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Engadget: MacBooks Can Run Heavy Games, but Serious Gamers Still Face Trade-Offs

Engadget says Apple silicon lets MacBooks run many demanding games, but Windows PCs or cloud gaming remain better for serious players.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-06 10:08

For years, Engadget said, Macs were not gaming machines. Hardware was weak, and many developers did not bring titles to macOS. Apple's M-series chips have changed the hardware equation, and new tools make it easier to port PC games to Mac. Engadget said the macOS gaming landscape is better than it was six years ago, though a large gap remains between Macs and Windows PCs.

Hardware is no longer the main weakness, according to Engadget. The latest Macs, such as an M5 MacBook Pro, will likely run most games well. Apple lists Assassin's Creed Shadows, Dead Island 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 among titles that run natively on Mac. The list of Mac-compatible games has grown, with more titles arriving on macOS alongside their Windows versions, Engadget reported.

If a favorite game does not have a macOS port, Engadget said there may still be an alternative. Apple created the Gaming Porting Toolkit to help developers port Windows games to macOS using native translations. Although the tool is intended for developers, anyone can use it to run PC games on a Mac with a few lines of code, according to the article. Engadget's author used it to run GTA V on an M4 Pro MacBook Pro and got a steady 60 frames per second at high graphics settings. Engadget said the experience was not perfect and had occasional glitches, but it worked well for a game being translated in real time.

Engadget also pointed to MacGamingDB, a community-run website that provides compatibility details for thousands of titles and lets users check how a game performs on a specific Mac model. Engadget said this saves time because users do not have to download gigabytes of data only to find that a game does not work.

For buying advice, Engadget said the MacBook Pro is the best option for gaming on a MacBook. Even the base model with an M5 Pro chip and 24GB of RAM has enough power for most modern games, according to the article. An M5 Max chip adds more RAM and a better GPU. Engadget warned that the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air have less powerful processors and no internal fan, making them less suitable for demanding games. They can run some titles, but performance will not be ideal and users will need to lower resolution and graphics settings.

Engadget said a Windows PC will likely cost less for the same graphical power and will run all games natively without compatibility concerns. It also suggested cloud gaming services such as GeForce NOW or Xbox Cloud Gaming for streaming games on a MacBook. In that setup, hardware is less of an issue, but a good internet connection is required.