MacBook Air Gaming Performance

I plan on getting the MacBook Air with i7, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD. My question is how well this machine can run games? Obviously it isnt a gaming machine, but how well will it run games like Counter Strike Global Offensive or Garry's Mod? How bout Minecraft? Or even something like Portal 2? Thanks for all answers!

First thing you'll need to do is get used to checking the game specs to see if the game supports Intel integrated graphics. If it does you can expect it will perform acceptably to well only at the lower graphic settings. The MBA isn't a gaming machine, especially for games that involve high definition 3D rendering. That said, I do play Diablo III and SimCity 4 & 5 on a computer that has slightly less powerful graphics than the current MBA. But there are games that I can't play on that machine at all because they require a discrete video card.

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MacBook Air graphics performance

I am considering a MacBook Air for my wife as a birthday gift. She has very limited needs: web browsing, word processing, email, etc. However, she is a certified Sims addict. I have searched the web over the past 3 days seeking information on how well the Air performs with The Sims, but found nothing. Can anyone share their experience with the MacBook AIR and The SIMS or similar graphics-intensive game/application? I would appreciate any insights on this topic. Thanks!

Check this out:
http://www.wilshipley.com/blog/2008/02/macbook-air-rambling-first-impressions.ht ml
According to Mr. Shipley, the Air can handle casual gaming...if you're not blocking it's ventilation. The fans will run like crazy, I'm sure. I've got one and I'm not a gamer, so I can't tell you 100%, but if I'm watching an H.264 video (or Flash video on the web) and the ventilation isn't completely open, graphics start to suffer. And I don't mean suffer in the way you get the occasional problem, but in the way that the screen gets choppy when you scroll through a web page or you go, as Wil Shipley says, into slideshow mode. With some videos, after twenty minutes, it gets stuck. It's kind of sad. But if the heat is able to dissipate you're in good shape.
There are a number of, in my opinion, serious engineering flaws with the Air. For some reason I still decided to keep it. I'm not sure I quite understand why but there's something about it that's just hard to give up...
Anyway, if your wife is willing to play games on a desk or take the additional steps to keep the ventilation unblocked (I put the Air on its sleeve and let the vents hang over the edge of it) then it should work fine. I would expect 23-24fps, though. That's probably fine for a casual gamer.

My friend have new Macbook Air with OSX Mavericks and I have Macbook Pro with OSX Mountain Lion, Can I create a bootable maverick in pendrive from macbook air and perform a clean installation/update on my macbook pro with osx mountain lion?

I have late 2012 edition Macbook Pro, I have a internet connection with does not run smoothly It gets disconnected and reconnects Thus I failed everytime when I update my OSX Mountain Lion to Mavericks in App Store. My friend just bought 2013 end Macbook Air whicch have OSX Mavericks pre installed.
I was hoping if I can create a OS X version in pendrive from his laptop and use that to install and thuss also update OS on my Mountain Lion.
Kindly explain me in detail how to perform this.
I have already taken back up of all files and I am ready to total clean my laptop.
And I want to update to Maverick so I can thus further update to upcoming OS X Yosemite.

The Mavericks on the Air is probably machine specific since it came pre-installed, so it wouldn't work on your computer. See if your friend will let you access the App Store, where you can sign in using your Apple ID and download the installer. You can use this free program to copy the installer and update your computer.
Bootable USB Flash Drive – Diskmaker X

10.6.7 Combo Update Slows MacBook Air 3D Performance

Several weeks ago I noticed a dramatic slowdown in the graphics performance of my late 2010 MAcBook Air, and after weeks of futile searching, and falsely diagnosing the problem as SSD degradation, I came across the article below on MacWorld:
http://www.macworld.com/article/158494/2011/04/1067updatemba.html
There, the authors described the same problem I was having, and attributed the dramatic graphics slowdown to a problem with drivers installed by the OS 10.6.7 update. I've done my own testing and found that the bad driver problem is specific to the 10.6.7 Combo Update.
I was able to completely restore graphics performance on my MAcBook Air to waht it should be (ie Portal 2 runs great) by following the steps described by commenter shawnyeager (Thanks Shawn!) in the MacWorld article, which I'm copying here for the benefit of others:
Boot off the MAcBook Air USB media, do an in-place install of 10.6.5 (it's non-destructive) and then download individual (non-combo) updaters for 10.6.6, 10.6.7 and 10.6.7 Supplemental. After applying them, Portal 2 is will run beautifully on a late 2010 MacBook Air with native resolution and 'Medium' to 'High' settings on all graphics options. The difference is dramatic.
Cheers!

