Best Mac or MacBook for gaming

It’s something of a running joke among Windows users that Macs are bad for gaming. Traditionally the Mac hasn’t been considered a great choice for gaming. There are Macs that can play games well, but they are generally much more expensive than the equivalent PC. Also the fact that upgrading a Mac to meet the requirements of a graphically-demanding modern game is pretty much a no-no makes Macs the least future-proof option for gamers (who often like to be able to tinkle with their computers to build the ideal machine for their purpose).

But Macs have become a much better choice for gaming enthusiasts with the advent of Apple’s first M1 Macs in late 2020, the subsequent M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra, then the M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Ultra, and now the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max. In the past, only the most expensive Macs offered the discrete graphics necessary for gaming. While M-series Macs don’t feature discrete graphics, their graphics capabilities are far beyond the integrated options in Intel Macs and they even beat the best of the discrete graphics cards that were previously included in Intel-powered Macs. With the arrival of Apple’s Pro and Max variants of Apple’s M-series silicon in the MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Studio, Apple has finally produced a chip that is capable of handling graphics-intensive AAA games.

Another significant change, that arrived with macOS Sonoma in fall 2023, is a new Game Porting Toolkit for developers and a Game Mode for gamers (Apple silicon only). Game Mode will kick in to give games higher process priority, reduce AirPods audio latency, and double the Bluetooth sampling rate for game controllers. Here’s How to use Game Mode in macOS Sonoma to boost performance.

The Game Porting Toolkit will take x86 code and other elements, such as DirectInput commands, XAudio commands, Direct3D commands, and other Windows gaming API calls, and translate them to run on Apple silicon in real time. It’s like Rosetta for Windows games, although it only does part of the job: the game’s developer still needs to translate the game for Macs and make sure everything works properly. Along with the Game Porting Toolkit Apple will also offer a Metal Shader Converter, to make aspects of these translations easier. We hope that this is the first indication that Apple is taking Mac gaming more seriously and that down the line hundreds of Windows games will be available for Macs.

It’s still not quite the case that Macs are great for games, but it is no longer the case that Apple’s Macs are no good for games. The main problem is the lack of games available for the Mac – let alone the M-series Chip – right now, and that is what Apple is trying to rectify. Read our round-up of the best games for Mac.

There is also the fact that, despite perfectly respectable performance, Macs can’t fully compete with purpose-built gaming PCs when it comes to gaming. Even the Mac mini with M2 Pro, which is a great choice for Mac gaming, would be crushed by a comparably-priced Windows gaming PC. Read: Even with the M2 Pro, Mac gaming is as bad as it’s ever been to find out why.

But, for those who are looking for a Mac to do all the things Macs can do and be good for gaming, right now there are some great options. For more general advice about which Mac to buy try our Mac buying guide.

The state of gaming on the Mac

The problem with Mac gaming is that there haven’t been a lot of games that are available for Macs. It doesn’t matter how good a Mac might be as a gaming machine if it won’t run the games you want to play.

In a previous version of this article, pre-M1 (Apple Silicon), we talked about how the Mac gaming scene had picked up since Macs started to use the same Intel processors as Windows PCs (back in 2007). The strong sales of Macs in recent years also helped encourage developers to make more A-List games available on the Mac than ever before.

However, with the arrival of the M1 chip in 2020 this all changed. With the majority of AAA games starting life on Windows on Intel-powered X86-based PCs, games developers, or publishers such as Feral or Aspyr, now need to write their games for the new ARM-based chip as well as Intel. Porting Windows games to Intel-powered Macs wasn’t such a struggle, because it was the same instruction set. But, with Macs no longer based on Intel, the instruction set is further removed from PCs than ever and the job is that much more complex.

But it’s not only the M-series chips to blame here – when it arrived in 2019 macOS Catalina stopped support for 32-bit code – which meant a lot of games that used 32-bit code were no longer Mac compatible. At the same time, Apple also introduced Metal for 3D graphics. So even before the arrival of the M1 a lot of games developers had already decided against making new Mac versions of their games because of the extra work required.

Apple has combated some of these issues. Games developers don’t necessarily need to rewrite their code for the M-series chips thanks to Rosetta 2, a dynamic binary translator that translates instructions from Intel to ARM so that the software can run on M-series Macs. Thanks to Rosetta a number of games work on M-series chips–although, unfortunately, they don’t all work perfectly.

To make porting games to Mac easier for developers, Apple introduced the Game Porting Toolkit in 2023. Since its introduction we’ve seen more games coming to the Mac. Including Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and World of Warcraft: The War Within. Many more A-list games are coming to the Mac, including Assassins Creed: Shadows (November 2024), Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (December 2024), and Resident Evil 2 (date TBC). Just check out our roundup of the best Mac games for some of the highlights, we also have a round-up of the best free Mac games. 

