Can a Macbook Pro 16 game?

[Daniel Z.]

So my gaming PC (i5 4460, GTX 1660) is getting old, and I want to replace it. In the last year or so, I've gone Apple, getting an iPhone and Airpods Pro. I love the experience and I would like to switch to macOS. However, most Macs cannot game at all. I want to be able to play games like Minecraft, War Thunder, and Apex Legends at 1440p any settings with the Macbook. Is this possible?

[Electronics Wizardy]

depending on the exact spec of macbook pro you get, the gpu should be between the 1650 and the 1660, so yea, it will play those games fine. Might have to go windows for some of those games though.

[Daniel Z.]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

depending on the exact spec of macbook pro you get, the gpu should be between the 1650 and the 1660, so yea, it will play those games fine. Might have to go windows for some of those games though.

Thanks. I don't game as often now, and when I do it's usually Minecraft.

[TheGlenlivet]

3 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

So my gaming PC (i5 4460, GTX 1660) is getting old, and I want to replace it. In the last year or so, I've gone Apple, getting an iPhone and Airpods Pro. I love the experience and I would like to switch to macOS. However, most Macs cannot game at all. I want to be able to play games like Minecraft, War Thunder, and Apex Legends at 1440p any settings with the Macbook. Is this possible?

Warthunder and Minecraft can play on Mac for sure as they both have  clients for macOS.

No so sure about Apex.  Looks like it is still Bootcamp only there...

 

[Daniel Z.]

1 minute ago, TheGlenlivet said:

Warthunder and Minecraft can play on Mac for sure as they both have  clients for macOS.

No so sure about Apex.  Looks like it is still Bootcamp only there...

 

I see. It's not a massive deal, as I can use my XPS or older PC for that.

[SeraphicWings]

if you get the 5500M option, it will do 1080p gaming in Windows fine

[Commodus]

10 hours ago, Daniel Z. said:

So my gaming PC (i5 4460, GTX 1660) is getting old, and I want to replace it. In the last year or so, I've gone Apple, getting an iPhone and Airpods Pro. I love the experience and I would like to switch to macOS. However, most Macs cannot game at all. I want to be able to play games like Minecraft, War Thunder, and Apex Legends at 1440p any settings with the Macbook. Is this possible?

Gonna echo earlier sentiments: Minecraft and War Thunder will be fine in macOS, Apex will require one of your Windows PCs as you mentioned.

 

One thing I would add: I wouldn't get a Mac expecting to regularly play top-tier games.  You do get quite a few modern titles (Fortnite and Untitled Goose Game, for example), but a lot of the games tend to be indies, if frequently good ones.  You get a Mac because you like the OS and overall hardware -- the games are gravy.

[Brent744]

You will see a massive downgrade in performance switching to a MacBook Pro and I highly doubt you'll be able to run any game at 1440p on a MacBook. Most MacBook's are running dual core i5's without any dedicated GPU. Your current i5 is a little dated but still a good high performance chip. The GTX 1660 GPU is still quite new as it only came out recently and should be a decent card in gaming.

It's been a few years since I've owned one, my last model was 2015 MacBook Pro and it couldn't really run any game at a comfortable setting.

[Daniel Z.]

On 12/11/2019 at 4:23 AM, Brent744 said:

You will see a massive downgrade in performance switching to a MacBook Pro and I highly doubt you'll be able to run any game at 1440p on a MacBook. Most MacBook's are running dual core i5's without any dedicated GPU. Your current i5 is a little dated but still a good high performance chip. The GTX 1660 GPU is still quite new as it only came out recently and should be a decent card in gaming.

It's been a few years since I've owned one, my last model was 2015 MacBook Pro and it couldn't really run any game at a comfortable setting.

The Macbook I'm looking at has an 8 core i9, and 16 gigs of ram, it's much faster than my current PC in terms of CPU power/

[Daniel Z.]

On 12/10/2019 at 10:39 PM, Commodus said:

Gonna echo earlier sentiments: Minecraft and War Thunder will be fine in macOS, Apex will require one of your Windows PCs as you mentioned.

 

One thing I would add: I wouldn't get a Mac expecting to regularly play top-tier games.  You do get quite a few modern titles (Fortnite and Untitled Goose Game, for example), but a lot of the games tend to be indies, if frequently good ones.  You get a Mac because you like the OS and overall hardware -- the games are gravy.

I see. Thanks.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

On 12/11/2019 at 1:23 PM, Brent744 said:

You will see a massive downgrade in performance switching to a MacBook Pro and I highly doubt you'll be able to run any game at 1440p on a MacBook. Most MacBook's are running dual core i5's without any dedicated GPU. Your current i5 is a little dated but still a good high performance chip. The GTX 1660 GPU is still quite new as it only came out recently and should be a decent card in gaming.

It's been a few years since I've owned one, my last model was 2015 MacBook Pro and it couldn't really run any game at a comfortable setting.

are you drunk? almost everything you said there is false. 

[Brent744]

On 12/14/2019 at 6:43 PM, Twilight said:

are you drunk? almost everything you said there is false. 

Please elaborate.

I have no experience with any 2019 MacBook's but looking at their specs most only utilize intel's integrated graphics. Integrated graphics have never performed the same as a machine with a dedicated GPU. He has recently posted that he's looking at a model with the i9 so I imagine that will perform quite well however, most models sold have i5's (including yours, which is a dual core).

His current i5 has 4 cores with a base clock of 3.2. With a good GPU it can still run any title on the market. It's only been recently that games are utilizing more than 4 cores. The GTX 1660 was announced early 2019 and hit shelves mid 2019. Last I checked it's still 2019, I consider that fairly recent.

[Brent744]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:18 PM, Daniel Z. said:

The Macbook I'm looking at has an 8 core i9, and 16 gigs of ram

Ah ok. In that case you will have no problems. Those models actually do have dedicated GPU's.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

47 minutes ago, Brent744 said:

Please elaborate.

I have no experience with any 2019 MacBook's but looking at their specs most only utilize intel's integrated graphics. Integrated graphics have never performed the same as a machine with a dedicated GPU. He has recently posted that he's looking at a model with the i9 so I imagine that will perform quite well however, most models sold have i5's (including yours, which is a dual core).

His current i5 has 4 cores with a base clock of 3.2. With a good GPU it can still run any title on the market. It's only been recently that games are utilizing more than 4 cores. The GTX 1660 was announced early 2019 and hit shelves mid 2019. Last I checked it's still 2019, I consider that fairly recent.

the latest MacBook Pro's are all quadcore or better unless you get a MacBook Air or MacBook. any 2019 MacBook Pro is at least quadcore. 

 

the 13" MacBook Pro never had dedicated graphics and probably never will because of thermals.