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Macbook Air 2014 ?
audreydoll
Posts: 111 New Member
Anyone knows if the Sims 4 would run fairly well on a basic Macbook Air 2014 ?
I just don't want it to slow down my mac and as the game is quite expensive, I want to be sure before buying it. Here are the settings :
1,4 GHZ Intel Core i5
4 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5000 1024 Mo
Some people told me these are very poor settings, while it's definitely better than my old PC with which I was able to run the Sims 3 quite well.
Anyway, please let me know if you've tried it on a similar Mac or what's your thoughts about it :)
I just don't want it to slow down my mac and as the game is quite expensive, I want to be sure before buying it. Here are the settings :
1,4 GHZ Intel Core i5
4 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5000 1024 Mo
Some people told me these are very poor settings, while it's definitely better than my old PC with which I was able to run the Sims 3 quite well.
Anyway, please let me know if you've tried it on a similar Mac or what's your thoughts about it :)
0
Comments
The Intel HD 5000 should be an improvement over that, so I'd definitely give it a try!
1) A Macbook Air is most certainly not intended for gaming. The Intel 5000 is decent enough to play the game, but at the end of the day, it is still an integrated chip - and in Macbook Air form, a very underpowered integrated chip. The Intel HD 5000 has 40 cores that run up to 1100MHz. Compare that to a newer desktop card that has anywhere from 1000 to 1500+ cores running at 1000MHz, the Intel HD 5000 is laughable. Those 40 cores are going to have work serious overtime to keep up with the game, and that is going to put a lot of stress on the chip and produce a fair amount of heat.
2) Macbook Air computers are designed to be cool, quiet, and lightweight. How do you make a computer quieter? Make the fans smaller and slower. In order for it to maintain a decent temperature, then the components need to use less electricity. The entire Macbook Air runs on, I believe, a 45W power supply. The average desktop graphics card uses about three times that much power, just by itself. A typical lightbulb requires more power than a Macbook Air does.
3) Due to the physical housing of the Air, any heat being put out by your stressed out processor that lingers in the housing is then going to instantly fill the housing since it's so small, and the heat is going to be held closer against the internal components. The amplifies the risk of heat-related damage.
4) If something in your Air does get damaged, due to the "keep it small" mentality, and that it's an Apple product, the entirety of the internals of a Macbook Air are one piece, and the housing is sealed like a vault. If something does get damaged, the cost of the replacement part combined with the labor to actually fix it is going to be extremely expensive.
5) This is just the beginning of TS4 - and there have already been several updates and patches which result in people no longer being able to play the game. By the time you take into consideration all of the patches and EPs and such that we may have in a couple of years, the system requirements for smooth gameplay may be quite higher.
Alienware R4 17: i7 6700HQ, 16GB RAM, 8GB NVidia GTX 1070
Absolutely, you can't get in there at all but if something goes wrong in the first year the warranty will cover it. I always, always buy Applecare with my Macs so I have a further 2 years cover.
I have to agree that MBAs really aren't built for gaming. They are designed to be mobile and lightweight for business and students, which they are perfect for. BUT, loads of people play TS3 and now TS4 on them, albeit with pretty low graphics settings
But I play on all high settings with no problems or overheating (while on laptop mode). Thats what is so confusing to me. How come I can run it so good but others with the same computer can't?
Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I don't have *that* much installed on my computer. I actually just uninstalled sims 3 because it was taking up unnecessary space lol. I just get so sad when I see people saying this computer can't handle it, etc. It runs great for me! Lol
Even the Dock is hidden
It's still on the first year guaranty but I doubt they'd change it if there'd be a heating problem because of the sims.
Well, if it overheats its not really your fault. I've had computers that overheat like crazy, and when I got a new one it worked fine. If you are having problems with overheating I would either take it to apple and use your warranty or get a cooling pad for the game.
Mine looks exactly the same, except for some screenshots on my desktop and the dock is there lol. I'm a bit obsessive over keeping it clean though. I've had computers that after years are so filled with junk that theres not much else you can do besides either get a new one or wipe the hard drive.
Of course they would
It seems that a lot of people seem to underrate the potential of the Intel HD chips and overrate the capabilities of the older AMD/Nvidia chips. It is not surprising to see a 2012 MBP with an Nvidia GPU be out-performed by a newer Intel HD chip. It's not so much clock and memory speeds as much as shader language and features that newer GPUs support (and can handle more efficiently).
