So given that I’m going to be losing my borrowed copy of Tomb Raider for the PS4 soon, I decided to see how things would run on my Macbook Air.

Long story short: the windows version runs better according to the benchmark that’s built into the game.

I’m not exactly surprised. The mac version is supposed to be a port if I’m not mistaken, rather than something was developed natively with the mac OS in mind.

detailed stats

computer

First, I should mention that this model of mac is not officially supported by this game.

When you first run the game, it will say this system doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements. But luckily, it lets you proceed anyhow.

Macbook Air mid 2013 (my model is the cheapest macbook air you could buy a year ago).

  • Procesador 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5
  • Memoria 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
  • Gráficos Intel HD Graphics 5000
  • Software OS X 10.9.4 (13E28)

stats for 1366x768 @ fullscreen with low quality

As far as I know, the settings were roughly equivalent, though the windows version had more options.

Mac version:

  • min FPS: 18.9
  • max FPS: 37.0
  • avg FPS: 30.4

Windows version through bootcamp:

  • min FPS: 31.0
  • max FPS: 52.0
  • avg FPS: 42.1

stats for 800x600 in windowed mode with low quality

Mac version:

  • min FPS: 31.4
  • max FPS: 72.1
  • avg FPS: 54.0

Windows version through bootcamp:

  • min FPS: 52.0
  • max FPS: 62.0
  • avg FPS: 59.5

yeah, but is it playable?

I did actually play Tomb Raider on this very mac many moons ago. It’s absolutely playable. I’m pretty sure I played it at 1366x768 fullscreen, though I think I had higher quality settings.

I remember it as being absolutely playable, but with slowdowns here and there.

I can’t say much yet about the mac version. I can say that my PS4’s DS4 controller magically worked when plugged in via USB whereas apparently I’ll have to download some extra software/drivers on the windows side. I played a bit in full screen 1366x768 with the low quality settings (what averaged 30.4 FPS in the benchmark) and it was okay. I’m almost positive it wasn’t averaging 30 though.

I then played for 10-20 minutes or so in windowed mode at 1366x768 so I could use the framerate monitoring tool in Quartz Debug. I happened to end up in the area of the game where you’re in the vast mountainous area with tons of things going on graphically. According to Quartz Debug, I was getting anywhere from 8-25 FPS. I think I was averaging probably 15-20 FPS. It was still playable, but not for the faint of heart.

my final verdict

Again, from what I remember, Tomb Raider was playable on Windows on this baseline 2013 Macbook Air. With the same hardware, I would consider it unplayable on the Mac version.

However, that’s not to say that I recommend playing it on the Air. I have concerns about the long term effects of it heating up so much. In day to day work, my Macbook Air runs dead silent and cool most of the time. The exceptions would be summer days when I start doing video exports. Then I will feel some heat and hear the fans kick in. I’m pretty sure that even then the fan is nowhere near as loud as it is when I’m gaming.

I do wonder how far a proper cooling pad would go towards keeping the system cool though. I’m sure the fans would still be freaking out, but at least maybe I wouldn’t be concerned that my Macbook Air could melt at any second.