600$ PC/laptop equipped with a decent graphic card (7470) and able to play Diablo 3.
When I bought my Mac Book in 2007, I was happy but discovered that I could not run any games on it (it was an Intel 945). That was quite frustrating. Then last year I was fed up an bought a desktop equipped with windows 7 and a decent graphic card.
So if I want to run Diablo III well, and go for a Mac, I understand that I would better buy an MBP 15 which will cost me 1700$ (price of an Alienware or high end gaming laptop).
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Can you wait until the Ivy Bridge MacBooks this year?

Also could anyone comment on the game with a 2011 MBA under OSX?
 
Oppressed said:
Can you wait until the Ivy Bridge MacBooks this year?
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Probably still won't be a great experience unless they come up with some magical new cooling system. If you're serious about gaming (3D current gen games), the Macbook Air form factor isn't for you.

I have no issues running D3 on my current MBA - and I enjoy it. However, I don't expect much out of it which is why I do. Many people in this thread are expecting a lot from a thin computer and are of course let down.

I just wouldn't get my hopes up about the IB being a game changer (no pun intended) for gaming on the MBA.
 
bogatyr said:
Probably still won't be a great experience unless they come up with some magical new cooling system. If you're serious about gaming (3D current gen games), the Macbook Air form factor isn't for you.

I have no issues running D3 on my current MBA - and I enjoy it. However, I don't expect much out of it which is why I do. Many people in this thread are expecting a lot from a thin computer and are of course let down.

I just wouldn't get my hopes up about the IB being a game changer (no pun intended) for gaming on the MBA.
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I won't begin to start another MBA gaming debate because it has been done to death in this forum. The 2010 can run it but it is less fun at some points, and the 2011 appears to be playable, and therefore the 2012 should be fine. Also I love gaming on my MBA because it runs WoW and SC2 just fine. Granted they are older games, but this maybe the year to upgrade.
 
I just finished the beta on my 2010 11" Air. Here are my specs:
1.6 GHz C2D
4 GB Ram
Geforce 320m

I played only singleplayer, at native resolution and with the lowest settings possible. For me it was an enjoyable experience. Most of the time I had around 30 fps. Only once (in Leorics passage) the framerate dropped to 10 fps for one or two seconds. But in my opinion this is acceptable, since the air is not designed for gaming. I think in multiplayer the game will probably become unplayable on the air.
All in all, if you can abstain from multiplayer and overlook the lowest graphics settings you can have fun with Diablo 3 on the maxed out 2010 11" Air.
 
Sveno said:
I just finished the beta on my 2010 11" Air. Here are my specs:
1.6 GHz C2D
4 GB Ram
Geforce 320m

I played only singleplayer, at native resolution and with the lowest settings possible. For me it was an enjoyable experience. Most of the time I had around 30 fps. Only once (in Leorics passage) the framerate dropped to 10 fps for one or two seconds. But in my opinion this is acceptable, since the air is not designed for gaming. I think in multiplayer the game will probably become unplayable on the air.
All in all, if you can abstain from multiplayer and overlook the lowest graphics settings you can have fun with Diablo 3 on the maxed out 2010 11" Air.
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I got about the same results, and the only difference is that I only desired D3 for the multiplayer aspect.
 
I dunno, maybe it's because I'm primarily a console game player, but playing Diablo 3 on my late '08 Macbook (yea, that's right, 9400m) wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Going by these impressions alone, you would figure that the 9400m would be absolutely horrible, but it was playable and I had fun with my friends.

Although I still wouldn't buy D3 (and it has nothing to do with my computer, I just think it feels too much like D2 just without the skill trees), and perhaps it's because of my different expectations in a video game, but I don't expect games to be tech demos as long as they're enjoyable and accomplish their primary directive. Blizzard games have never been designed to be the poster boys of cutting edge video card technology...

For everyone saying that you shouldn't buy an Air for gaming, I would agree whole-heartedly, but if you want to game every now and then, and you're not running games like Battlefield 3, I don't see what the problem is as long as your expectations are realistic.
 
macmahon70 said:
I am considering to buy the MBA or MBP but I just don't get why I have to pay 1200 bucks for a machine that has not the muscle of a 600$ PC/laptop equipped with a decent graphic card (7470) and able to play Diablo 3.
When I bought my Mac Book in 2007, I was happy but discovered that I could not run any games on it (it was an Intel 945). That was quite frustrating. Then last year I was fed up an bought a desktop equipped with windows 7 and a decent graphic card.
So if I want to run Diablo III well, and go for a Mac, I understand that I would better buy an MBP 15 which will cost me 1700$ (price of an Alienware or high end gaming laptop).
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You won't find a $600 laptop that will be able to play games properly.
 
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