lucadelladora – Cyberpunk 2077 is now available natively on macOS, marking a significant milestone for Mac gaming. A popular tech YouTuber recently tested the game across four Apple Silicon models: the fanless M1 MacBook Air, the powerful M1 Max, the newer M3 Max, and the latest M4 MacBook Pro. The benchmarks offer valuable insight into how well the game performs on these diverse machines.
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The entry-level M1 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM launches the game at 720p with a 30 FPS cap. However, its limited memory causes rough and unsmooth performance. The MacBook Air lacks the resources to run the game at high settings or resolutions without stuttering. This model suits casual or light gameplay at lower quality.
The M1 Max delivers a much stronger experience thanks to its 32 GPU cores and active cooling system. It maintains frame rates between 60 and 90 FPS indoors and stays above 40 FPS during open-world combat at 1080p with MetalFX upscaling enabled. Testing revealed no major thermal issues, making the M1 Max a solid option for players seeking smooth performance on Mac.
The M3 Max and M4 MacBook Pro models offer even better performance, especially with dynamic resolution scaling and MetalFX technology. The standard M4 MacBook Pro runs the game at a steady 30 FPS by default, ensuring stable performance and avoiding thermal throttling that can degrade gameplay quality on laptops..
Limitations and Performance Challenges on Higher Settings
Pushing the M4 MacBook Pro beyond the default settings reveals performance limitations. Increasing the FPS cap to 120 and disabling VSync boosts frame rates to 50-55 FPS but causes thermal strain. Ray tracing, while supported, significantly reduces performance, making it unplayable on this hardware. The ultra graphics setting is too demanding for the M4’s GPU, which lacks the power for smooth ray-traced visuals. Although the game supports path tracing, the modest visual gains do not justify the large performance cost. Frame generation via AMD’s FSR 3.1 also feels jittery and poorly timed, so it is better left off for now.
Metal 4’s upcoming frame interpolation feature may improve frame pacing and smoothness later in the year. However, this will require macOS Tahoe, which is not yet released. One notable downside is the large file size of the Mac App Store version. At 159GB, it is nearly double the Steam version’s size of 92GB. The increased size is due to all voiceover languages being included by default. For users concerned about storage, it is recommended to purchase through Steam, GOG, or Epic. Buying the Windows version of Cyberpunk 2077 also grants free access to the Mac port, offering additional value.
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Overall, Cyberpunk 2077’s native macOS release shows promise but remains limited by hardware constraints. While higher-end Apple Silicon models offer smooth and enjoyable gameplay, entry-level Macs struggle with performance. As Apple continues to improve its chips and software, future updates may enhance Mac gaming experiences further.