Any modern computer, especially a Mac, will take precautions to avoid damage due to heat. Past a certain threshold, many Intel chips will automatically lower their clock speeds (to lower heat production, allowing the fan to reduce heat). If this is still insufficient and temperature continues to rise, the computer will turn off instantly. These are set at tolerances far before real damage occurs.
Now, over time... running the CPU at max load and higher temperatures could reduce the lifespan. This is terms of years, so your computer 2-3 years down the road may seem a bit slower than it does not. However, you'll probably feel that same effect due to the growth in technology, I don't really see it a big deal to fuss over this.
I can just about assure you that it is just about impossible to "break" or "fry" your computer by running it hard. I have had several Macs for years and put them through 80-100% utilization just about every work day. None of them failed due to it, and if they had Apple would have replaced them without issue. Using your computer to the full potential, every day and night, is not something that will void your warranty with Apple.
If you really feel worried, buy the AppleCare for a hundred dollars or so, extending your warranty to 3 years from purchase date. I suggest this anyways, as it is a great value for how much no-hassle customer service they offer.
Isn't that the same thing?
Yes! My mid 2007 iMac is an absolute workhorse. I have stressed it so much and really pushed it and it still works great. It's beach balling a bit more than it used to but it's nearly 8 years old! It can run The Sims 4, although the graphics aren't great, but it can still run it. And it boots in 20 seconds. Show me an 8 year old PC that can do that. It's had countless Boot Camp partitions made and erased on it and still has all the original parts.
And always get Applecare. You can buy it anytime within the first year of buying your Mac. If you're a student/teacher you'll get it really cheaply.
> ErikTheRod wrote: »
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> Now, over time... running the CPU at max load and higher temperatures could reduce the lifespan.
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> ErikTheRod wrote: »
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> I can just about assure you that it is just about impossible to "break" or "fry" your computer by running it hard.
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> Isn't that the same thing?
Sorry, I should clarify what I meant there. Every component has an "mean time to failure" (MTTF), meaning how long it takes before it breaks from usage. Intel's CPU chips are tanks and their MTTF is probably higher than just about every other component in the computer itself. Your hard drive and logic board or power supply will likely break before it does.
There is a long running debate whether CPUs exhibit "slowdown" from being worked hard over long periods of time (months and years on end). The CPU will still work, but seemingly slower. Even so, there's a good chance that it is not actually the CPU itself which is damaged, but rather the wearing of the thermal paste used to transfer heat away from it. Over time, this paste becomes brittle and hardens, lessening its ability to transfer heat away from the CPU itself.
As mentioned, if the CPU gets too hot, it will usually throttle itself back (seemingly acting slower to let the fan catch up relieving heat). So it could be that over time (and heavy usage), this thermal paste wears off, causing throttling to occur more often. This would lead people to believe the CPU itself has worn down.
My statement was mostly to educate people that you won't "brick" your computer by playing the Sims 4 (or any other game). You can play all day, every day, 24/7 and it wouldn't break your CPU. Sure, the computer will get hot and likely stay hot to the touch, but you're not breaking anything.
Ooh, gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.
On the macbook I'm on now, I used to play sims 3 for hours at a time (and that ran like plum) so you can imagine how hot it got. I actually damaged the charging port by not realizing this in time. It is literally brown and burnt and the charger only charges it in certain positions. I even have scars from the charger resting on my leg for too long LOL. I haven't gotten it fixed because I also have a screen display problem, so I figured it would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. Ever since then I have used a cooling pad, but for sims 4 it doesn't get nearly as hot so I haven't used it. Although it has never, ever shut down on me. Its good to know it won't mess anything up by pushing it though because I always do lol.
process The Sims 4[7419] thread 598745 caught burning CPU!; EXC_RESOURCE supressed due to audio playback
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Well, as I said, I got it last September and it's Intel HD 5000.
At that time, I honestly didn't plan on playing the Sims anymore because it really slowed up my old PC. However, when I saw the Sims 4, I kinda regretted not going for the Pro :P But the Air is so useful since I have to carry it almost everyday at University.
I'm also planning to get Apple Care before my first year warranty expires! Just waited a bit because I was super poor lol.
Assuming your hardware meets the minimum specs, I'd say it's a bug in the code *or* your system is momentarily overloaded (thus the lag).
If you see that happening often (and interrupting gameplay), it may be good to turn down some settings to help reduce the load.
Yes, did you see it was the audio playback causing it? Quite amusing I thought. It must be a bug.