Not Just Laptops is supported by readers like you. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more.
Overall, the short answer is no, the MacBook Air is not designed for gaming. While it may be able to run games like Minecraft and Rocket League just fine, the problem is there aren’t as many games for macOS.
That being said, there are a few ways to still play AAA games on a 2018 and newer MacBook Air by using cloud gaming services such as Parallels and GeForce NOW.
But let’s dig deeper to see what you can do with a MacBook Air in terms of gaming.
Table of Contents
What Games Can You Play on a MacBook Air M1?
While the MacBook Air is not intended as a hardcore gaming machine, plenty of titles can still be enjoyed on it. Let’s look at some games you can play and how it performs.
For Average Performance
Although the MacBook Air is not created for gaming, it does have enough power to handle most of the titles.
You may have to tweak the graphical settings of these games to get a decent experience. But, starting with MacBook Air M1, the overall feel is actually pretty good.
A few titles that run well on the MacBook Air M1 and M2 are:
- Fortnite
- Civilization 6
- The Sims 4
- League of Legends
- Counter-Strike
- Minecraft
- Total War: Warhammer 2
- World of Warcraft
- Roblox
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
- Diablo 3
- Football Manager 2021 and 2022
- Resident Evil Village
- Shadow of The Tomb Raider
What do I mean by average performance for these games? I wasn’t able to get crazy-high fps – which completely makes sense with Air’s GPU – but I did get pretty consistent 40-50 fps. In most cases, this feels pretty good and, unless you’re a pro gamer, you won’t really be able to tell that much of a difference.
For Good Performance
Many arcade games don’t require much from your computer, so they’re perfect if you want to avoid putting too much strain on the system. This is because MacBook Air uses silicon processors that are very efficient at handling arcade games like:
- Alba
- Oceanhorn 2
- Mini Motorways
Moreover, as mentioned above, you can also access cloud gaming services like GeForce NOW and Parallels on your MacBook Air. This allows you to stream high-end games with amazing graphics without needing an expensive gaming PC.
When using online platforms, the biggest bottleneck will be your Wi-Fi and compatibility. So, make sure you have a strong connection for streaming these games and check for system requirements.
As for myself, I love using Parallels. It does cost a little – but if you’re willing to pay the subscription, it will open up a whole world of great AAA titles.
Why is MacBook Air Not a Good Gaming Laptop?
Macs are officially not designed for gaming, and the MacBook Air is no exception. Still, gaming on Air M1 and M2 feels pretty good with the available titles. Sadly, there aren’t too many of those for macOS.
Non-discrete GPU
MacBook Air laptops are equipped with an integrated GPU instead of a dedicated one. The M1 has an 8-Core GPU, while M2 comes with a 10-Core GPU. Of course, this is hardly a match for RTX 40-series or even RTX 30.
Still, I would take Air’s GPU over Intel’s Iris any day, or even lower-end discrete GPUs like the MX-series, or (dare I say it), GTX 1650.
Fanless Design
The MacBook Air is designed to be fanless, which means it will not have the cooling capabilities needed for gaming. Fanless laptops are great for the average user. They are very quiet.
You’d think that without a fan, it cannot dissipate the heat generated by games and processors. But the truth of the matter is that my Air didn’t get hot when I was gaming – or doing video editing, for that matter (though I didn’t use ultra-high settings with games).
Limited Storage in Base Models
Gaming titles pack large files and require more storage than a MacBook Air can offer. Base models of the MacBook Air come with limited storage capacity (256GB and 512GB). This means that gamers may need to invest in external storage solutions if they want to store many games on their laptop.
Non-Gaming Keyboard
The MacBook Air keyboard is generally intended for professional use, not gaming. Travel distance is too short for optimal gaming performance, and there are no extra keys or macro support.
Still, you can easily solve this with a mouse.
OS Incompatibility
The macOS operating system is not compatible with many of the popular PC gaming titles available today. But I’d definitely check the Parallels and GeForce NOW to fix this.
Always Check the game’s system requirements to see if it is available on macOS. If it is not, you can’t play that particular game on your MacBook Air unless you use a platform like Parallels.
However, not all games can be played through these platforms, especially the AAA ones.
Is MacBook Air M2 Good for Gaming?
The overall gaming experience on a MacBook Air M2 is satisfactory but not ideal for gaming. The M2 processor offers good performance when running casual or mid-range titles, but it may struggle with more demanding games. Furthermore, the M2 provides 25% superior graphics performance to the M1 while using an equal power supply.
An M2 Air laptop is pricey; you could buy a more fitting affordable laptop for gaming with the money you would spend on one of these.
There are several issues when playing the AAA titles. The hardware can handle it, but the throttling at high settings and the ecosystem slow down the process.
Despite these issues, the MacBook Air M2 can handle most of today’s games, provided that you keep the graphics settings low or medium. And with these, they actually look very nice. So it’s all about what you expect from your gaming experience.
Conclusion
It turns out that the MacBook Air isn’t completely irrelevant when it comes to games. Though it’s far from ideal, the MacBook Air still has lots of potential. It might be able to run many games, and you can use cloud services to play others. The bigger issue is that there still aren’t that many titles available for macOS.
If you’re mostly interested in pro and competitive gaming, or streaming AAA gameplay, there are better gaming laptops than the MacBook Air.
