2018 MacBookPro

Question

Can anyone advise if a 2018 MacBook Pro will work well with Plane.  Should I custom build on Apple web site with faster processor, more ram and quad core?

TIA

Answer 1

I'm an X-Plane developer who happens to prefer the mobility of a laptop over a desktop. I just bought the 6-core version, 15-inch version of the 2018 MBP, and it's a fantastic machine for software development... but it's really not a great gaming machine. The Radeon 560X GPU is a major limitation for X-Plane's visuals. The sad fact is... if you're looking to run X-Plane with high graphics settings, there just isn't a Mac under $5,000 that can really do it well. You'd be much better off buying a Windows gaming laptop (maybe one of these?) with the most powerful GPU you can afford—I wouldn't settle for anything lower than an Nvidia 1060, and prefer a 1070 or even 1080 if your budget can swing it.

(For comparison, the Radeon 560X that ships in the 2018 15-inch MBP is a significant step below the Nvidia 1060 in those gaming laptops.)

Comments

Hi Tyler,

Do you think that buying the option offered by Apple RADEON Vega 20 on the macbook pro (intel i9 at 2.3GHz and 16gb RAM) may develop a better performance than the Radeon 560X to run X Plane 11 with decent settings? I really want to try to make a macbook pro work decently before choosing another windows computer.

PS: I appreciate your information above, was actually the most helpful on this forum related to this subject.

---

Better? Sure!

Based on the benchmarks, though, that GPU is still going to be about 10-15% slower than the mobile Nvidia GTX 1650 (like you might find in a low- to mid-range gaming laptop), and waaaay slower than the higher end Nvidia mobile GPUs.

It depends on what you need—if you need a portable Mac workstation, and are okay having simming be a secondary function, the Vega 20 will be fine. But I wouldn't suggest anyone buy it primarily for flight sim or gaming purposes.

Answer 2

Hi TIA,

I am not with Laminar Research; just a flight simmer.

Have a look at the following link at https://www.x-plane.com/kb/x-plane-11-system-requirements/  to ascertain the requirements to run X-Plane 11.  The serious flight simmers build a purpose built PC system equal to or have greater specs than the recommended spec and do not consider a laptop  What you intend to spend may become a lemon.  A PC will cost you far less than a MAC and you have the opportunity to upgrade as and when you can afford to do so whereas with a Mac you live with what you have.   Using Intel and NVidia components will give you better performance rather than AMD components.  

If you intend to connect an additional screen don't connect to the motherboard as it usually does not have the "grunt" to run X-Plane.  Whatever you purchase ie a PC or Mac, you should have a dedicated graphics card installed.  There are comments back through this forum advising the minimum screen size to run X-Plane on a laptop should be a 17 inch screen.  Anything less will give you viewing/visual problems.

X-Plane is resource hungry and generates heat.  To solve the problem good cooling inside the unit is required.  The specs don't mention this. Does your intended MAC have cooling?  Recommendations back through this forum strongly recommends where or when a laptop is to be used it should be a genuine "gaming" laptop whereby good cooling is part of the construction of the unit.  The MSI brand is possibly the best purchase at this stage.

Good luck.

Glenn

Answer 3

I got a 13' 2018 MBP recently. I upgraded it with 16GB RAM & i7 processor specifically to run XP11 on it. I tried the demo & it will just about run XP 11; but I don't think the MBP would last long doing it. The fan runs at a very high speed and even with a chill mat the MBP gets very very hot.

I down loaded XP11 onto my sons PC as realistically my MBP wont run it.

Answer 4

As others have stated the MacBook Pro will run hot and the AMD 560 graphics card is underpowered for X-plane. However, for those interested in an iMac I run an iMac with a 4.2GHz I7 with a Radeon Pro 580 and can comfortably run X-Plane on dual screens (34" Dell U3415W & Built in retina display) at high settings at between 25-33FPS with a lot of custom scenery added on. The only time it will bog down, is in places like New York when it can drop to around 20FPS. I would not buy a Mac specifically to run X-Plane as for the $2,300 it cost me I could buy a better specified Windows machine, but then again most people use their computers for more than one thing and for those who like Macs you can have a satisfying experience.