[Vibri]

Have just ordered one of these, and wondering if anyone has experience with this generation (supposedly much faster graphics?) of MBA and gaming?

I hear it can play Diablo 3 on high settings at native resolution which seems plenty good, but maybe people have had other experiences.

[Lyphen]

Diablo 3 at mid to low settings and sub-resolution at 30FPS, actually.

[Cursed Frogurt]

Use headphones, because the fans on the Airs are loud. I have a 2010 model and it handles Diablo 3 pretty darned well.

[pramath]

I'd BootCamp it.

[lunch]

I have a 2012 Macbook Air, so I'm just going to post my response from a similar question in the Mac Hardware thread:

I've seen some videos of people playing games on Airs, but even at 1366x768 with the settings on low, Half-Life 2 ran pretty awfully. There are other games I tried, like Trine and Bastion, that run well, but cause the fans to run extremely loudly, and unless the Air is your only computer capable of running games, I don't think the loud fans are worth it.

Unless you're primarily an adventure game player, the Air isn't suitable for gaming.

[Felix Lighter]

I tested out a level of StarCraft 2. Very playable at native resolution med/low settings.

[SirIgbyCeaser]

If you got yourself a new macbook pro on the other hand. You could play pretty much any mac game at great speeds.

[twentytwo22]

I play PSO2 on my MacBook Air. The fans run pretty loud, but it handles the game like a champ on low settings.

[laika09]

I have a 2012 Macbook Air, so I'm just going to post my response to a similar question in the Mac Hardware thread: I've seen some videos of people playing games on Airs, but even at 1366x768 with the settings on low, Half-Life 2 ran pretty awfully. There are other games I tried, like Trine and Bastion, that run well, but cause the fans to run extremely loudly, and unless the Air is your only computer capable of running games, I don't think the loud fans are worth it. Unless you're primarily an adventure game player, the Air isn't suitable for gaming.

I have a 2011 Air (HD 3000) running Half-Life 2 at 1080p (external display, which is actually 2560x1440) with these settings:



And 60+ fps. (I don't know how to measure frame rate in OSX but it's buttery smooth.)

Anyway I'm sure you could do much better than that with the HD 4000.

[Ashhong]

Use headphones, because the fans on the Airs are loud. I have a 2010 model and it handles Diablo 3 pretty darned well.

Actually pretty quiet so far on the 2012.

I have a 2011 Air (HD 3000) running Half-Life 2 at 1080p with these settings: http://i.imgur.com/scLBj.png And 60+ fps. (I don't know how to measure frame rate in OSX but it's buttery smooth.) Anyway I'm sure you could do much better than that with the HD 4000.

No fucking way. 60fps+ on an external 1080p monitor?

[pramath]

If you got yourself a new macbook pro on the other hand. You could play pretty much any mac game at great speeds.

I got a Macbook Pro late 2011 about a month or so ago. With BootCamp, it pretty much runs everything ^__^

[laika09]

Actually pretty quiet so far on the 2012. No fucking way. 60fps+ on an external 1080p monitor?

No antialiasing, no advanced shaders, really nothing that does more than use empty video memory.

I played around with sliders until I got something perfectly smooth. Anyone know a FPS counter for OSX?

[Ceebs]

Yeah the HD 4000 is pretty capable for an integrated solution.

[jack.]

Intel HD Graphics 4000 shouldn't have any trouble running Half Life 2.

[lunch]

I have a 2011 Air (HD 3000) running Half-Life 2 at 1080p (external display, which is actually 2560x1440) with these settings: And 60+ fps. (I don't know how to measure frame rate in OSX but it's buttery smooth.) Anyway I'm sure you could do much better than that with the HD 4000.

I've seen so many videos of people running Source games at high resolutions, but Half-Life 2 ran so poorly for me that I didn't bother to try anything else out. Obviously I can't speak to anyone else's experience, and it could just be a problem with my computer, but it was a really poor experience. I'm actually tempted to reinstall it and see if I can get it working.

[Timan]

If you want the best performance, use bootcamp (is a hassle, but man games run like 10x better).

