- A YouTuber Tested the MacBook Neo’s Gaming Capabilities in 10 Titles
- Native Mac games performed surprisingly well, including Cyberpunk 2077
- Others achieve very low frames per second (fps) due to the 8 GB memory limit.
Let’s be honest: As amazing as Apple’s MacBook Neo is, questions remain about whether it can handle one of the best Mac games. After all, when a laptop comes with just 8GB of RAM, can we really expect it to deliver enjoyable experiences at high frame rates (fps)?
Mac gaming content creator Andrew Tsai decided to find out by putting the MacBook Neo to the test in 10 popular games. Results ranged from “completely unplayable” to games that worked “pretty much perfectly,” with most results being a big surprise.
In total, Tsai tested the following games on the MacBook Neo: Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Counter-Strike 2, Dark Souls Remastered, Ancient Ring, Mewgenism, Minecraftthe 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake, Resident Evil RequiemAnd World of Warcraft. Some titles worked natively; others were Windows games only loaded via a translation layer; and some console games have also been emulated.
Article continues below
First, Tsai tested Cyberpunk 2077. Its settings had to be set to the lowest possible options, including 720p resolution. Still, Tsai said the MacBook Neo being able to run the notoriously demanding game on a mobile chip with “just about playable gameplay” was a “miracle” anyway.
Cyberpunk 2077The Mac version of has been specially optimized for the Mac, just like Control from Remedy Entertainment. Here, Tsai’s MacBook Neo achieved just under 50 frames per second at 1080p resolution and low settings. Tsai described the experience as “very playable” and “a victory for Apple Silicon Mac optimization.”
Likewise, the Resident Evil 2 the 2019 remake – another Mac-optimized game – hits 60fps at 1080p resolution. As Tsai said, it “just shows what’s possible once developers actually optimize Mac hardware.”
Maximize memory
Look on it
There’s no doubt that the MacBook Neo is not designed to be a gaming laptop. While its A18 Pro chip is incredibly capable given that it’s a mobile product, its graphics power lags behind a dedicated GPU found in many gaming laptops. The MacBook Neo is also locked to 8GB of unified memory and doesn’t have a fan – while the latter ensures quiet gaming, it also means that more demanding titles can slow down a bit. once the A18 Pro starts to heat up.
That means it wasn’t all good news for Tsai. While native Mac games designed for Apple hardware performed impressively, Windows games run through the CrossOver translation layer tended to struggle. A.Resident Evil Requiem stagnated at 15fps, for example, despite running at 720p and its lowest preset. Counter-Strike 2meanwhile, reached around 5fps and was “completely unplayable,” according to Tsai. In both cases, the games maxed out the MacBook Neo’s 8GB memory capacity.
When it comes to Windows games, you have to pick your battles, Tsai advised. Recent games with high requirements may run out of memory, since they must be run through a translation layer, which will consume its own resources. Instead, older games like Dark Souls Remastered were more comfortable on the MacBook Neo, with this example running at 60fps with 1080p resolution and low settings.
The MacBook Neo powered through less demanding games like Minecraftwhich reaches between 200 and 300 fps at 1080p. Likewise, games with simple 2D graphics – like Mewgenism — can run CrossOver “pretty much perfectly” on the MacBook Neo, Tsai said.
And emulation? Tsai ran a Nintendo Switch game on the MacBook Neo (he didn’t name it for legal reasons) and said performance was mixed, with the game hitting around 30fps but experiencing occasional stutters — again, an issue caused by the laptop’s low dose of onboard memory.
What Tsai’s testing highlights is that games specifically optimized for Apple hardware – titles like Control, the Resident Evil 2 remake and even Cyberpunk 2077 – can be enjoyed at playable frame rates even on a low-end laptop with a mobile chip like the MacBook Neo. It’s when you start adding more demanding titles that aren’t Mac-friendly, especially Windows games that go through a translation layer, that you’ll start to run up against the MacBook Neo’s gaming limitations.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
