Macbook Air 2014 13" For 2D Development?

Hey guys I am looking for a machine to develop games on the go with. I am looking at purchasing a mac (simply because 12 hour battery life is exactly what I am looking for). My question is concerning with the power of the machine. I am planning on upgrading it to the i7 with turbo to 3.3 ghz and upping it to 8 gigs of RAM. Is this enough power to create games on the scale of Braid, Child Of Light or Valiant Hearts? If not what would you suggest? I look forward to reading your responses!

 

That is more then enough power.
You won't have any issues there.

 

Oh okay, that was simple. Would it be okay for some minor 3D development? I am thinking of a game the size and scope of Gone Home.

 

What's the GPU?

 

Check out how the 12 hour battery life is measured, that should be documented somewhere. That kind of thing is usually measured under optimal conditions and minimal workloads - you may not get 12 hours of game development out of it.

 

Intel hd 5000

 

I understand 12 hours optimal.

 

Should be alright. Iris Pro upgrade might provide a little boost, if possible?

 

I don't believe I can upgrade to the iris in the air...

 

Bought myself a cheap 13" MBA earlier this year during my US trip and can fully recommend it. 12 hours of battery time might be under optimal conditions only but so far the battery hasn't let me down - there is plenty of juice in that one.

 

I use the 2013 MBA 13" for development and have had no issues, the GPU is surprisingly powerful.

 

Has anyone had any problem with the lower resolution display? I know that it is not a full 1080, just to get that battery life in tip top shape, but has the lower pixel density been intrusive at all?

 

As the development is concerned you need to know what your software requirements are. If you want to use 3ds max then you need windows platform. Mac offers switching between OS but that might tedious.
For professional purposes you can also use work station from HP, Dell or any other, Quadro Graphics Card provides a great support and give you results near to the rendering during development because its professional series.
I am using windows platform on desktop workstation with 128 GB ram and 4GB Quadro (but there are laptops also available). My PC's overall usage is not more than 6% while running all the software. I'm sure you don't need that much bigger.
Workstation also offers extended battery life.
again consolidate with software requirement and make a decision.
If you need any help, you can PM me.

 

I have the macbook air 2013 13' but with the i5 processor instead. I work exclusively in 3d development and I never have a problem. Even when hooking it up to an external monitor and running photoshop, Unity, mono develop and safari, I have not noticed even a degradation in performance. As long as you get the 8GB ram version, then you will be fine. Battery life is amazing by the way

 

He want's to make 2d games. And not the next Pixar movie, or Crysis

Personally I'd invest into a Macbook Pro rather than a Air. You get a better screen and more powerful hardware. The 13 inch screen is also a bit to small for my taste.
I work mostly with 2d stuff and having some extra space on screen is always welcome.

 

I would also recommend a Pro over an Air, it's only a small cost increase but you get a lot more bang for your buck. Also, I know this probably isn't relevant as you're doing 2D stuff, but 3DS Max doesn't have an Mac version, and Unity on Mac cannot open .max files.

 

Pro has a worse battery life though, and its less portable.

 

Relative to the air, yes. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have great battery life and portability. IMO the increased processing power + retina screen makes it well worth it.

 

Battery life isn't everything you know... I'd recommend a pro over Air any day.

 

I also recommend you to check those links.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/zbook-14.html
http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/precision-laptops
I don't think there is something remaining to discuss and guys let him to decide rather than confusing him.

 

For my personal projects, my 2012 MBA is my primary development device. I don't suffer from it in terms of power. Game development does not actually require a huge amount of horsepower, and the ideal development computer is probably one that's close in specs to whatever your target audience is using. There are a few situations when horsepower matters (stuff like packing sprites and baking lighting), but truth is those things come along rarely enough (especially for the types of games you're making) that they're almost non-issues.

What I DO suffer from when using my Air, is screen space. There just isn't any. If you can live with a cramped screen, the Air will suit you fine.

 

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for all of your input. I ended up going with a MacBook Pro i5 2.6 with turbo to 3.1, 8 gigs of RAM and a 256 ssd. I still have to wait a week for it though. :-( I didn't realize how portable the pro was (size wise). Once again, thanks for all of the advice. I will post my thoughts on it after I get a chance to mess around with it and more importantly make games.

 

Good choice.

 

I think so too. I'm still using my 2010 (or 2009?) MBP and I love the crap out of it. I'd happily upgrade it, but I'm not sure I'll be happy with the smaller screen, and I'm shifting more towards using desktops anyway so I'm using it less.

 

It seems that everyone I talk to uses there MacBook Pro for about five years or more. This is reassuring since the laptop I am retiring is only a couple years old, granted it was much cheaper. I love the idea of buying a laptop and having it for the next five years thoug and it will be a quality perception shift for sure. I can't wait!