We all know you don’t buy a Mac for gaming. Sure, it’s possible, but you don’t buy Apple exclusively to play games unless you only play Apple Arcade. But with Apple’s new MacBook Pros, complete with the beefy M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets, could the Mac finally be a viable option for gaming?
Why aren’t Macs good gaming computers?
This question can get complicated, but let’s boil down the answer to the simplest explanations. In short, the hardware is (usually) not designed for optimal gaming situations. Many Macs are designed to be sleek, thin, elegant, or a combination of the three. That makes for a pretty machine, while allowing you to build a computer good for many tasks; gaming simply isn’t among them.
Light games don’t require much, but many games depend on optimized hardware to run well. They need graphics cards that can handle demanding gameplay and cooling systems to make sure things don’t get too heated. Most Macs don’t have these features at the ready.
However, it’s not just the hardware; many developers have traditionally avoided making games for Mac, which means these games are found exclusively on Windows. You can access these games by installing Windows on your Mac using Bootcamp, or by using software such as Parallels, but the experience isn’t optimal.
G/O Media may get a commission
That’s why, even on Macs with excellent graphical hardware, you still run into problems. Developers know there’s a limited market for gaming on Mac, so they don’t put the resources into optimizing the experience or even offering a solution for these machines.
What about M1 MacBooks though?
Apple made a huge splash last year when it introduced its first Apple silicon chip, M1. M1 is great in so many ways: It has a fantastic CPU, it’s extremely efficient, and it can enable a $1,000 MacBook Air to become a solid Final Cut Pro video editing machine.
The one area critics pointed to with M1, however, was graphical power. While the M1’s graphics aren’t bad by any means (you could choose between a 7-core or 8-core option, depending on your Mac), for tasks that have high graphical demands, it simply wasn’t the best option. Gaming is, unfortunately, among those tasks.
That’s why everyone is so excited about M1 Pro and M1 Max, as a graphical powerhouse with the efficiency M1 was known for. But how does it stack up in real use?
How do the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros perform?
The data we do have is promising. My favorite research …….
Source: https://lifehacker.com/is-the-new-macbook-pro-finally-a-gaming-laptop-1847991748