Games that run on the Mac

Some game developers made native versions of their games for the M-series Mac early on, including Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, which was M1 ready since the day the M1 Mac launched, and Gameloft’s Asphalt 8 and Asphalt 9 both run natively on the M1.

There are now 300 M1-native games, according to this list. The games include: Asphalt 8 and Asphalt 9, Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City and Alto’s Adventure, Baldur’s Gate 3, Civilization 6, Diablo, Disco Elysium, Doom, Doom 3, EVE Online, The Elder Scrolls III, Half-Life 2, Minecraft, Myst, No Man’s Sky, Resident Evil Village, Rise of the Tomb Raider and others are also M1 native.

You can also play Banner Saga 2, BioShock 2 Remastered, Borderlands, Call of Duty, Diablo III, Deux Ex: Mankind Divided, Final Fantasy XIV, Hogwarts Legacy and more via Rosetta. Read about these games and more in our round-up of the Best Mac Games.

Fortnite is a popular game that runs on M-series Macs via Rosetta. However, thanks to Epic’s fall out with Apple the developer is no longer issuing updates to the Mac version of the game. If you want to play Fortnite on the Mac you might prefer to use a service like Xbox Cloud Gaming. Learn how to set up your Apple device for cloud gaming here.

The following Aspyr games run via Rosetta: Borderlands 3, Call of Duty, Civilization VI, and Planet Coaster. Aspyr was bought in February 2021 by Embrace Group for $100 million, who said it will accelerate Aspyr’s growth and license even more games.

A number of Feral releases are also playable via Rosetta on the M-series Mac. These include A Total War Saga: Troy, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dirt and Dirt Rally, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which run reasonably well.

Steam is another source of gaming on the Mac. The Steam platform is compatible with Apple’s M-series chips, but not every game in the Steam library will run on M-series Macs. Read: How to use Steam on a Mac to find out more. 

Other options for gaming on the Mac

In the pre-M1 days the Mac also has a cunning trick up its precision-engineered sleeve in the form of Boot Camp which meant it was possible to play Windows games on an Intel-based Mac. Unfortunately Boot Camp is not available as an option on M-series Macs, you can still install Windows on Mac, but only the Windows for Arm version, which is even more limited in terms of software support than the M-series Macs. In the absence of Boot Camp, Parallels or VMware are probably your best options for PC gaming on a Mac.

If you really want to run un-ported Windows games on an M-series Mac Crossover Mac from Codeweavers is a good option. It can translate x86-64 code for Windows to ARM64 code for macOS. Read: CrossOver 20 brings Windows apps to M1 Macs.

If that doesn’t appeal then you will have to wait for Feral Interactive, Aspyr and others to port PC games to M-series Macs.

All this may mean that fewer PC games come over to the Mac, but perhaps this doesn’t matter. ARM-based Macs will natively be able to run any iOS or iPad app, which should bring a number of games over to the Mac from the iPhone and iPad, so far there are around 60 iOS games playable on the Mac including: Among Us, Alien Isolation, Call of Duty: Mobile, Dragon Quest VIII, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, Monument Valley, Need for Speed No Limits, Stardew Valley, and X-Plane Flight Simulator.

but even more interesting: some games machines, such as the Nintendo Switch, run on ARM processors, meaning it is theoretically possible to run Switch games on the M1 Mac.

That’s the state of Mac gaming right now. If you want to play games on the Mac you can, but there are limits right now, but in the long term, there is the promise of a wider catalog of games coming to the M1 Mac.

So, with all this interactive entertainment available to the prospective buyer, which Mac should you choose?

Gaming on the Mac: What you need

Playing the latest games places heavy demands on a computer, both in terms of graphics and processor performance. To ensure you have the best platform for your digital adventures you’ll want a machine that has a fast processor (CPU). You can find 12-core CPUs in the M2 Pro and Max and M3 Pro and Max, or while the Mac Studio offers the 24-core CPU M2 Ultra (you can also get the M2 Ultra in the Mac Pro, but we don’t recommend that for gamers).

It also helps to have a powerful graphics processor. While casual games use simple two-dimensional graphics that don’t require too much graphical power, the detailed 3D graphics used in high-speed action games can put a lot of strain on your machine. The GPUs on offer from Apple include 16- or 19-core GPUs in the M2 Pro, 30- or 38-cores in the M2 Max, and 60- or 76-cores in the M2 Ultra-powered Mac Studio.

We also recommend at least 16GB RAM, although we advise getting the most RAM you can afford at the point of sale, as it’s impossible to update later. You get 18GB Unified Memory (Apple’s name for RAM) with the M3 Pro MacBooks, and can get up to 32GB with the M2 Pro (in the Mac mini), 36GB RAM in the M3 Pro (MacBook Pro) up to 96GB RAM in the M2 Max (in the Mac Studio), up to 128GB RAM in the M3 Max (MacBook Pro), and a massive 192GB with the M2 Ultra (Mac Studio and Mac Pro).

