MacBook Air 2011 Games

Hi! I am looking to purchase a small laptop for school tomorrow and I think that the new 11" MBA suits my needs perfectly. I would also like to play some games which on their listed requirements have the HD 3000 listed. However as the HD 3000 is hugely dependant on the CPU will the 1.6GHz CPU be enough? These are the games that I have found:

Portal 2
Team Fortress 2
Counter strike : Source

Also has anyone tried the Mac version of League Of Legends on the new MBA?

Thanks

EDIT: Finally I decided to get a Macbook Pro because of its faster CPU (will upgrade to SSD soon) xD

 

I'd like to know the answer to this as well.

 

Well I'trying to justify if it is with spending £1000 on the MBA instead on the Vaio S because I like the MBA a lot more especially due to it's SSD and I would only play light games on it ( I will use my home PC to play games). Minecraft should work easily right?

 

Tried a full mobile sandy bridge quadcore i7-2720QM paired with the highest clock intel hd 3000 and only manage to avg between 40-45fps on cs source.

Might be a bad news for the MBA because the sandy bridge cpu on it is a ULV and the intel hd 3000 on it is weaker and lowered clock.

 

Ok thanks....i might not get Counter Strike anyways Do you have any idea about Portal 2 and League of Legends because those are the games that I will mostly play

 

Please can anyone help me? I need to get the laptop tomorrow..

 

If you want an Air for gaming on Windows, get the 2010 model because it performs better in terms of framerate in most games and the price will be lower. You won't really know any differences between the notebooks unless you do a lot of video encoding or prefer back-lit keyboards.

 

Don't get the MBA for gaming, that is the general rule of thumb as it is a thin and light ultra portable notebook designed to give you alright performance in an extremely small package. I can already tell you that it will have issues playing Portal 2. I tried that on my 13" MBP (which has better specs than the highest end 2011 MBA) at the native resolution and it went along alright. It wasn't anything too spectacular as the settings were pretty low but it was playable. I actually think it looks worse than the Xbox 360 version.

Trying to play that game on a 13" MBA at the native resolution (which is higher than my 13" MBP) will be extremely difficult. Even the 2010 MBA has issues with Portal 2. Essentially you should look elsewhere if you really want a light gaming notebook. If you really, really, really want something in the 11" category, I would recommend the Alienware M11x. It is much larger than the 11" MBA but still a lot smaller than the majority of notebooks out there and it is more than capable when it comes to playing games using the Half-Life 2 engine. The Core i5 versions cost about the same as an 11" MBA (starting at $999 but the $1049 version is worth the upgrade for the 500GB hard drive alone) and have much more capable GPUs in them (though the MBA line has slightly better processors).

I also doubt you are going to find anyone here with a new MBA playing these games now (hence no help by tomorrow) since that system was released just a few days ago. It takes time for people to buy these and even longer for other to put them through their paces.

The MBA is a fine machine but the only light gaming it can really do (just from judging the specs and reviews of other ultra portable notebooks with the same hardware) is on older titles. I think it would be best to either give up the idea of gaming on it and get the MBA or stick with the gaming and go with another system.

 

So basically for some light gaming it will be much better to get the Sony Vaio SB right?

 

It depends on the specs. The answer would be yes if it had a more powerful CPU in combination with the HD3000 or a similarly classed CPU with a dedicated GPU (or a better integrated GPU). The answer would be no if it had the same specs.

 

Actually I have changed my plans a little bit I will use my home pc for real gaming (as I already do) and use the Air for school purpouses aswell as some very light gaming (mainly Minecraft xD).

Regarding its use for school (Never used Mac OS before) : Is it possible to program Java as much as it is possible on Windows?

Thanks

 

I don't know about Java but I am sure there are some programming applications out there for Mac OS X. Java is supposed to be universal across Windows, Unix (which Mac OS X falls under), and Linux so you shouldn't run into any issues. Someone else will have to chime in on that front though as I don't program for Java.

 

Super easy to do Java on Mac OS X... just use Eclipse or NetBeans or whatever else you want. Java is specifically made to NOT be platform specific, and there are several IDEs out there made for several platforms.

 

Thanks a lot for the help I found out that Eclipse is compatible with Mac so I should be safe xD.

 

I have the 2010 11” 128/4 MBA and have actually found it fantastic for light gaming. I played through many games (Mass Effect 2, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light) on it without a problem and just last night I was running Portal 2 on my 23” external monitor at 1920x1080 on medium settings for over an hour without any hiccups at all. Of the many games I’ve tried on it, there haven’t been many that it doesn’t run well, and it’s a very capable machine for light gaming. I actually replaced an Alienware M11x with the MBA, and there weren’t many games the M11x could run that the MBA couldn’t run well. I don’t know how the 2011 model with the Intel HD 3000 fares, but I think you’d be as pleasantly surprised as I was with the 2010 model.

 

Funny you mentioned this... I did the same thing and was thinking about getting the M11x R3. However, I realized I only play about 4-5 hours of games per week and most games I play seem to work well. I know most gamers need to have 30 or more frames per second to be acceptable, but I am okay with at least 20-22 minimum considering I am playing on an Air. I just did some testing tonight on Batman AA using the built in Benchmark and got 49 FPS Avg on 1368x768, No vertical sync or AA, medium quality. I also ran fraps playing Crysis 2 at 1024x600 with the lowest setting and got about 25 fps. I used gamebooster which helps gain a few extra frames. Not bad for a 2010 Macbook Air!

