WoW on Mac Air?

[Pathogen-]

I'm sure this has been answered, and I'm sure I'll have lots of people shaking their heads laughing at me. But I have a Mac Air and since giving up playing console shooters for tournament money, I'm starving from online interaction. However, my wife will kill me if I buy a console lol So I have a Mac Air. And downtime. Is it possible to play WoW, or any other popular RPG game, join a guild, etc on it? Is it worth the experience I'll have?
I'd do a PC build, but I'd rather not spend that amount of money on a laptop

Specs:

MacBook Air 13" (Mid 2013)
1.7Ghz Intel Core i7
8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel Graphics HD 5000 1536 MB
121 GB Flash storage

Thanks for any replies

[Omnoms]

It's not going to be enjoyable. You'll basically be forced to be a social with minimal raid experience due to spell effects and the likes needing to be lowered.

I simply don't find it enjoyable, but I do have friends that play to play, and do not care for graphics. So it's ultimately down to your preference and what you want to do.

[lloose]

Some people do it. I can't. At low settings you will be in the low 20-30fs range in almost everything you do. I have gotten used to 60+ fps and it's just unplayable for me to play wow at 25 fps.

[noteworthynerd]

I agree with Omnoms - World of Warcraft on a Mac Book Air is not going to be enjoyable. Even at the lowest settings it is going to struggle in raids. It might be suitable for checking auctions or hanging out in a garrison, but that's about it.

Simply put, the Mac Book Air is not meant to be gamed on (unless you're talking about simple Flash/Java games like what you'd find on Facebook).

[Nickn]

I have the same Macbook air as you do. I used to play WoW on it while on the move around Europe. To answer your question you can play WoW on this Mac, but it is not going to run nearly as good as even on a laptop with a dedicated GPU. What I did to maximise performance was:

- Install Windows 7 via Bootcamp - Helped me a lot
- Turn all the settings down to low (disable new character models)- No way it would be able to maintain stable FPS with anything but low
- Limit your FPS in game or via external programme to 30 - Still playable and keeps in stable
- Don't forget to select high performance settings in battery settings in Windows 7
- Monitor your temps at all times if your CPU temps go upwards of 90C something is wrong and you can damage your laptop playing on these temps for long
- Play on hard surfaces and invest into laptop cooling pad to help with Air's limited cooling possibilities

All that will get you playing WoW, but only casual questing and maybe occasional Dungeon. BGs and raids will drop FPS to unplayable. Also I did that pre WoD so I don't really know how Air would behave in new zones.
And last advice, by all means if you can buy a better windows laptop or a budget tower, do it and enjoy your game.

[Pathogen-]

That's what I was thinking. Its sad that my overpriced Mac (a birthday gift from wife) is nothing but an overpriced e-mail checker, web surfer, and itunes/Sonos streamer.
So I'd have to spend a minimum of $700 for a decent desktop rig? Or about 2K for portability (which is what I'd prefer)?

[Vash The Stampede]

I'm sure this has been answered, and I'm sure I'll have lots of people shaking their heads laughing at me. But I have a Mac Air and since giving up playing console shooters for tournament money, I'm starving from online interaction. However, my wife will kill me if I buy a console lol

You wife must have wanted you to join the PC master race. Smart woman.

So I have a Mac Air. And downtime. Is it possible to play WoW, or any other popular RPG game, join a guild, etc on it? Is it worth the experience I'll have?
I'd do a PC build, but I'd rather not spend that amount of money on a laptop

Specs:

MacBook Air 13" (Mid 2013)
1.7Ghz Intel Core i7
8GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel Graphics HD 5000 1536 MB
121 GB Flash storage

Thanks for any replies

It'll work just don't expect to raid with crazy graphic settings. Also Mac is inherently slower than Windows so expect even less.

- - - Updated - - -

So I'd have to spend a minimum of $700 for a decent desktop rig? Or about 2K for portability (which is what I'd prefer)?

Or spend $750 and get this.

[Pathogen-]

so..That laptop would be for a mid-level experience? How long do you thing something like that would last before becoming obsolete?

what games are more noob-friendly? As far as the experience players hating on a recent starter

[Mister K]

My mate was playing on a mid 2014 Mac Pro, most awful experience ever, do NOT do it.

[ayako]

My mate was playing on a mid 2014 Mac Pro, most awful experience ever, do NOT do it.

That's weird, WoW should probably run fine on that kind of hardware.

[kail]

Macs are not gaming machines (at least not cost effective ones).

[krunksmash]

that system will not be able to play with any quality. the CPU is too slow and the lack of a dedicated GPU means it does not have the horse power to drive a game at quality due to the CPU doing 100% of the work for the system

[Vash The Stampede]

so..That laptop would be for a mid-level experience?

For WoW it would be mid to high level easy.

How long do you thing something like that would last before becoming obsolete?

Planned obsolescence in PC gaming is not something that's easy to predict. Laptops are even harder due to them having thermal problems already. So if you want a device that'll last a long time I would care more about it's cooling over performance. Though if I had to choose I would get this Lenovo for it's quad core CPU. Lenovo is known for their quality products so I trust their products not to melt down.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834318092

what games are more noob-friendly? As far as the experience players hating on a recent starter

Noob friendly? Probably Minecraft.

Modern games are generally fooling players into thinking they're good at the game. You play single player and think you can own some people online until you log in and people are instantly killing you. You won't find many games noob friendly when it comes to multiplayer.

[moremana]

Macs are not gaming machines (at least not cost effective ones).

Really, where do you get this idea from?

Any game for Mac that is available, my Imac plays at high with no issues, including WoW, SC II and Diablo III.

[Pathogen-]

Modern games are generally fooling players into thinking they're good at the game. You play single player and think you can own some people online until you log in and people are instantly killing you. You won't find many games noob friendly when it comes to multiplayer.

I was more thinking noob friendly as far as the people go. Would they accept a starter, or do they get cliquey and snub someone new? I'm sure there are all types..the helpful ones, the idiot elitists, etc etc.

I'm only mentioning WoW since that is I think the largest. I hate the cartoony graphics but the staying power and popularity of it are undeniable. What are other popular ones? Guild Wars? that Star Wars one? Skyrim Online? As I said, I've been in shooter clans and tournament clans, but never for mmorpg

- - - Updated - - -

Any opinions? I'm leaning towards getting a gaming laptop, now that you guys have been helpful in showing that it is attainable. I have my old computer speaker system I could hook them up to, but would it make more sense to get a headset? Does the game noise transfer into a mic if you use the laptop mic in conjunction with the aux speaker system? I'm not sure what the optimal is.
For platform gaming, I'd rock the TV/surround while using the blutooth...which people did complain about hearing it through my mic a bit

[Daymanmb]

DONT DO IT! Curse doesnt support Mac...

[Pathogen-]

Also, what kinds of peripheral hardware do you guys use (including the headset I mentioned above)...keyboard? Trackball vs mouse? When I had a desktop, I primarily used a trackball.

What kind of prep should I do in the month or two before purchasing a rig and game?

I appreciate the help so far, and I apologize for the multitude of questions. If this were a shooter, I'd be an expert. But I'm out of my realm here, I don't have any gaming friends on PC, etc

[ayako]

DONT DO IT! Curse doesnt support Mac...

You can Bootcamp or VM, copy your Interface folder over, and then update it that way.

[moremana]

DONT DO IT! Curse doesnt support Mac...

No they don't, but the "Unsupported" Mac client still works on Yosemite just fine.