Is the Macbook air 13" good for minecraft?

Check with the developers of Minecraft for their system requirements.

The Macbook Air is not meant for gaming at all. If you are looking to purchase a laptop for gaming purposes, I would not buy the one your currently tying to purchase. You will get about 30 fps max, on low settings, which is average for a normal playing time. You shoudn't expect more from it anyways. Recording decreases your FPS by even more. I'd go with the Pro if you want a better experience, or simply a windows pc with the gaming specs with about the same price. I'm soon to purchase the Macbook Pro MID 2012 version which has 2.9 Ghz, Intel HD 4000, and 8 GB of ram and If you'd like I'll let you know how Minecraft runs on it.

I think the Macbook Pro without Retina is an outstanding choice. At the moment 90% of all laptop's do not have a "Retina" Display on them and that Retina is currently over-hyped and a gimmick for marketing purposes to make people purchase the Retina. You cannot change any parts in the future either which is why I'm going to purchase the Non-Retina version in a couple of hours(hopefully).

I second the advice on purchasing a 13” MacBook Pro (MBP) instead of the 1.7 GHZ upgrade on the MacBook Air (MBA). The MBP costs about the same or less than the MBA and will deliver a substantially superior gaming experience.

The MBP Retina display does not add any cost compared to an upsized MBA.

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Options with 8 GB memory and 128 GB SSD:

- MacBook Air 13” with a 1.7 GHz processor,

Intel HD Graphics 5000 and standard display (3 lbs):

$1100 base + $100 8 GB memory + $150 1.7 GHz upgrade = $1,350.

- MacBook Pro 13” with a 2.4 GHz processor,

Intel Iris Graphics, and Retina display (3.5 lbs):

$1,300 base + $100 8 GB memory = $1,400

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Options with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD:

- MacBook Air 13” with a 1.7 GHz processor,

Intel HD Graphics 5000 and standard display (3 lbs):

$1,300 base + $100 8 GB memory + $150 1.7 GHz upgrade = $1,550.

- MacBook Pro 13” with a 2.4 GHz processor,

Intel Iris Graphics, and Retina display (3.5 lbs):

$1,500 base = $1,500

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Observations:

- The MBP Intel Iris Graphics unit is faster than the MBA Intel HD Graphics unit which will deliver a substantially superior gaming experience.

- The MBP processor is substantially faster (2.3 vs. 1.7 GHz) which will deliver a superior gaming experience.

- The Retina display is substantially better than the standard display.

- Retina 13”: 2560-by-1600 pixels.

- Standard 13”: 1440 by 900 pixels.

- In the 128 GB SSD configuration the MBP costs only $50 more.

- In the 256 GB SSD configuration the MBP costs $50 less.

So it is clear the 13” MBP is the better machine for gaming.

I agree with hands4, BUT I was under the same dillema of Buying the Retina OR not. After HOURS and HOURS of research i've come to a conlclusion that if you want a laptop that you can last longer in the future go with NON-Retina. You can upgrade it anytime in the future, if incase something fails, or you just want it better(faster). You can't do ANY of that in the Retina.

Also after hours of research I've found out that all retina versions have problems especially the newer haswell ones which shows how apple has put very little time into testing these products. This led me to think about how the product will last in the future. Not just that but Retina versions of Macbook pro's just have some problems with them. Which is why i chose to go with Non Retina. It seemed more reliable. Intel Iris is better for gaming for sure.

Rest is upto you, if you want the Retina, but no upgrading, and with known issues, or non retina. Both will serve you good for gaming, better than the Air for sure.

I have got an Macbook air 11' with the lowest settings and my average amount of fps (highest setting) is about 60-70 fps !!!!!

so your one should make it

What's your graphics card information?

Mine ????

Yes,

The 2.4 GHz i5 is fast or they would not be offering it in the Pro series where performance counts. The graphics processor is going to make the bigger difference. Since this is for gaming concentrate on the graphics speed and the graphics display. Both are subsantially superior in the Pro and they cost no more than the 1.7 GHz i7 upgrade. The 8 GB of memory will make a difference.

Also, you need to leave room on the SSD for large game footprints. Some of them can take up to 30 GB of space. So consider that when you are deciding on the 128 vs. 256 GB SSD option. I used to have a 128 GB Mac and I ran out of space. It was the main reason I upgraded. I find 256 GB to be comfortable for me.

BTW, if you don’t need portability the iMAC blows away even the high-end MBP for gaming. There is a refurbished one for sale for $1400. See the benchmarks below.

Consider a refurbished 2012 15” MBP. A good one is on sale now:

Refurbished 15.4-inch MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad-core Intel i7: $1,450.

It has an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory graphics process which is much faster than what is in the 13” models.

This particular one comes with 4 GB of memory but if you find that too small you can upgrade the memory to 8 GB for ~$100.

Mac benchmarks on various games:

http://barefeats.com/rmbpc2.html

This shows the frame rates for the GeForce GT 650M on a 2012 MBP, which is the graphics in the MBP I mentioned above. The frame rates are very similar to the $2,000 15” 2013 rMBP with IrisPro graphics. They do not show benchmarks for the Iris Graphics but it is clear this graphics processor is slower than those in the 2012 15” model. Note the 2012 15” model weighs 5.6 pounds (1.5x the weight of 13” models).

On the GURUof3D site they give benchmarks for Battlefield 4 graphics.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/battlefield_4_vga_graphics_performance_benc hmark,7.html

Shows the very-high end GeForce GTX 690 has about double the power needed to run the game at full frame rate and that a mid-rated A GeForce GTX 660 (non-Ti) would be optimal for the money. So the GeForce GT 650M seams to be right on the money for this particular game.