M2 MacBooks

[brianm.waite]

I will be buying a M2 MacBook Air when it is released. I will either upgrade the ram (from 8GB to 16GB) or the internal storage (from 256 to 512). I’m leaning towards the storage, but want to be sure that games (especially BG3) will run well with 8GB unified memory.

[Freak4Leeks]

bg3 ran fine on my laptop that has 8gb but i do think for gaming nowadays especially newer titles i would recommend having 16gb

[Dex]

I love my Macbook Air, but I can't imagine ever seriously gaming on it. You're welcome to try, but Baldur's gate 3 is brutally optimized right now. Does the M2 have a dedicated GPU? I can't imagine it does. From what I've seen, it's better than intel integrated, but it's no gaming laptop (if such a thing exists)

[Ordy]

Guessing Macbook upgrades for 8GB of RAM or 250GB SSD are that expensive you have to choose? Its like $40 for 8GB of RAM in a normal laptop.

[brianm.waite]

I wound up upgrading the Storage, mostly because the way Apple sourced (due to pricing of chips) the 256 GB device, was a single chip vs, 2 256 GB chips running in a RAID0 setup for the 512 GB system.

@ordy, it would be lovely if you could add 8 GB for $40 on a MacBook... on a new MacBook, each step in memory or each step in storage is $200...

[Ordy]

That's crazy lol. Even the Samsung Evo 1TB NVME SSD's are pretty cheap now. Though i think Microsoft Surface upgrades are pretty expensive too.

[PapaOscar]

16GB and 256GB here, it runs perfect on max.

[Vaticyst Prime]

Originally posted by brianm.waite:

I will be buying a M2 MacBook Air when it is released. I will either upgrade the ram (from 8GB to 16GB) or the internal storage (from 256 to 512). I’m leaning towards the storage, but want to be sure that games (especially BG3) will run well with 8GB unified memory.

Please go with the upgraded ram since 16 gb it's recommended plus it just future proves you're laptop. Also, for storage you cannot always buy external storage within the cloud or a hard drive storage.

[Senyaak]

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
So dont be suprised if the game works like sht)

[Roaming Zombie]

For a lot less money you can buy a windows laptop which is sure to be able to play this. Macs are not made for gaming and for the life of me I can't understand why people buy them unless it is for dedicated development or graphic design.

[fluong]

Originally posted by Roaming Zombie:

For a lot less money you can buy a windows laptop which is sure to be able to play this. Macs are not made for gaming and for the life of me I can't understand why people buy them unless it is for dedicated development or graphic design.

The PC Master Race people are so annoying and obnoxious. A Mac has a multi-core CPU, a very good multi-core GPU, and the API to process ray-tracing and other calculation-heavy graphical effects. Macs can do gaming and can do it at a very high level. The Mac ports of Baldur's Gate 3, Resident Evil Village, and Cyberpunk 2077 (running with the beta version of Apple's Game Porting Tool) prove that. And some of us want a computer that just works out of the box.

[fluong]

Originally posted by brianm.waite:

I will be buying a M2 MacBook Air when it is released. I will either upgrade the ram (from 8GB to 16GB) or the internal storage (from 256 to 512). I’m leaning towards the storage, but want to be sure that games (especially BG3) will run well with 8GB unified memory.

I’m running BG3 on a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro SOC and 16 GB of RAM. The game runs buttery smooth on high settings at 1920 x 1200 (where my external monitor maxes out). I haven’t tried on my Retina monitor. I don’t know how the game runs with 8 GB of RAM, but I am assuming you can probably run the game well at 1280 x 900. If you have to choose, I would say spring for the storage. BG3 is going to be massive and you will want to do other things with your Mac besides gaming

[DoctorHobel]

Originally posted by fluong:

Originally posted by brianm.waite:

I will be buying a M2 MacBook Air when it is released. I will either upgrade the ram (from 8GB to 16GB) or the internal storage (from 256 to 512). I’m leaning towards the storage, but want to be sure that games (especially BG3) will run well with 8GB unified memory.

I’m running BG3 on a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro SOC and 16 GB of RAM. The game runs buttery smooth on high settings at 1920 x 1200 (where my external monitor maxes out). I haven’t tried on my Retina monitor. I don’t know how the game runs with 8 GB of RAM, but I am assuming you can probably run the game well at 1280 x 900. If you have to choose, I would say spring for the storage. BG3 is going to be massive and you will want to do other things with your Mac besides gaming

How? We tried MBP M1 Pro with 32GB right now on external monitor with UHD (2560x1440) settings, but the game runs pretty badly. Even switching to "low" did't help much. It feels like sub-30fps and everything is clunky... strange! I hoped for a better performance on release version, but now you are telling, that it already runs smoothly?

Strange, have to figure out why :(

Update: Ok, after restart and starting the game on the internal screen, everythings fine...

[-wonderFOOL]

Get 16GB. I played on Macbook Air M2 8Gb and constantly ran into stutters. same 13" M2 Air with 16Gb runs the game flawlessly. you can lock native res 30 fps ultra settings or you can adjust to your desire below it. also get at least 512Gb storage.

Update: definitely go for storage if it's ram vs storage. 512GB macbook air comes with faster throughput as well, 256 version is gimped in comparison.

still, 8GB will be very playable at 30 fps with high settings, just roll your textures down to medium or lower.

[nizzemancer]

playing games on a mac? Is that even legal?

[Plattinum Squid]

Nice to hear I don't have to necessarily shell out the extra dough for a pro if I opt for a souped up 15 inch air. And to answer the question all of yall must be having yes I know I could get a PC laptop for less. I am actively typing out this comment on my Asus Tuf 15. A "gaming" laptop that if I had spent the same amount of money on I could have had a mac. The amount of headaches that windows laptops have given me is just not worth the savings in my opinion. Heck, with how good steam link is I think I would have a better experience leaving my gaming laptop at my desk plugged in and streaming to a mac.