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Mac devices, particularly MacBook Air, were not originally intended for heavy tasks like gaming. However, in practice, these devices can handle such tasks quite well, as long as they are optimized and supported by Apple. With League of Legends officially supporting macOS platform in Vietnam, I decided to try playing this game on the MacBook Air M2, and the results were quite surprising. Join me in exploring the detailed experience of League of Legends on MacBook Air M2 below!
Note: The FPS exceeding 120 in the title is due to setting the game graphics to the lowest level. For graphics set to the highest level, the MacBook Air M2 delivers FPS ranging from 60 to 65.
Read more: Exciting news for gamers: League of Legends is now available to play on macOS
Vietnamese gamers can now enjoy League of Legends on their MacBook devices.
In reality, players can directly experience League of Legends on macOS through Riot's client. However, in the Vietnamese market, Garena - the publisher of this game, does not support installing the client on Apple computers. Therefore, Mac users in our country can only play League of Legends through a virtual Windows installation, which is heavy and not optimized for gaming.
Since January 6, 2023, macOS users have been able to access League of Legends Vietnam servers.However, since January 6, 2023, when the popular MOBA game returned to Riot Games, players are no longer restricted by the Garena application and can launch it through Riot's application. Thanks to this, macOS 'faction' players have been able to access League of Legends Vietnam servers.
Is it easy to download League of Legends on MacBook?
Actually, downloading League of Legends on MacBook isn't too difficult. MacBook users just need to visit the publisher's official website to download the compressed file. After downloading, unzip the file and install it, then click Install to download the game data to your computer as shown below.
After unzipping the downloaded file, we'll click Install to download the game.Next, after installing the game data, you should log in to your Riot Games account to access the Riot Games interface.
Finally, after logging into Riot Games, now you just need to click Play to open the game. At this point, you'll be taken to the Game Client installation interface, and the installation process might take a bit longer (due to the not-so-strong network at home).
We'll click Play to enter the game.
At this point, we'll be directed to the Game Client installation interface.
While waiting for the download, we can go to the settings section to customize some items in the game.
Changing and customizing function keys in League of Legends.
Overall, I find the process of downloading and installing League of Legends on macOS quite straightforward. After launching the application, instead of going to Garena's login page, the system will switch to the Riot Client homepage. Personally, I appreciate the newer login interface because of its intuitive, easy-to-use, and non-fragmented nature compared to the Garena Client.
Personally, I find the login interface and game homepage on Riot Client quite intuitive and easier to navigate than the Garena Client.Experience of League of Legends on MacBook Air M2
Currently, I'm still experiencing this game on my MacBook Air M2, so stay tuned for upcoming reviews! While waiting, you can also check out the League of Legends experience video on MacBook Air M1 by Gadget Realm Studio. Many thanks to Gadget Realm Studio for providing information to 24h Technology page to update article information.
League of Legends experience video on MacBook Air M1 conducted by Gadget Realm Studio.Before diving into the experience details, let me summarize the configuration specifications of the MacBook Air M2 that I used to experience League of Legends:
- Display: 13.6-inch size, 2,560 x 1,664 pixel resolution, True Tone support, P3 color gamut, 500 nit brightness.
- CPU: Apple M2 8-core (4 high-performance cores + 4 energy-efficient cores).
- GPU: 8 cores.
- RAM: 8 GB (the version I'm using), machine supports up to 24 GB maximum version.
- Storage: 256 GB SSD, machine supports up to 2 TB maximum version.
- Operating system: macOS 13.0.2 Ventura.
- Battery: Capacity 52.6 Wh, fast charging 67 W.
Specification of the MacBook Air M2 I used to experience League of Legends.I'm not a regular League of Legends player myself, but I'll try to give the most impartial assessment possible. According to the experiences of those who have played, the homepage interface, champion selection screen, or match loading screen overall don't differ much from Windows. However, because League of Legends is a game that requires fast movement speed, I had to use an external mouse instead of the trackpad.