It's hard to compare the current Macbook air and MacBook Pro models, I'm lucky to have both and both are superb laptops .. but for different reasons.
The current MacBook Air models are head and shoulders above the previous MacBook Air models. Thanks to the SSD and the cache Boot times and basic disk i/o times are blindingly fast .. noticeably faster than my 15'' Thunderbolt MacBook Pro with 7200rpm drive. Overall CPU and graphcis performance are pretty impressive too. you won't find a faster mroe powerful ultralight laptop.
That being said, the current MacBook Pro's are performance powerhouses whose CPU and graphics performance definitely outclass the MacBook Airs ... but with a bit slower IO, and of course a much heavier form factor.
So, both are great, but it's really a matter of which type of machine you prefer. If you to go for eh MacBook Pro, though I don't think the SSD upgrade with worth the price. the 7200rpm drive is plenty fast and much cheaper.

My Macbook Air is performing slow from past few days

My Mackbook Air is performing much slower than what it used to be.. What could be the possible reasons and solutions??
It takes so much time to load pages and to open open applications. Previously, I thought it is just the internet, but I have tried it at so many different places. It's still the same. Even the apps takes a lot more time to open up. I have tried repairing my disk, but there wasn't any problem with the disk.

OS X 10.7 Lion / 10.8. Mountain Lion
Start up in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4373
Reset SMC.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the method for:
"Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
Increase Disk Space
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677?viewlocale=en_US

Macbook Air 13" 2011 vs Macbook Pro 13" for a uni student?

Hi all,
I am a university student studying Humanities and Psychology, so I write a LOT of essays. My other computer activities include watching movies, surfing the web, the occasional MMO (WoW and/or EVE Online) and listening to music.
I have a 1Tb external HDD connected to my wireless so hard drive space isn't an issue.
I am torn between the new MacBook Air 13" 256Gb, 4Gb RAM, and the 13" MacBook Pro 500Gb, 8Gb RAM.
The cost of either isn't an issue.
Let me know what your experiences are with either, and leave your opinion on which would be the best for me.
Thanks.

First off EatsRainbows, DO NOT get a new computer without a solidstate drive (SSD) it is the most important component of your computer (prorams open faster, saving is faster, transfering files is faster, everything happens fast). IMO the better screen, slightly better keyboard of the Air will be better for you. Also it wins in my hardcore comparision:
2011 13” MacBookAir vs. 2011 13” MacBook Pro
Both are the base models, the Pro has the optional128GB SSD to match the Air.
Cost:
MacBook Air - $1299
Macbook Pro - $1449
Winner = MacBook Air
Screen:
MacBook Air – 13.3” 16:10 1440x900
Macbook Pro - 13.3” 16:10 1280x800
Winner = MacBook Air
CPU Performance:
MacBook Air – i5-2557M
Macbook Pro – i5-2410M, Single Thread 5.5% faster,Multithread 13.5% faster
Winner = MacBook Pro
GPUPerformance:
MacBook Air – 384MB Intel HD 3000 (IntegratedGraphics)
Macbook Pro - 384MB Intel HD 3000 (IntegratedGraphics)
Winner = Tie
Size:
MacBook Air – 0.68 in thick max, 45.2 in^2
Macbook Pro – 0.95 in thick max, 108.5in^2
Winner = MacBook Air
Weight:
MacBook Air – 2.96 lbs
Macbook Pro – 4.5 lbs
Winner = MacBook Air
BatteryLife:
MacBook Air – 50WHr, 7 hours
Macbook Pro – 63.5WHr, 7 hours
Winner = Tie
Winner:
13.3”MacBook Air by A LOT
So you give up slight loss in single thread speed,for something that is much heavier, much larger, and has a worse screen. Basically you would be mad to pay more for aMacBook Pro.

Reinstalling OS X on my MacBook Air?

After deleting personal info on my MacBook Air, I performed the wipe (7 passes) on the HD. When friend is trying to set up laptop, it shows error saying OS X not purchased by this user. See something about "command option R" and talking about a jump drive. I don't have a jump drive. Is there a way I can create a OS X on a jump drive to use to install on laptop?

I just found my MacBook Air install disc (2 of them) dated 2008. Could I not use this in a Mac drive to wirelessly install to the Air? And make a backup of OS X?

