{"id":126594,"date":"2026-05-13T10:51:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=126594"},"modified":"2026-05-13T11:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:27:20","slug":"the-macbook-pro-m5-max-is-awesome-for-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/126594-the-macbook-pro-m5-max-is-awesome-for-gaming","title":{"rendered":"The MacBook Pro M5 Max is awesome for gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Benchmarks of the Apple MacBook Pro M5 Max show that it is now a viable option for PC gaming – provided your preferred titles can run on macOS, CrossOver, or Parallels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to gaming benchmark data provided by Notebookcheck<\/a>, the MacBook Pro M5 Max delivers gaming performance comparable to an RTX 5070 gaming laptop in titles like Cyberpunk, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Assessin’s Creed Shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, YouTuber Andrew Tsai<\/a> put the MacBook Pro M5 Max to the test against 13 different games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was using the configuration with 48GB RAM, 18CPU cores, and 40 GPU cores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Game<\/strong><\/th>Quality<\/strong><\/th>Frame Rates<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Baldur’s Gate 3<\/td>4K Ultra<\/td>55-60fps (in an intensive area)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
GRID Legends<\/td>4K Ultra High<\/td>60-80fps<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Cyberpunk 2077<\/td>4K High (with upscaling)<\/td>60fps <\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Minecraft (Lunar)<\/td>4K<\/td>120fps+<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tsai also tested games that require CrossOver or Parallels to run on a MacBook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular titles like Helldivers 2, Elden Ring, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, and Guild Wars 2 were all playable on 1440p or 4K at High or Ultra settings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Source: Andrew Tsai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The MacBook gaming problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the MacBook Pro M5 Max clearly has the raw power to run modern titles well, owners still face challenges to their overall gaming experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most PC games are designed specifically for Windows PCs, and require separate software to be played on macOS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CrossOver and Parallels are two of the most popular options for achieving this – but the lack of native support for most PC games is a major frustration for many gamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, even with CrossOver or Parallels running, many online games run anti-cheat software that does not allow them to be played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the MacBook Pro M5 Max is still not an ideal laptop for gaming, and any gaming you can do should be considered a bonus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The MacBook Pro M5 Max delivers gaming performance comparable to an RTX 5070 gaming laptop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":126595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[959,4935,26607],"class_list":["post-126594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-apple","tag-macbook-pro","tag-macbook-pro-m5-max"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126594"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126606,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126594\/revisions\/126606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}