M2 MacBook Air ULTIMATE Gaming Review: Budget AAA Gaming!?

Apple's redesigned MacBook Air comes with Apple's new M2 chip which does get quite hot under load, but what about while doing some gaming using different methods including Windows gaming with Crossover!

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Timestamps ⬇️
M2 MacBook Air Gaming Review - 00:00
World of Warcraft (Native) - 01:45
CS:GO (Rosetta) - 07:06
League of Legends (Rosetta) - 08:50
How to Play Windows Games - 10:26
Witcher III (Crossover) - 11:09
GTA V (Crossover) - 15:16
Can the M2 MacBook Air Game? - 16:57

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[jvibexd]

Given that it can actually play games while (not charging) and can give it's max potential without draining battery very soon. Makes it even more interesting.

[harveysmith]

Two things I wanna see now. The thermal pad mod and a cooling stand and vs the m2 pro. A lot of laptop gamers typically use cooling fans

[davout]

Actually the gaming performance of M-series chips will be the most interesting to watch as that's the field where the ARM architecture has a lot to improve upon

[insu_na]

well meaning advice: to get power readouts without leaving fullscreen you can SSH into the laptop from another device and use the power monitor from there.
also the reason why the games were stuttering when you were using CrossOver is because the games compile shaders on the fly, and only after they've been compiled once are they cached. during shader compilation performance takes a major hit => stutter

[Wakayams]

I really hope that apple can take greater steps to bringing games to mac.

[AdLibertatem]

At the end of the day, Apple is really not made for gamers. It's for people in suits who speak loudly about their stockmarket portfolios in high-end coffee shops.

[rg]

I appreciate uploading in 60fps so we can see the frame drops on our end, good stuff

[xko]

Am very grateful for your exhaustive coverage of m2. I was going to get a m2 air but your videos made me realize it wasn't for me. Going with a discounted 14" pro instead :). Thanks for helping me make the right decision.

[andrewlau]

The amazing thing about the Apple Silicon Macbook Air is that it's no longer just the "Average User's Mac" it's now your introductory Pro device flexible and powerful enough to give aspiring/beginner media production users a glimpse of how it is to work on their preferred media whether it be video, photo, 3D etc.

You couldn't do that on the old Intel Air. Heck, the old Intel 13 Pro would even give up on you easily on some tasks.

[ArminNemeth]

Right off the bat, the 60fps is a nice touch when doing a gaming vid 😄

The glitches (stuttering) in CSGO don’t go away unless you have a maxed out Mac Studio (or a 1000USD Windows computer). Downgrading the graphics doesn’t work. This is a old/bad port that doesn’t utilize Metal.

Glitches in competitive FPS games are a massive downer and render the game unplayable.

[oppressed]

Just wanted to chime in on the WoW performance. Not all areas of WoW are created equal and the area where you do these test are from the original game and will perform vastly better than any of the newer areas of the game. We aren't talking about a small different but it could go from 60 FPS down to the 20's very quickly. I'm not sure how you would be able to show this without getting someone to let you play on their account, but just something to keep in mind.

[joelyip]

Can you do comparison with the base M2 Air too? Just a user who wants to use the M2 Air for casual gaming and not looking to max out the performance

[MrAtthedrivein]

Wondering how the base M1 7core would perform next to the M2 Air, I could see the overall fps being lower but less stuttering due to throttling being less severe on the M1 Air. Would be interesting to see a side by side

[adi_knight]

It is cool that you are finally able to game on the Macbook Air, at least some games that are optimised for M chips. I started gaming on my Intel Macbook Air but oh boy it is not cool, the thing throttles so hard cause of these temperatures. I don't really get how apple is now able to be able to have an fanless design, it just shows how efficient the M Chips are.

[mrgrumpy]

Can you try to repeat the same benchmarks while the M2 is running in low power mode? Allegedly M2's low power is closer to the original M1 in terms of speed and the heat output is way lower, meaning less throttling.

[newfontherock]

With 16 GB Ram, Parallels is also more useful for some games, especially older ones. Crossover is not the only choice.

[ed]

✊Congrats on 1M subscribers. Your 1 of my fave channels. Keep stepping up, Max. 🙌

[andrewgrant]

You can buy the 14” MBP from BestBuy for $1700 which is the same price as the M2 MBA in the video.

[denumerable]

To test WoW, you really need to go to a big city, or better yet, Oribos. Starter zones are not demanding at all for the game.