I've only played DoD:S on the new 13" air, and it runs with every maxed silky smooth. Not really anything else to test with tho.

[laika09]

I've seen so many videos of people running Source games at high resolutions, but Half-Life 2 ran so poorly for me that I didn't bother to try anything else out. Obviously I can't speak to anyone else's experience, and it could just be a problem with my computer, but it was a really poor experience. I'm actually tempted to reinstall it and see if I can get it working.

You'll notice I turned basically everything off, except higher quality textures. Truth be told I was pretty disappointed in its performance at first, but it scaled down really well. Portal 2 is the exact same way.

[Vigilant Walrus]

HL2 Bootcamp has massive performance benefits over Native OSX right?



It will be interesting to hear about the fan noise on ivy bridge (2012 model).

[Felix Lighter]

If you want the best performance, use bootcamp (is a hassle, but man games run like 10x better). I've only played DoD:S on the new 13" air, and it runs with every maxed silky smooth. Not really anything else to test with tho.

I was thinking about getting a 2.5" drive usb 3 enclosure and a 120 GB SSD to install Windows on. It's my understanding that boot camp doesn't currently support installing windows on an external usb 3 drive, though.

[Ashhong]

No antialiasing, no advanced shaders, really nothing that does more than use empty video memory. I played around with sliders until I got something perfectly smooth. Anyone know a FPS counter for OSX?

I have tried those settings at a lower resolution with piss poor results.

Open the console in game and type net_graph 3. It will show the FPS

[Vibri]

I'm quite happy to play at lower settings etc if most games run smoothly, which it sounds like they do. Yay, time to set up the old Steam account!

[Cursed Frogurt]

Actually pretty quiet so far on the 2012.

I forgot that the 12 has the new fan blade layout that they used for the Retinas.

[laika09]

I have tried those settings at a lower resolution with piss poor results. Open the console in game and type net_graph 3. It will show the FPS

Thanks for the tip. Dunno what to tell you though. It gets as low as high 30s with a lot of stuff on screen (and cinematics) but it's idling around 70 in the train station.

I was thinking about getting a 2.5" drive usb 3 enclosure and a 120 GB SSD to install Windows on. It's my understanding that boot camp doesn't currently support installing windows on an external usb 3 drive, though.

This is correct.

[Mutagenic]

I'd be curious to hear how Dota2 runs.

[fna84]

I'd be curious to hear how Dota2 runs.

Same, Dota 2 is pretty much my GAME OF THE YEAR!

[patsu]

I just got a MBA 2012 last week. Glad to see this thread pop up !

[Vigilant Walrus]

Same, Dota 2 is pretty much my GAME OF THE YEAR!

Guild Wars 2 it is for me!

[DUFFMCWALIN]

I got a Macbook Pro late 2011 about a month or so ago. With BootCamp, it pretty much runs everything ^__^

Same here. It runs everything fucking amazing through boot camp.

[Cudder]

Shit I remember playing Crysis on my 2008 MacBook Pro on medium settings at 30fps. Good times.

[Kenshin001]

Interested in trying games on my Air. Do people use controllers plugged in or kb/m? Kind of used to using a controller now so wondering what good games are compatible.

[Shalashaska161]

I was thinking about getting a 2.5" drive usb 3 enclosure and a 120 GB SSD to install Windows on. It's my understanding that boot camp doesn't currently support installing windows on an external usb 3 drive, though.

That's too bad I have a 64gig USB 3.0 stick just begging to be used as a windows partition on the Air I'll order soon. Any idea if this is something they will address with the new OS or am I out of luck?

[Ingueferroque]

I got a Retina Macbook Pro with 16GB Ram, since there are no official Bootcamp drivers yet I have not been able to install Windows yet.. from past experience, just about any game runs much smoother in Windows. So keep that in mind, especially for Blizzard's latest games.

That's too bad I have a 64gig USB 3.0 stick just begging to be used as a windows partition on the Air I'll order soon. Any idea if this is something they will address with the new OS or am I out of luck?