 

I decided to get the Macbook Pro as I liked it more when I went to the Apple Store xD So far it has been running games quite well however I would like to know if there is a way to improve gaming on it

Thanks

 

I dunno how you can improve the Intel HD 3000 other than lowering settings or resolution to get playable fps.

 

practice practice practice ....

 

Thanks anyways for the replies So there isnt a way to overclock an HD3000 on Mac? (Sorry but I'm new to Mac )

 

the GMA 3000 is a pitiful excuse for a GPU (my laptop has one). even paired with a quad core i7, it is really slow.

CS:S is playable, TF2 kinda a bit choppy, l4d2 even worse

^at native 1080p

 

Yep, tested it also with a i7 2720QM quad on an m14x and a i7 2620 dual core ThinkPad t420 both laptops running intel hd 3000. It can barely run WoW on fair settings, and you have to go to lowest settings to get smooth fps. Even the Geforce 310m is faster than a quadcore sandy bridge paired with inel hd 3000.

I tried explaining it somewhere on the new macbook pro 13 gaming thread and the new owners are in denial because the intel hd 3000 is really slower than the old 2010 Macbook Pro with the 320m in gaming.

 

in Windows... yes, the 320m wins easy. In Mac OS X, its odd it can be slower but give me higher FPS in a few games...

 

I still see asking about gaming on an MBA almost bizarre; it's like asking about running in Bostonian dress shoes. It physically can be done, but for the money (over $1000), it's literally the worst option on the market I can think of. If you are willing to sacrifice style and/or portability even a small amount for a dash of gaming ability, there are a lot better options. The Vaio SA and the Asus U36jc are my go-to recommendations for people who want a dash of gaming in their portability-oriented laptop.

 

of course buying it for gaming is not a good option... I think most people want to buy it for many many things, but want to be able to play some games too. Going to a different laptop might improve the gaming, but bring major negatives in other areas that matter too.

 

My 2010 11" MBA has more gaming power than the Asus U36jc you recommended, and the 2011 11" MBA should be in the same ballpark as the Asus. How is that the worst option?

I didn't buy the MBA specifically for playing games. I got it because I needed something very small and light for traveling and it was the best in its size class and not ridiculously priced. I was surprised by its gaming performance and I've ended up playing more games on it than I expected. Similarly, I don't think other MBA buyers consider gaming their #1 priority, but it's something to consider in the tradeoffs.

The VAIO SA is a nice machine, but it's A LOT more expensive than the MBA here, and it doesn't run Mac OS.

 

Didn't know that the 2010 MBA has a 320M. Actually much more impressive than I thought it had. Regardless, the original poster is looking at a 2011 MBA, which takes a huge step back on the GPU front from the 2010 MBA. The Asus has a standard voltage 2.53GHz Core i5 and a GeForce 310M. How is that not better for WoW than a 1.6 GHz Core i5 with Intel 3000 graphics?

I wouldn't suggest either the U36jc or the Vaio SA for people where gaming was their #1 priority (that's what the Alienware M11x is for, right?). I know it's not the original poster's #1 priority. Both the Asus and the Vaio still place a primary emphasis on portability, not gaming. But with standard-voltage CPUs and discrete GPUs, they are vastly more capable of gaming. Doesn't mean it's their primary purpose, but they're a lot better at it than a 2011 MBA. They are still ultraportables first and foremost, but they place a few fewer eggs in the ultraportability basket and a few more eggs in the well-rounded basket than the MBA does.

The Vaio SA is $1249 in the States with a core i5, 4 GB ram, a 900p screen, and 6630M. That's $50 more than the upgraded 11" MBA and $50 less than the base 13" MBA. I don't know whether the original poster is in the US or Australia. In the US, the Vaio SA is very good value.

Obviously if the OP wanted the MBA because of the operating system, it doesn't matter if the Vaio weighs one ounce, outperforms a Sager, and runs on nothing but carbon dioxide for 36 hours at a time. Some people, though, go for the MBA primarily because of other reasons (portability, etc) and are flexible about operating system so long as the computer meets their needs. I don't know which better describes the original poster.

 

Lab tests: Build-to-order Core i7 MacBook Airs | Laptops | From the Lab | Macworld

pretty great Portal 2 performance IMO

 

I dont own an mba but league of legends is a poor port for os x sadly.
I was able to average around 50-60fps on high settings with my system in mac os x. I consider it extremely poor peformance considering how bad the graphics actually is. On windows i am getting stable 100+.
Sure its playable for me and i dont complain but its "high", not "ultra".

TLDR: you might be able to run LoL under Win7 but i dont think it will run in mac os with new air.

p.s. if you will be trying Lol in mac os make sure to download latest version of Adobe Air (its free), latest gfx drivers, and disable vsync. Also playing in windowed mode sometimes increase fps. Till i DLed Adobe air i had 20 fps.

 

I ended up getting a Macbook Pro and as you say, League of Legends is quite a poor port. On Starcraft I get about 60-70fps however on League of Legends(less demanding than Starcraft 2) I only get around 30fps

 

Check the edit under p.s., maybe it will help a bit =)

 

I thought LoL is not yet officially supported on the Mac and al the beta clients floating around are all very unoptimized Cider ports? Cider/Wine based ports can be fine, if they spend the time to make sure, but most companies do the bare minimum.. and it works, so they just go with it without making sure it works well.

 

well, at least a part of mac community is happy so its better then nothing.
It updates fine and generally runs without any glitches. Just slower then on win7.