I had to use an external mouse to be able to play League of Legends on MacBook.One particular point to note is that some keys on the MacBook will have completely different functions compared to Windows machines. Therefore, we need to remap the necessary keys to make operations easier, such as upgrading abilities (I mentioned this at the beginning when downloading the game).
To level up abilities, we need to adjust the function keys in the game settings.For someone like me who rarely plays League of Legends, the experience on MacBook Air M2 is quite pleasant. The 16:10 screen aspect ratio doesn't significantly affect the level of detail compared to traditional 16:9 screens. Moreover, I can output the image from MacBook Air M2 to an LG Ultrawide monitor and still experience extremely smooth gameplay (you can watch the illustrative clip below). Furthermore, thanks to the excellent key bounce of the MacBook keyboard, I can perform operations seamlessly and continuously.
MacBook Air M2 handles League of Legends exceptionally well, with no rapid heating issues.
I can easily output the image from MacBook Air M2 to an external LG Ultrawide monitor to play League of Legends.Playing League of Legends on MacBook Air M2 (external display connected).In terms of performance, FPS, and temperature, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the MacBook Air M2 performed. Previously, MacBook users in Vietnam could only play League of Legends through the Parallels virtual machine - which was not the most compatible and optimized for Apple Silicon M Series. The results were probably already known to many of you: the machine produced very low FPS, experienced stuttering, lagging, and frequent heating issues. But now everything has changed, even when the machine has to run through the Rosetta 2 emulation process, the performance, stability, and temperature that the MacBook Air M2 delivers far exceed my expectations.
With graphics settings at the highest level, MacBook Air M2 can easily handle League of Legends.Even when I set the graphics to the highest level, combined with intense battles and numerous spells being cast, the machine still maintains a stable FPS at 60-65. Of course, that's not important because the machine's screen only has a 60 Hz refresh rate, and that's enough to prove that the gaming performance on the MacBook Air M2 is truly impressive (if optimized and partitioned properly, the machine will perform even better).
The FPS output by the MacBook Air M2 fluctuates around 60 - 65.As mentioned earlier, temperature is also a surprising factor on the MacBook Air M2. After 30 minutes of playing League of Legends at the highest graphics level, the largest heat dissipation area of the machine (around the keyboard area) only gets slightly warm (based on my perception since I don't have a thermometer). If you still want to optimize the temperature, you can lower the resolution or use a cooling fan.
You may consider lowering the image quality and details in the game to make the MacBook Air M2 perform even better in League of Legends.
Assuming I play the game at low graphics settings, the FPS can be pushed up to over 120.However, my MacBook Air M2 sometimes encounters the issue of unexpectedly exiting the main screen and unable to reopen the game. The only solution I can do is to restart the machine, then the game will return to normal operation. I think this may be a minor software bug that the developer can fix in the future. I'm not sure if other MacBook models running on Apple M Series encounter similar issues, so if you know, please leave a comment below to share with me and everyone else!
My MacBook Air M2 sometimes experiences the problem of crashing the game and unable to reopen it.Regarding battery life, I find that League of Legends quickly drains the battery of my MacBook Air M2. I turned off energy-saving mode, unplugged the charger, played a 5v5 match, and the battery dropped from 100% to 70%. If you are someone who likes to play games on the go, you may only be able to play a maximum of 3 game matches, so remember to plug in your charger!
Conclusion
In summary, playing League of Legends on MacBook is truly an incredibly amazing experience. If anyone says that MacBook can't handle gaming, they should reconsider! The only remaining issue is time (if optimized and supported properly). However, I also advise you that to experience League of Legends in the most stable way possible, you should choose MacBook Pro models with separate cooling fans, such as MacBook Pro M3, MacBook Pro M3 Pro, or MacBook Pro M3 Max, which are currently available at Mytour with attractive prices.
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See more:
- Guide on how to protect your MacBook screen after a period of non-use
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