And though the payoff for these various partnerships and initiatives will be great in the future, gamers need solutions now, and practical ones that are simple to set up with fruitful returns. Mac gaming has come a long way, from Hideo Kojima entering a landmark partnership with Apple to bring Death Stranding Director’s Cut and future Kojima Productions titles to Mac platforms, to Apple itself releasing and updating its Game Porting Toolkit, which is a fast and reliable way for game developers to port their games to macOS 14 Sonoma.īut all these advancements are still in their infancy, as Apple is only starting to realize the potential of gaming on its Mac devices. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Mykola Churpita) Final thoughts GeForce Now already offers all of that and more. In my opinion, with this level of performance already accessible to Mac users, you don’t even need to wait for Apple to get around to porting titles, or for gamers to take on such a difficult role themselves. The streaming service fully carried the brunt of each game’s required specs, while the library is already diverse enough for most gamers, with more coming each week. When it came to at-home WiFi, which uses 5G Internet and isn’t supporting tens of office workers and their devices at once, gameplay and audio on all three titles were absolutely butter-smooth with no visible stuttering or framerate drops, even during more intensive action scenes.įinishing up my MacBook Air run with GeForce Now, it struck me how similar it was to gaming with the Acer Chromebook 516 GE. That was obviously due to buffering issues stemming from the slower connection. However, there was some occasional stuttering and brief framerate drops, especially in regard to audio. Gameplay was largely solid and, as an average non-professional gamer, I didn’t notice any particular latency issues. In the office, where the connection is weaker due to the sheer volume of workers sharing the same WiFi, each title ran pretty well. I tested three titles - Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, and Octopath Traveler - using in-office and at-home WiFi internet to see if there was any difference in stability, framerate, and general performance. And when using either the latest MacBook Pro, Mac mini, Mac Studio, or iMac, those parameters can easily be met.īut what about the M1 MacBook Air, which doesn’t fit any of that criteria? Is the power of a good internet connection strong enough to deliver a solid gameplay experience? But one of the best gaming monitors with a high refresh rate, high resolution, and low response time reduces latency, improves visuals, and ensures the smoothest gameplay possible. When using GeForce Now, performance is mainly dependent on your internet connection, especially when using a more demanding tier like the RTX 4080 Ultimate membership. You wanted cheap stuff, now pretty much all you get is cheap stuff.(Image credit: Shutterstock / Aleksey H) MacBook Airs can handle intensive games with the best of them The new MacBook Pro highlights what's gone wrong with Windows laptops Nvidia's streaming game service attracted millions during the pandemic, but new platform support and deployment of 5G provide pathways for continued growth. It has the muscle to deliver that gaming experience, but it's cut off from it by market forces versus technical limitations.Īs entertainment options return, GeForce Now readies its long game The new MacBook Pro, though, makes it a strange but still excellent candidate for such services. That includes the first M1-based Macs as well as the massive installed base of Intel-based Macs. Streaming game services are often positioned as allowing inexpensive and modestly performing devices, such as PCs with integrated graphics and Chromebooks, to deliver cutting-edge games as played on a leading-edge PC. The service also maintains a limited free tier. But for new MacBook Pro users saving up for that third Pro XDR display, the company has created a new priority pricing tier of $49 for the same duration that offers 1080p gaming at 60 frames per second. Access to the RTX 3080 experience, with its higher resolution and frame rate, costs $99 when purchased for a six-month run.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |