“The new MacBook Air has many uses but we observed it struggling to run games at low resolution and moderate settings,” Rob Morgan reports for BareFeats. “So we ran some tests adding an eGPU with a ‘real’ graphics card.”
“Sure enough the eGPUs gave the 2018 MacBook Air a substantial boost in frame rates,” Morgan reports. “Gaming with just the factory integrated GPU is painfully slow.”
“An eGPU is not something you can toss in your backpack but it is a welcome addition to your home setup when it’s time to enjoy running your favorite games,” Morgan reports. “It will also boost your performance when running GPU intensive pro apps like Final Cut Pro and Motion.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Amazon has a wide selection of ePGU devices here.
Spec’ed out to $1400 (with a bigger, useable SSD)and the computer can’t run games even in MODERATE mode.
Wow. Embarrassing. For Apple.
Premium products at premium prices for premium customers.
I don’t think Apple are capable of feeling embarrassed.
If you are a hard-core gamer, not sure why you would buy a MBA…
However, for those that occasionally want to play a game or two, it’s probably good enough, because if you start loading massive processing power heavy lifting games on a MBA, again, why did you get a MBA? Pay $100 more for a MBP…
MBA is good for 90% of the people, 90% of the time.
In fact, I’m using my newly acquired 2018 MBA right now. It’s going to be perfect for at LEAST 90% of what I do.
Vampire video.
Tim Cook’s Apple.
Sad really. For the price of a good eGPU enclosure and a really good graphics card, you can bypass your Apple computer altogether and get a really good full blown gaming machine.
I’m really torn because my very old iMac needs replacing. I already have a separate gaming machine for playing games that is not Apple, but I really don’t want to ditch all my current software I depend on for my day to day computing needs. I really do hope 2019 brings some serious updates to the Mac line of computers. Not just a cpu bump and the need to spend extra to update all my peripherals so that I can keep working. “It just works” is no longer Apple anymore.