Cyberpunk 2077 Run on Apple Chips A Four-Mac Test
After the new macOS launch of Cyberpunk 2077, YouTuber and Mac player Andrew Tsai did a deep test on how the game works on four Apple Macs. His work showed us how it looks to play on chips from the basic M1 to the strong M3 Max and the new M4.
The Macs in the Test
Tsai's lineup had Macs from different times and power levels. CD Projekt Red says you should use an M3 Pro with 18GB of memory for 1080p 60 FPS. The least to get is a base M1 with 16GB. The Macs tested were:
- M4 MacBook Pro (16GB RAM / 10-core GPU)
- M3 Max MacBook Pro (48GB RAM / 40-core GPU)
- M1 Max MacBook Pro (32GB RAM / 32-core GPU)
- M1 MacBook Air (8GB RAM / 8-core GPU)
Test Results on 1080p High Settings
Here are the average frames per second (FPS) each Mac got with different MetalFX settings.
- M3 Max MacBook Pro (48GB): 78.35 FPS without MetalFX, 104.46 FPS with quality MetalFX
- M1 Max MacBook Pro (32GB): 51.87 FPS both ways
- M4 MacBook Pro (16GB): 26.22 FPS without, 38.98 FPS with quality MetalFX
- M1 MacBook Air (8GB): No test without, 12.76 FPS with quality MetalFX
Checking the Performance
Best M3 Max
The M3 Max MacBook Pro was in front, with over 78 FPS at 1080p high without help and over 100FPS with it. Smooth play all through.
Good Show from M1 Max
Even as an old "Max" chip, the M1 Max MacBook Pro did better than the newer M4 base model. It kept a steady 51.87 FPS, no matter if MetalFX was on or off.
Playable on M4
The M4 chip got a movie-like 26.22 FPS without help. With MetalFX, it went above 30 FPS, making the play good enough on Apple's newest basic chip.
M1 MacBook Air's Hard Time
The M1 MacBook Air, with just 8GB of one memory, is below the game's least needs. It got just over 12 FPS with MetalFX on quality. The test wasn't done without MetalFX, likely as the system might crash.
Native vs. CrossOver Test
On the M4 MacBook Pro, Tsai also ran a test using CrossOver. Here, it got 23.94 FPS at 1080p high without MetalFX, just a small 3 FPS less than native. This shows a strong play even with a helping layer.
Looking Forward
Tsai thinks the play will get better in the next months as the game makers tune Cyberpunk 2077 more for Apple hardware.