Gaming on MacBook Air: FPS Recommendations?

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Gaming on MacBook Air: FPS Recommendations?

I like single-player first-person shooter games (like Call of Duty, First to Fight, Quake series), but the reviews of these games seem to suggest that you need way more computing power than a MacBook Air. Does anyone have experience playing a good FPS on a (late 2010) MacBook Air? Any recommendations on smooth-running games? Which ones to avoid?

Note on First to Fight: This game played without a hiccup on my PowerBook G4, driving a 20" Cinema Display, so there must be at least a few games like it that run well on the MBA. I don't need the latest and greatest, but I'd like to get some idea of what my machine is capable of, and what graphics-intensive FPS games might run well on it. (Yeah yeah, Wolfenstein - beat you to it.) 😝

Posted on Jun 17, 2011 12:03 AM

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Answer 1

JasonFear

Level 5

4,965 points

Jun 17, 2011 1:54 PM in response to Mr. Mellow

It'll run Doom. 😁

All kidding aside. I'd go so far as to say that the NVIDIA GeForce 320M (with 4GB of system RAM) is the best shared GPU that Apple has ever shipped on their computers, to date. Yeah, I like it even better than the Intel HD 3000 on the current 13" MBPs.

That being said, in both benchmarking and real world tests those two GPUs come out pretty "neck and neck" which is quite tragic considering the Intel HD 3000 is suppose to be the "newer and better" tech that was partnered with the i5 & i7 CPUs.

You're not going to be able to run high/max settings on any of those FPS games. Keep in mind that although much older, that G4 still had a dedicated GPU and a pretty good in its day. Shared GPUs are a whole different animal and are notoriously clunky for demanding games, or games with a lot of particle effects and environment detail.

If you're a gamer and gaming is a primary hobby/passion on your computer than I strongly encourage you to make the move to the 15" MBP or an iMac (if portability is unnecessary). While the MBA is a very capable machine, even one that is capable of handling games, you're either going to suffer in the FPS or have to reduce the visuals and to me the visuals are sometimes half the reason I enjoy playing the game in the first place.

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