Hi,
I recently bout a MacBook Air 13¨ and upgraded to OS X MountainLion 10.8, then installed Diablo III. After 5 minutes of playing the fan starts working like crazy and it goes up and up and it doesn't stop until I quit the game. I take it is the video card but I can't be certain.
So any ideas guys? Does a MacBook Air seem good to play a HD game like Diablo or did I scr** up?
Thanks!
Alejandro
MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion
Diablo
In spanish that translates to 'devil'. There could very well be a correlation. (I could be wrong and it would not be the first time)
HD Games, regardless of their name, will put more load on the processor, creating more heat and causing the fan to run.
Fantastic yet useless answer. Thanks!
Hi Meg,
I know that, but I'm asking specifics here: is a Macbook air 13¨ good enough to run Diablo III? Is my videocard good enough to run without overheating? Obvious answer seems to be no at this point, but I'm still hoping someone will say something different...
If the fan is running and the MBA isn't shutting down, it's not overheating. Is the MBA an ideal gaming rig? No.
I still think I won't expose it to this. I'd rather install DIII in a conventional windows desktop than overheat this one.
Thanks Meg
Is there anyone that has had the same problem around?
I think that is the prudent thing to do. I remember more than a few lost weekends playing D1. Could get to be a bit much for the machine.
I don't think most people buy MBAs with the intent to do more than some casual gaming on them. I could be wrong but I pretty much stick to very light games on mine.
Diablo III is a demanding game - like any other 3D game. The fans are running to cool the computer - that's their job. Playing the game on my iMac also results in the fans running. Interestingly, my PC fans are always running but I don't worry that somethings wrong. Rumor has it Steve Jobs hated fans and insisted that Macs be built so that fans would run as little as possible - which means Mac users today tend to think as running fans as being bad.
I don't think that's a rumor. As I understand it, he didn't want fans at all. However, he was overrulled by physics. I agree that those of us who have used Macs for years have been conditioned to think fans=bad.
Hi,
Thanks for the answer. I've been a windows user for most of my life, this is my first Mac actually so I'm ok with fans. With what I'm not ok is overheating. I remember a few motherboars, video cards and HD "burning" because of lack of cooling devices. I am also very familiar with the noise they make when they are working more than expected and that's the noise I heard.
The fact that PCs have fans working all the time doesn't mean they are more efficient (cooling-wise at least) than Macs, only different. To hear a Mac buzzing like a PC was weird.
I decided I don't want to expose my MBA to overheating as I've seen what it makes to all technologies alike so I uninstalled the game and installed on my Dell.
Next time I buy a Mac I'll look into it deeper 🙂
Thanks everyone,
Alex
If the computer is overheating you'll know - the heat sensor will register the overheating and shut the computer off. You are worrying needlessly.
MacBook Air 13¨problems playing Diablo
