Since it’s in Early Access, Baldur’s Gate 3’s performance impressed and could improve in later versions. Much less impressive was a noticeable drop in performance the longer the Mac sat. After an hour of steady play, the Tomb Raider benchmarks and the game’s frame rates dropped to 10 fps. You either have to put up with it or give your Mac some rest. Fortunately, another issue (slow performance after switching AAA games) was quickly fixed with a reboot. (We suspect, but cannot confirm, that a 16GB MacBook Air would not have this problem, due to having more RAM space.)
Windows games on Mac
Apple ditching Intel also complicated running native Windows content on a Mac. There are options, but none are good. Beyond adding complexity (where your games live; installing multiple versions of Steam), you hinder performance, because these games don’t work natively.
Parallels Desktop is the easiest to use and most powerful option, and it installs Windows 11 automatically. CrossOver doesn’t require Windows, but it does require more manipulation to run the games. (There’s also PlayOnMac, a free option for riding CrossOver wedges.)
Getting Steam on Parallels Desktop and CrossOver is very easy; find games that work, less so. Broadly speaking, 2D titles are more likely to do well. Old favorites Death Ray Manta and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 played flawlessly during testing. But when we tested the 3D Pinball FX3 effort, it failed completely in CrossOver and was akin to slow-motion playback in Parallels Desktop.
You might have better luck depending on which games you prefer. GTA V for example plays at over 50fps on the M2. But this is a pretty old game. So if you’re looking to build on an existing Windows collection on your MacBook Air, look for simpler fare or high-end titles that are several years old. For the newest Windows games, get a PC.
So: Is Apple’s MacBook Air M2 Good for Gaming?
Whether you think the MacBook Air M2 is good for gaming depends on what games you care about. With AAA titles, there are clear problems. The hardware is largely capable, but the ecosystem and acceleration let it down. There are too few games optimized for Apple’s silicon, sustained performance is questionable, and even Apple’s WWDC announcements from the late 1990s, when Mac users took all the scraps they could , which usually meant getting a handful of Windows games years late and for more money. .
Speaking of money, for the price of an M2 Air, you could buy a better gaming PC. So buying an Air primarily for gaming would be an odd choice. And if you’re asking for more raw power and considering upgrading from an M2 Air machine to an M1 Pro or M1 Max machine, the price difference alone would get you a PS5, Xbox or Steam Deck. Either of these would be better suited for AAA games.
OpenEmu
Apple via Craig Grannell
But despite what gaming obsessives might claim, AAA titles don’t encompass all games, and a MacBook Air M2, as we’ve shown, supports a lot of fun titles. So if you just want to play the odd game to relax, enjoy some casual or streaming fare, or if you’re not too picky about AAA games, the Air will do the trick. And if you’re into classic games, OpenEmu is still the most polished and user-friendly emulation system on the desktop.