Please can someone tell me if the latest Apple Air M1 2020 will run the game with an acceptable performance?
Or should I go for the Pro? Is there a big difference?
It will run it - but it’s hard to know how you see ‘acceptable performance’
Most people running WOW on a MacMini with the M1 processor seem to think it runs well and at good resolutions - so that bodes well.
Having said that, I would suggest that as the GPU/CPU all access the same pool of memory, you’d be best advised to spring for the 16Gb version, and also a version with 8 and not 7 graphics cores. Remember that with the M1 processor, the RAM is integrated to the CPU/GPU and cannot be later upgraded.
This reddit thread shows the sort of performance you can expect:
Would you rather go for the Pro?
If cost is not an issue, the Pro is better.
The MBP has a fan, the MacBook Air relies on passive cooling. For most tasks this is fine, but games like WOW are likely to get some heat generated in which case things will be throttled back a bit. But, it’s only a bit - it’s not going to be horrendous.
You would need to decide if the active cooling and the touchbar are worth the extra cash.
For myself, if I could I’d hold on because the Mac world is in a state of flux right now - the transition to M-series processors will take 2 years according to Apple and the current machines are the babies in the range. It is likely there will be more powerful variants available this year which will run WOW better.
If you cannot wait and money is not the issue, get the MBP.
If you cannot wait and money is an issue, get the MBA (8 core / 16Gb).
If you can wait, then wait and look at the machines released later this year.
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It would be only for the fan if at all because the touchbar is BS. They’re even going to remove it from the models coming out later this year.
I would wait by my old MacBook Pro just died irremediably so atm I have nothing :s
Hi Malcom!
You can find the minimum and recommended specs for Mac here:
Yours,
Arythwinn
The screen will be an issue. its too SMALL!
60-ish FPS on average, 30-ish FPS in mass actor combat or some particle effects.
You can always go with Aya Neo or GPD Win 3 
Speed-wise it’s fine but it has no active cooling and most importantly it’s too early to tell so you’d be stress-testing it for us to see, if i had the money i’d go for the MBP for good measure, speed is bound to be better on it due to less SSD throttling.
Why it’s to early to tell when there is lot of video clips showing how it’s performing?
OK I got my MacBook Air. I run the game on an LG HDR WQHD monitor so size is definitely not a problem. The problem is that my FPS ranges 15-30 with graphic setting at 6 and native resolution. Can anybody help me find the best setting to increase my FPS?
These recommended specs are not updated for the new Silicon M1 processors
Heat over time can damage components on the motherboard.
In fact one of the biggest factors that drove Apple to ditch Intel was that Intel chip designs and Apple case designs weren’t playing nice together in the the thermal department while lead to lots and lots of toasted laptops, so it will be interesting to see how the M1 MBA holds up in this regard a few years down the road.
LG HDR WQHD is a very high resolution indeed (I think 3840 x 1600). I’d suggest your initial best bet would be to drop the resolution. Hard to know what options you’ll get, but perhaps look to drop the vertical resolution from 1600 to 1080 and let the horizontal resolution scale with that (2592 according to my calculator !).
If that works well you could increase the resolution, maybe to 1440 vertically, and see how that works.
If you want native resolution you’re likely going to have to turn down all the bells and whistles.
You didn’t mention you’d be driving such a high resolution monitor in your initial queries and I assumed that you’d be using the laptop’s own screen…
It’s fine now. I didn’t need to lower the resolution. I disabled vertical sync and tweaked some effects and now I am playing at 7 graphics quality at around 60 fps and higher.
I am monitoring the internal temperature while playing and I’ve never reached 60°. This should be pretty good right?
That’s a typical good ‘gaming’ temp for an actively cooled desktop computer, i say it’s freaking impressive for a paper thin and passively cooled one, just keep being mindful of it as the weather gets hotter.
I will. I guess it’s probably not a big deal for the M1 processor to run this game
OK, that was too good to be true.
The temp monitor I was using sucked balls. I’ve installed TG Pro and during intense gameplay (like raiding) the average temperature goes up to 75° and CPU temperature ranges 85-90°.
The cooling down is amazingly quick tho when you stop playing.
The question is now how long will it be able to withstand these temperatures?
Laptops are built to work at such temperatures. Like people were asking why full gaming laptops run at like 90C (with CPU T-max/T-junction at 100C) and the laptop engineer response was that if it was running cooler (or hotter) then there would be some potential lost in the design 
Fanless or overly quiet Apple products can be a bit separate category but withing it lifespan if it doesn’t have any design defects it should be perfectly fine (and it depends how long Apple wants such device to work before forcing laptop upgrade on the customer).
Really, that’s one of the more inane comments I’ve seen. The fact of the matter is that Apple products have a very long lifetime indeed. My experience of them, which is considerable, is that they are well-built, well-designed and go on for ages.
With regard to the M1 laptop in question, if gaming and the temperatures are going up, I would possibly look at a generic laptop stand which allows air to circulate around the case - as you’re running on an external monitor this should be easy enough.