Is MacBook Air Good for Gaming? ( For the Macs Lovers)
Contents
I recently went through a very appealing question about gaming on MacBook. I’d like to share it with you. The question is as follows. “Is MacBook Air good for gaming? So, in my first comfort, I sat down at my MacBook to write such an amazing masterpiece, especially for the gamers who love Macs. I assure you that it would be a fantastic help for them. So let’s move on to the question.
Gaming and MacBooks, both of them never have good terms with each other. The reason is that Macs mainly aim at professional players and gamers. So they are built very authentically and much of the focus is put on program optimization rather than on the sore hardware vigor that is required for gaming.
MacBook Air is not admiring stuff that unwavering gaming but yeah, a non-gamer or a mediocre gamer may buy it who only hit that game by chance for leisure and fun. MacBook Air has low settings, but certainly, you can play games including many modern games on it. But with Mac Air, your gaming craves could not be satisfied if you are a pro gamer as it is not that advanced.
There are a lot of reasons for that and we would go through a detailed overview of all that reasons so that your confusion about whether MacBook Air is good for gaming could be cleared.
So let’s start,
Is MacBook Air Good for Gaming?
Rather than being straightforward, giving a reply to your question is simply “yes” or “no”, it would be better to have knowledge about how M1 Air is dealing with games as a whole.
Gaming on MacBook Air 2020 M1
In gaming, graphics is known as a king, and in MacAir 2020, there is a revolutionary M1 chip packed with it that boasts an 8-cored GPU and guarantees improved and 5x faster graphics performance. But honestly, it’s just boasting.
Let’s know what the truth is!
For checking the performance of the MacBook Air, I started testing it with the top-of-the-line Mac optimized games but the result was not satisfying as only a few games operated with good graphics and gave the desired result.
Otherwise, in other games, I have to sacrifice the graphics and it didn’t give that joy to satisfy the gaming craves. To enjoy the game, I have to gear back to the graphic setting time by time.
Games Where MacBook Air is Average or Perhaps Bad
When I was testing those top games that are Mac optimized, there’s how some of them gave results.
- Civilization 6— For this game, medium or even at the high settings, one’d hardly get FPS over 27 or max 29 whereas at least 30 FPS are ideal for the game.
- League of Legends-— For this game, at the lowest setting, FPS would be about 90. Moreover, for the native resolution ( 2560×1600), on the highest game setting, the frame rate would be about 65 to 70. Also, there would be some drops in the game at times.
When playing the game on lower resolution (1650 x 1050) or the lowest say, 720p, you would experience FPS near 90 when on the highest setting and over 120 on the lowest. In short, the performance of the game varies with the game settings ( both in and out)
- Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor— For this game, FPS hardly gets past 20 (on average) for the medium and also highest settings. However, for the lowest setting, the average frame rate will be around 25.
- Counter-Strike: GO—This game runs pretty good in the lowest setting but on the medium setting regardless of the resolution on which you are playing the game, you’ll notice stutters and FPS drops. And also at the lowest settings and native resolution there, you’ll hardly get an FPS of about 50.
- Fornite—- This game is not fully optimized for Macs yet, but the game runs OK on M1 Air at the lowest setting. Regarding FPS, you will enjoy around 60 or 70 but there are also some mighty slips and dips but they would not drop under 40. So, if you enjoy games with basic settings, you can surely play the game.
Considering all the results, it is clear that if you are kind with the screen resolution and also the game settings, then surely Mac Air performs the best for all AAA games but if you are a performance-hungry gamer, it’s would not be satisfying.
Games Where MacBook Air Does Well
Also, there are games that operate well on MacBook Air and they might also be called MacBook Air Games.
These are,
- Apple’s dearest Arcade games
- Oceanhorn 2
- Mini Motorway
- Alba and a lot more other ones.
They just play excellent on MacBook Air 2020.
But if want to play Silicon-optimized games on MacBook Air, then you would have to stay mild and kind to the settings (i.e. on the medium or lowest screen resolution and also game settings.
