Alas, increasing the resolution to 1080p resulted in an erratic frame rate that too often dropped into the 20s.It would be best to stretch those gamer legs of yours a bit, and to peruse the game store, though I always recommend starting light and small with a free game. The shiny new Baldur’s Gate 3 with settings of 1470 x 956 and medium quality mostly stuck to 30 fps. Reducing the quality setting to low didn’t affect the visuals too much, but eked out extra fps where it mattered.

This rose to 51 fps on 1152 x 768/low graphics, but dropped to a jarring 24 fps on 1440 x 960/highest.Įlsewhere, Metro Exodus, after taking approximately a year to launch, doddered along at a reasonable 30 fps on 1920 x 1200 and medium graphics quality, but even early on had scenes that dipped to a jerky 15 fps.

At the default settings (1440 x 960 resolution medium graphics preset) we got an average 42 fps, which is fine. It’s commonly used in benchmarking because it’s relatively demanding-and because it has a convenient built-in benchmarking system.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a sterner test, despite being released in 2019 on Mac (and 2018 on Windows). Minecraft, unsurprisingly, runs brilliantly, even when you add complex shaders. But it gets hot, due to the lack of a fan and games requiring sustained performance. It’s also a relatively power-efficient machine. If you want anything newer, go and buy an actual console.įirst, the good news: The M2 MacBook Air’s speakers are great, the keys are responsive (if you’re a masochist who eschews external controllers), and the screen is bright with great color reproduction. ARM-specific PS2 emulator AetherSX2 was better, despite the odd visual wobble. Our Xbox emulation tests resulted in frame rates all over the shop. Should you head into more modern (and shakier legal) territory, things are more variable. Fortunately, there’s Redream for Dreamcast, and the superb and user-friendly OpenEmu supports a slew of older systems, especially in its “experimental” incarnation. The snag is that relatively few emulators exist for Mac. A Raspberry Pi 4 can play Sega Dreamcast titles without blinking, so you’d expect an M2 Mac to go much further. Despite the games being old, the service still requires a fast connection to avoid glitches.Įmulation is another option for playing old games. Antstream Arcade Apple via Craig GrannellĮntertainingly, a streaming service exists for exploring the other end of gaming history: Antstream Arcade has hundreds of classic titles, along with leaderboards and bespoke challenges, like taking on Space Invaders with a single life.

Free games for macbook air