The M1 Air is five years old and there are still millions of them in backpacks. Here's what actually plays in 2026, what doesn't, and the honest upgrade math — from a channel that's been benchmarking Mac gaming since the M1 era.
Still great for esports — Dota 2, League of Legends, and Rocket League all hold 60+ FPS. Modern AAA via GPTK 4 / CrossOver is where it falls behind: 8GB models are locked out of several titles entirely, and the fanless chassis throttles in long sessions. If AAA on a Mac is the goal, that's M5 Air territory.
Click any column header to sort. Performance reflects our test sessions and community-verified results at 1080p-class resolution.
| Game / App | MacBook Model | Setting | Method | Avg FPS | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dota 2 | M1 Air | Medium, 1080p | Native macOS | 60–90 | Great |
| League of Legends | M1 Air | High, 1080p | Native (Rosetta 2) | 60+ | Great |
| Rocket League | M1 Air | Quality, 1080p | CrossOver | ~60 | Good |
| Baldur's Gate 3 | M1 Air | Low–Medium | Native macOS | 30–40 | Playable |
| Civilization VI | M1 Air | Medium | Native macOS | 40–50 | Good |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | M1 Air | — | Native (needs 16GB) | 8GB: no | 16GB only |
| Marvel Rivals | M1 Air | — | GPTK 4 / CrossOver | — | Struggles |
| Fortnite | M1 Air | — | Blocked (anti-cheat) | — | Not on Mac |
| Helldivers 2 | M1 Air | — | CrossOver 26 | — | Too heavy |
Ranges reflect real gameplay sessions and community-verified results, not synthetic loops. The fanless M1 Air throttles under sustained load — expect frame rates to settle 10–20% lower after 20+ minutes. For current-generation numbers, see the M5 MacBook Air page.
The M1's GPU still punches above its weight for native and Rosetta titles, but two things have moved on without it: Game Porting Toolkit 4 leans on Metal 4's Neural Engine upscaling and frame generation, which favors newer silicon, and modern AAA ports increasingly assume 16GB+. If your library is MOBAs, indies, and strategy — keep the M1 and spend the money on games. If you've been eyeing Marvel Rivals, Spider-Man, or Kingdom Come on a Mac, the M5 Air runs them; the M1 Air doesn't, really.
Want to try Windows games on your M1 anyway? Our guide to playing almost any PC game on a Mac covers CrossOver, GPTK, and Wine — the same stack works on M1, just with lower headroom.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission if you buy through these links, at no extra cost to you. The recommendations follow the tested use cases on this page.
For esports, yes — Dota 2, League, and Rocket League all hold 60+ FPS. For modern AAA via GPTK 4 and CrossOver, the 8GB models hit a wall, and even 16GB M1s trail far behind current Airs.
The native macOS port requires 16GB RAM minimum, so base M1 Airs are excluded outright. On 16GB models it's low settings at reduced resolution.
No — Fortnite isn't on Mac and its anti-cheat blocks CrossOver/Wine. Cloud gaming is the only route.
Esports-only: keep the M1. AAA ambitions: the M5 Air's GPU, Metal 4 upscaling, and 32GB option are a genuine generational leap — see our tested M5 Air numbers.