Hello everyone. Just as a foreword, this is all pure conjecture since the game is out and nobody has any idea about how it will perform on any system. That said, how do we expect it to run on the various models. My main question centers around the 2010 11 inch models, as it seems likely that the 2010 1.86 c2d will likely have enough to do at least minimum settings. What do the rest of you think?
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Speculation: 2010+2011 mba's and Diablo 3
- Thread starter ricowatatsu
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I've never tried playing games on the 2010 MacBook Airs because i've never owned one, but I play Starcraft 2 on medium settings at 30 fps all the time on my 2011 13 inch Air. and I think it's limited going to higher settings more because it has to share RAM with the CPU more than slow GPU speeds.
I think Diablo 3 will probably behave comparably, but of course it's impossible to say until we see it released.
I think Diablo 3 will probably behave comparably, but of course it's impossible to say until we see it released.
Why don't you leave, troll? Isn't your time spent better doing something other than lurking on the MacBook Air section trying to tell us it is poor at gaming?
They will run it extremely playably on low to mid settings.
I think people will be pleseantly surprised, because think about D3 and compare them to other games such as a first person shooter or other role playing games. The main difference is that D3 is set on an almost two dimensional field, meanwhile most games we play today are set in a 3D structure, which is also free and open. Based on what we see thus far it may look pretty but when you get down to the technical aspect of the game is much simpler then other 3D games. Once you load an area of D3 then it's loaded, and there is no need to task the CPU. The rest of the game play stems directly from the GPU. Particle effects, shadows, and texture quality will directly relate to this.
To answer the question. I think both the 2011 and 2010 MBA will be able to play D3 and the FPS will be directly linked to the quality of visuals you want to see. We will find out soon when beta starts.
To answer the question. I think both the 2011 and 2010 MBA will be able to play D3 and the FPS will be directly linked to the quality of visuals you want to see. We will find out soon when beta starts.
Extremely playable? What does that mean? And what do you base this on, soothsayer?
The real answer is it may be playable, and if it is it probably won't be unless it is on low settings. This based on the idea that it requires slightly more umph than Starcraft 2. No one knows for sure what the requirements will be, but this is the best estimate.
He isn't trolling. The MacBook Air with its HD3000 is going to struggle to play modern games and to say anything different is misleading. If it can play future games it will be at very low settings, at very low resolutions, and you will probably not experience the game in the way it was meant to be played by the developers. If that is fine with you, like it is with me, you can go bananas and win awards or eat a hat or whatever it is you do to express happiness. Stating that the MacBook Air will be "EXTREMELY" capable, whatever that means, of playing future games is like saying a toaster is capable of flight if you are able to throw it hard enough.
The final word on gaming is:
If it has came out in the last 5 years the Air can play it, and sometimes surprising well. If it is coming out in the next year, the Air will probably be able to play it, but at settings you probably wouldn't want to wish to view your girlfriend at alright?
Man, if you actually read what I said in the gaming thread, you'll see I was standing up for the Air whilst that character 2IS was ripping it. I love my Air, and it plays Trine (one of the few games i play on it) pretty nicely, but it seriously struggles whenever you bump the anti-aliasing or anistropic filtering on anything above "off".
I'm just giving you an honest opinion. I've got better things to do than sit around convincing the world that the MacBook Air is not a gaming computer, which to me is fairly self-evident.
Define gaming computer. To me, a gaming computer plays any game I'd want to play including new gen games.
Maybe you're referring to using Ultimate Settings in games on big chunky laptops. That's cool but that's not gaming. That's benchmarking for the sake of... Dunno.
I haven't found a single game I can't play on my Air yet. So... ?
I'd define it as a notebook with dedicated graphics and a cooling design that's meant to keep it cool during long gaming stints. Something like an Alienware (from Dell) or an Asus G-Series or even the Macbook Pro models with dedicated graphics. I hope this helps.
Edit: oh and it'd have to be capable of running games with an constant fps of at least 30 on medium-ish settings.
I'd define it as a notebook with dedicated graphics and a cooling design that's meant to keep it cool during long gaming stints. Something like an Alienware (from Dell) or an Asus G-Series or even the Macbook Pro models with dedicated graphics. I hope this helps.
Edit: oh and it'd have to be capable of running games with an constant fps of at least 30 on medium-ish settings.
I tend to agree with this definition of a gaming computer. But that is not to mean that computers that don't fall into that category aren't capable of playing games.
I don't think the definition of a gaming computer can be widely disputed. Essentially it is a computer that is built with the primary purpose of playing video games. This can include a dedicated graphics solution, large amount of RAM, and sufficient cooling utilities. The MBA does not have these as a primary function, but that does not mean people cannot play games on them. They are primarily portable machines and built with that function in mind. People sacrifice the quality of their gameplay to gain the function of being able to play games at all. I don't see why people have such a righteous attitude when they see people playing games on the MBA and rush to tell them that they are wrong. Get over it! If you disagree and have nothing to contribute to such discussions then move on. Whenever a gaming topic on this forum gets brought up it gets so derailed that it becomes useless.
+1
At least they can put a GT540m 1GB in the 2011 mbp/mba
really nice price-to-performance ratio
but srsly if u want cheap game device just buy a PS3, but be noted that a PS3 only renders game environment with max AA and texture for a short distance. far objects are rendered with min settings
where as a computer renders everything
No? I'm pretty sure that playing any game on any hardware is classified as gaming.
Benchmarking is benchmarking.
Let's not talk rubbish for the sake of winning an argument that only exists in your head.
I was not arguing that you could not play games on the MacBook Air, just that it will not do it to a particularly high standard. Whether that's an issue for you or not is entirely down to your perceive to be acceptable.