Virtual memory macbook air

My macbook air is performing so badly...it is costantly saying the discs are full or almost full...i cannot keep one photo or file on it now....can i turn on virtual memory or something????
please help!

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion's Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.
Virtual Memory requires the use of space on the HDD, so if you have no space then VM doesn't work and get the same error messages. VM supports RAM, not the hard drive.

I dont know wether to pick a macbook air or a mac because i want to use it for gaming purposes?

I want to have a fast computer i can use for school to type papers but i also want it to be fast forgaming as well. Im stuck bewteen the macbook air and the mac desktop computer. Somone please Help.

Hi, it is dependant on what games it is you would be looking at playing, as to which would suit for those purposes.
The Latest MacBook Air (If you're looking at the basic model) has an Intel Core i7 Dual Core processor (1.7Ghz), whereas the latest basic iMac, has an Intel Dual Core i5 (2.7Ghz), so when you look at the processor speed and compare them, in theory the iMac would be "faster", when talking about processor speed.
The MacBook Air ships with an SSD, no matter what spec you order, which would increase speed, however they are quite small for the basic model.
The MacBook Air, ships with Intel HD 5000 Graphics, and the iMac ships with the nVidia GeForce GT640M 512MB GDDR Memory, and the iMac has many more "Configure to Order" options available, that would allow you to increase the performance of the computer should you want to.
I can't find the amount of VRAM on the MacBook Air Graphics Card, but based on processor performance, and expandability (RAM Upgrades / HDD Upgrades / Graphics Card Upgrades) I would for gaming recommend the iMac, however there is a large price difference between the two.
Obviously go and do a bit of comparing on the Apple Website, and read a couple of reviews before deciding, as they all cost quite a lot of money, and you want to make sure you get what you want for your money, so you're probably better reading reviews, as I own neither myself.
Thanks,
Ollie.

MacBook Air from prior MacBook Pro leads to poor performance?

Last week my laptop (MacBook Pro) was stolen. I decided to buy a MacBook Air and reinstall my applications and some of my data from the MBP to a new MBA. I love the size/weight of the MacBook Air and the battery life but I've been having a number of issues with performance. For example:
-I'm getting the "beachball" a lot more on the MBA than I did on the MBP. I took the computer into the Genius Bar today and they told me that "it might not be good to run more than 6-7 apps at the same time" on the MBA. With the MBP I never had a problem runs lots of apps simultaneously.
-I'm having a problem whenever I download images from the Web. My computer basically freezes for 5 seconds or so. That never happened on the MBP.
What I'm wondering is whether these things are common with the MBA because it isn't as high-powered as the MBP. I'm also wondering if a part of this is because I didn't install the MBA from scratch but rather from my previous MBP install (through Time Machine). I know fresh installs are better but am really dreading the thought of having to reinstall all apps, reconfigure preferences, etc.
Any thoughts?

Sorry to hear about the theft. The Airs are great machines for a few reasons but one in particular is that the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip is a really top notch choice. Some benchmarks report that it is comparable or superior to the upgrade on the new Pros. The CPU is Core 2 Duo and at a lower GHZ it is designed for low temp, long battery life. Multi applications really depend on a combination of spare hard drive space and loads of RAM (although yes, you will see beach balls more than a Pro, but in theory it is more a cosmetic lag than sluggish machine). I've had two Macs, and I feel that any Mac can get sluggish if you don't do maintenance on them. Repair, verify, clear your cache, and so on. Don't forget certain times are heavy with background activity (indexing, etc). In the end if you need the snap of instant response, take it back and get a Pro, but you pay a price (heat and short battery life.) What size is your Air? How much RAM has it got and what size SSD? Another idea would be to get your exact old machine from the refurbished Apple page (at a discount)>
Message was edited by: NA Smith

How can I improve performance of macbook air

My MacBook Air seems ti be running slow: Slow to start up, slow to start new programs, slow when running multiple tasks at the same time.
Here's how my machine is set up:
Processor 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
OSX 10.8.2
Any suggestions or is this what i can expect?
Thanks for any help.
-PR