Till now, we have not clarified your question, “ Is MacBook Air 2020 good for Gaming?”. For that, let’s have a deeper insight into the facts.
Is the New MacBook Air M1 Good for Gaming or Not?
Considering all the facts, I’d surely say NO.
Yeah, M1 Mac Air can run all the mac-optimized games staying kind with the settings and graphics. But from the gamer’s point of view, it doesn’t give a satisfying performance. So passionate gamers must not opt for them.
But if you hit a game by chance, and play it only for leisure and to relieve work fatigue, you can surely play it as in that case you not going to pay heed to FPS, ray-tracing, DLSS, etc.
Let’s have look at the reasons why MacAir is not good for gaming.
Reasons Why Apple MacBook Air is Not Preferred for Top-Level Gaming
It’s obvious from the above that Macs are not well known for being good gaming machines. But on the other hand, Apple is a well-known professional-oriented brand. So, here I’m a bit confused.
Whatsoever, I’ve summed up some reasons why MacBook Airs are not good for serious and passionate gamers.
1. Most Games are for x64 and x86 Platforms
The key reason why the M1 Macs are not the best gaming is the lack of perfectly optimized Silicon games as most of the games are optimized for 32-bit ( x86) and 64-bit ( x64) platforms. Now, most of them have been to Apple Silicon but also that they are not optimized for that platform.
Still, there are games that are not postured for the new and advanced setup due to which you are not able to play every game on M1 Mac.
2. No Discrete GPU Setup
A dedicated and discrete GPU setup is a very important and must thing even for AAA-level gaming but it’s missing in MacBook Air.
However, in M1 Air 2020 there is an 8-cored GPU and the graphic performance is almost 80% improved. It has a classy graphic setup and the visuals on the screen are very eye-satisfying. But still, this configuration is not well optimized for games. Yeah, it may be good for other work but can’t afford much gaming stress.
3. Fan-less Designs
In most of the latest MacBooks, there are fan-less interiors. This innovation, no doubt guarantees noiselessness and serenity during use.
According to Apple, Silicon is a powerful setup and can remain even under some harsh pressures. Yeah, you can install a game and also enjoy it to your fullest but once you go a some more severe, that bad burn would be felt.
So, with very basic settings you can enjoy it.
4. Non-Gaming Keyboards
Although Keyboard is not a very necessary thing, it really matters a lot and the keyboards of Mac are not good for perfect gaming. In the latest Macs, the feature of the dross butterfly mechanism is missing and has scissor mechanism keyboards that do not play a good role in gaming.
Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)
Should We Wait for the 2022 MacBook Air?
Yeah, I can say that your wait for the MacBook Air 2022 may be worthwhile because the new version may have an advanced M1 chip or also may have the M2 processor.
Is Gaming on MacBook all OK?
No, MacBook Air is not perfect for gaming as a multicore processor and dedicated graphics are critical for the best gaming but it’s not in the MacBook as it has a 60Hz display.
Is MacBook Air a Touch Screen?
No, there is no touchscreen in the MacBook Air but yes, it has an amazing touchpad that you would forget the touchscreen,
Wrap up
So, the question, “Is MacBook Air good for gaming?” has the answer that it can be used for gaming but to a small extent. It’s not suitable for critical gamers. So, logically the answer favors less in Yes and more in No.
Mentioning this time and again, Macs are actually not designed for gaming purposes as they are only mobile workstations. They don’t have gaming-ideal ancillary hardware potency.
One may use them to relieve work fatigue or even for leisure purposes but it’s not designed for passionate gamers. The premium and demanding games don’t work perfectly on Macs. But if you dare to sacrifice your graphics crave, then no doubt you can enjoy playing on it.
But if you are planning to make Mac, your gaming machine, then I’d suggest you to buy 16 inch MacBook Pro. It features a dedicated chip and it comes with Intel Core i7 and 9th Gen CPU. As compared to other MacBooks, this one will show you its brilliant performance.
Also Read: Best Gaming Laptops Under $1200