A 64gig USB 3.0 stick?! Didn't know that existed... is it this one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220553

It would be amazing to use for Bootcamp.

[laika09]

That's too bad I have a 64gig USB 3.0 stick just begging to be used as a windows partition on the Air I'll order soon. Any idea if this is something they will address with the new OS or am I out of luck?

Boot Camp is not a high priority, so unlikely. But assuming you don't want to run Crysis 4, you could try setting up a VM on the USB stick and running it through Parallels -- gaming performance is adequate for non-bleeding-edge games. (Some weird mouse issues occasionally though.)

[kittens]

I saw this thread and spent 20 minutes searching the OT and Google News thinking that Apple announced a new Macbook Air or something. Dumb me. :-|

[Mr. F]

I've seen so many videos of people running Source games at high resolutions, but Half-Life 2 ran so poorly for me that I didn't bother to try anything else out. Obviously I can't speak to anyone else's experience, and it could just be a problem with my computer, but it was a really poor experience. I'm actually tempted to reinstall it and see if I can get it working.

Yeah I've had a mixed bag of experiences with Source games. Portal 2 runs great for me, while TF2 has a tendency to chug at times (never mind the several minutes it takes to connect to servers).

[Ingueferroque]

Yeah I've had a mixed bag of experiences with Source games. Portal 2 runs great for me, while TF2 has a tendency to chug at times (never mind the several minutes it takes to connect to servers).

What's with that? TF2 screams for me, but it takes FOREVER to connect to servers. And why doesn't Valve allow me to skip servers with custom content? Strange.

[lunch]

Yeah I've had a mixed bag of experiences with Source games. Portal 2 runs great for me, while TF2 has a tendency to chug at times (never mind the several minutes it takes to connect to servers).

Are you running Bootcamp? It seems like people have better luck when playing over Windows, but all of the games I've tried have been natively running in OSX. If Portal 2 runs well in OSX I might reinstall it.

[Shalashaska161]

A 64gig USB 3.0 stick?! Didn't know that existed... is it this one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220553

Nope I got this one from NCIX: http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=62...d&promoid=1035

I haven't even gotten to use it in a USB 3.0 port yet, until I get my Air I don't own any devices with a 3.0 port on it. I'm anxious to try it out!

Boot Camp is not a high priority, so unlikely. But assuming you don't want to run Crysis 4, you could try setting up a VM on the USB stick and running it through Parallels -- gaming performance is adequate for non-bleeding-edge games. (Some weird mouse issues occasionally though.)

Ya I mostly just want to use it for playing the occasional indie game on the go, I've already got a gaming rig for the Crysis's of the world. Running it through a VM isn't exactly ideal but it would probably work well enough for the type of game I intend to play on it. I'd rather have a native install, but what can ya do.

[JavyOO7]

Hey OP, I would recommend that if you have any games you want to play then bootcamp and play your games on Windows partition. My best example is Dungeon Defenders. Plays great on Windows and just fine on Mac. Some slow down here and there for the Mac version too. And I have Mac Mini from last year with the HD 3000 and supposedly the HD 4000 you got on your Air is pretty good so you should be fine. Especially with titles like Diablo and SC2 I think.

Buy Dungeon Defenders. (:

[Mr. F]

What's with that? TF2 screams for me, but it takes FOREVER to connect to servers. And why doesn't Valve allow me to skip servers with custom content? Strange.

No idea, on both accounts. It seems to be a reasonably widespread problem and known issue across the OSX community but every time I've sought out a solution it's hit a dead end pretty quick. Probably the one real thing that irks me about Valve.

Are you running Bootcamp? It seems like people have better luck when playing over Windows, but all of the games I've tried have been natively running in OSX. If Portal 2 runs well in OSX I might reinstall it.

I am running Bootcamp, though I haven't used it in a while. I have yet to try TF2 on it, maybe I'll give it a shot. To be fair, after a few minutes in the game the stuttering seems to ease up - performance issues seem to come and go, especially around patches - it's just the minutes to load into a server that gets tiresome.