Things You Can Do To Resolve Slow Downs
If your computer seems to be running slower here are some things you can do:
Start with a visit to: OS X Maintenance - MacAttorney.
Boot into Safe Mode then repair your hard drive and permissions:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions Pre-Lion
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
Repair the Hard Drive - Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Restart your computer normally and see if this has helped any. Next do some maintenance:
Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For situations Disk Utility cannot handle the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard or Lion and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Carbon Copy Cloner
2. Data Backup
3. Deja Vu
4. SuperDuper!
5. SyncTwoFolders
6. Synk Pro
7. Synk Standard
8. Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
Additional Hints
Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity as free space.
Add more RAM. If your computer has less than 2 GBs of RAM and you are using OS X Leopard or later, then you can do with more RAM. Snow Leopard and Lion work much better with 4 GBs of RAM than their system minimums. The more concurrent applications you tend to use the more RAM you should have.
Always maintain at least 15 GBs or 10% of your hard drive's capacity as free space, whichever is greater. OS X is frequently accessing your hard drive, so providing adequate free space will keep things from slowing down.
Check for applications that may be hogging the CPU:
Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.
Often this problem occurs because of a corrupted cache or preferences file or an attempt to write to a corrupted log file.

Which is a better performer, the macbook air or the mac mini?

Which one performs better, the late 2013 macbook air (standard configuration: 4GB RAM, dual core i5 1,3 Ghz CPU) or the mac mini core quad core i7, 4GB RAM with a regular hard disc?

LowLuster
No Air model can be as fast as a Mini with a quad core i7 CPU. Can't happen.
I didnt solicit your opinion, and it IS a fact, .....skilled users here on this board will and DO TELL other users OFTEN that:
"outside of processor core use (video/ photo etc.) you will NOT NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE on X computer vs. slower Y computer"
I have a 8 month old QUAD core Mac Mini and it is , as I said above "noticeably not ONE BIT" faster than my current 2013 macbook Air with 8gig.
My quad core came with 4gig of RAM as I recall, I immediately tossed in 16gig.
Notice the word "noticeably"
Your subjective hyperbole aside, you are wrong......., those above yourself and myself (point wise,...as Ogel has stated, Clinton has stated, and others) state this fact very often regarding ---"outside of processor core use (video/ photo etc.) you will NOT NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE on X computer vs. slower Y computer"
Its not my opinion, its a fact, namely additionally that I stated "noticeably" - "my quad core mac mini on MOST EVERYTHING (which is most things since 'most things' are NOT photo and video editing) is not "noticeably" ONE BIT faster than my Macbook Air.
"most things" people do (most people) on their computer does NOT involve photo and video editing (photoshop pro, final cut pro etc etc)
This is a fact, that AS SUCH most people WILL NOT notice any difference in general computer use between a quad core mac mini (for example) and a entry level macbook Air. (SSD vs. HD speeds aside). Nobody is going to notice faster youtube, or Word use, or websurfing, Acrobat Pro, Quicktime play, general APPS that havent changed much in 7 years.
Dont curse on these family boards please, its uncouth.
Peace

Macbook Air case with magnets. Will it affect hardware or performance of product?

Macbook Air case with magnets. Will it affect hardware or performance of product?

No, the low power N30 or N35 gauss neodymium magnets in the magnetic flap cases will not affect it.
There is no HD, and the SSD are hard (relatively) to corrupt by magnetic field unless high gauss and at close proximity.

Macbook Air or Gaming PC

I would bring the Air to my high school to take notes, but my school is getting Chromebooks which I'm not excited for. I don't know what games I play that would last a long time to be $800. The PC is $$823 and the refurbished Air is $800.

The MacBook Air is a great lightweight computer. But it is not designed for the heavy loads imposed by advanced gaming. Things like 3-D gaming are going to be too much for the processor and graphics processor and the heat they will produce. If you are into high level gaming it would be better getting a PC that is designed for gaming.

Macbook Air 2014 refurbished or $822 Gaming PC?

Hi,
This question may be a matter of my own decision, but I hope someone can help me answer this, here's my situation:
I'm 15, a freshman in high school. I would get this money for Christmas. On the Macbook air side, I want a computer to use in school and for casual use at home. I have a Mac mini already, but I need something portable. My school provided us with Chromebooks, but they restricted a lot of apps that are useful to me. On the other side, I have the PC. I would use it to game, and use demanding apps like inventor for my engineering class. My only problem with the PC is I don't have many friends with PCs and I already have an Xbox and ps4. Thanks

The Air is a great computer, light and easy to carry around. Would have easy compatibility with our Mini. As for gaming, it would not be great with high level, demanding gaming. As for using with engineering courses, if you need PC programs you can easily download and install a BootCamp partition and then install Windows to run PC software.

MacBook Air Gaming Performance

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