A decent display is also going to be a bonus, but since nearly every Mac (bar the Mac Studio and Mac mini) has a high-resolution Retina display, you can be sure that games will look great on your Mac. If you are after a decent display to plug in check out our recommendations for the best display for Mac.

A fast and reasonably high-capacity solid-state drive is a good idea too as games can take up a lot of gigabytes and will also help to improve gaming performance. Luckily Apple no longer sells any Macs with hard drives or the Fusion drive that combines a hard drive and flash storage, but it’s worth noting that some Macs have slower SSDs than others. It’s generally the entry-level models with 256GB storage that are affected by this, although it seems that the 512GB MacBook Pro may also be affected (read about Apple’s entry-level SSD slowdown). With this limitation in mind, it could be wise to get at least a 1TB SSD, if you can afford to.

Another thing to consider is how well the computer will handle the processor-intensive games. For example, we wouldn’t recommend the MacBook Air because, although the MacBook Air might look like it has similar specs to the entry-level MacBook Pro, it lacks fans so it may slow down to avoid overheating.

We’d also recommend a comfy gaming chair, some snacks that can be eaten one-handed, and the occasional break to save your spine from developing an unusual shape.

Macs gamers should avoid

Graphics performance will obviously vary depending on the type of games you like to play. The general rule of thumb is that if you intend to play fast 3D action games then you should consider the M3 Pro, M3 Max, M2 Pro, M2 Max or M2 Ultra. The M3 MacBook Pro might be sufficient for some gamers, especially those on a budget, but if you can afford to go pro you would be wise to.

Some Macs simply won’t have the power to run graphically demanding titles and frame rates will quickly drop to almost unplayable levels when there are lots of characters battling it out on the screen. That reliance on integrated graphics means that there are several Mac models that gamers will probably want to avoid if they want to play graphically demanding games. Of course, if your primary form of entertainment is less demanding fare such as Football Manager, Limbo, or many of the indie games you’ll find on the Mac App Store, then pretty much any Mac will fulfill your needs – as would an iPad.

We recommend you avoid these Macs if you want to play graphically demanding titles:

• Intel Macs
• Mac mini (M2 or older models)
• MacBook Air (M2 or older models)
• 13-inch MacBook Pro (M2 or older models)
• 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3)
• 24-inch iMac (M1 or M3)

Macs for gamers to consider

We’ve ruled out a fair selection of Macs, so now let’s look at some Macs that you can consider if you want to play the latest 3D games. We discuss these in detail below.

• Mac mini with M2 Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU): From $1,299/£1,399 (upgradable to 19-core GPU)
• 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (11-core CPU, 14-core GPU): From $1,999/£2,099
• 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU): From $2,399/£2,499
• 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro (12-core GPU, 18-core CPU): From $2,499/£2,599
• 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max (14-core CPU, 30-core GPU): From $3,199/£3,299
• 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max (14-core CPU, 30-core GPU): From $3,499/£3,749
• 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max (16-core CPU, 40-core GPU): From $3,999/£4,099
• Mac Studio with M2 Max (12-core CPU, 30-core GPU): From $1,999/£3,599
• Mac Studio with M2 Ultra (24-core CPU, 60-core GPU): From $1,999/£2,099

If you find an older 14-inch of 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro or M2 Max we recommend that as an option too. There may be deals to be had as resellers sell off old stock. Read our round-up of the Best MacBook Pro deals.

These Macs are not cheap, but we track the best deals so you will probably be able to save money if you buy one. You will find the best prices for these different Macs below. We also track the best deals for every model of MacBook Pro separately.

Best Mac for gaming

The lack of games that were ready for the M1 Mac, either to run natively, or to run reasonably well via Rosetta, was a problem for some time, but now the situation is a lot better so it is easier to recommend M1-series Macs for gaming.

Our favorite options are the Mac mini with M2 Pro and the Mac Studio with M2 Max, both of which give you a decent deal compared to similarly specced MacBook Pro models. But if you want a laptop, in October 2023 the MacBook Pro was updated to the M3 Pro and M3 Max (there is also a M3 version, but we advise you to avoid that chip for gaming as there are better options).

Since you are likely to prefer a large-screen external display to use with your gaming Mac, the fact that a screen isn’t included isn’t an issue.

If you really want a good gaming machine you are looking at a very high starting price – and that is the reason why Macs have a reputation for not being good for games. For the price of a M2 Pro Mac mini, you could get a serious Windows-based gaming PC that is better suited to gaming, and still have change left over for a couple of games too. But, if you want a Mac that does gaming well in addition to everything else that makes a Mac great then these Macs will do the job with style.