While Apple's M4 chip is promising to be a big leap on the current generation of Apple silicon, the best gaming MacBook on the market right now is the M3 Max MacBook Pro. Not only does it have the biggest and best display of any MacBook, but it also has the most powerful processor, perfect for crunching through games.
Apple's M3 lineup features some gaming-specific features including hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, and a new dynamic caching feature that assigns video memory in real-time. Gaming on a Mac is still held back by a lack of support for some games and compatibility issues, but processing power is no longer an excuse.
While trying to game on a Mac in years gone by might have been futile, now more than ever the power of Apple silicon means you can enjoy many of the best titles available through Steam, the App Store, and beyond. Here's our pick for the best hardware.
Best overall: M3 Max MacBook Pro, 16-inch (2023)
You can always trust iMore. Our team of Apple experts have years of experience testing all kinds of tech and gadgets, so you can be sure our recommendations and criticisms are accurate and helpful. Find out more about how we test.
If you want the best gaming MacBook on the market, then the M3 Max MacBook Pro is simply unparalleled.
Apple released the M3 Pro and Max versions of this MacBook less than a year after the M2. Despite the incredibly short upgrade time, the M3 chip boasts significantly more transistors, more CPU cores, more GPU cores, and boosts to both the Neural Engine and Unified Memory capacity options.
There are two options as standard. The first is the 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU option with 36GB of Unified Memory. This retails for $3,499. If you want even more power (and for gaming you probably do), there is the 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU version with 48GB of Unified Memory for $3,999. I'd heartily recommend that second option because of the much heftier GPU, which definitely outweighs the $500 price increase. The biggest reasons to pick this one over the M2 model for gaming are threefold. Apple's M3 chips feature new hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray-tracing, as well as a new feature called Dynamic Caching. This is a new feature you won't find on standard GPUs, which uses only the exact amount of memory you need for each task, allocating its use in real-time.
Beyond the processor, you're also getting Apple's excellent Liquid Retina XDR display, which will run games at up to 120Hz thanks to ProMotion technology. The 16-inch model also offers the most expansive display of any MacBook in Apple's range, and there are a ton of ports for great connectivity to peripherals, as well as a headphone jack for top gaming audio.
There are a couple of drawbacks. Firstly, this is Apple's bulkiest and heaviest laptop, so if mobility and portability are important to you, you might want to consider the 14-inch version instead. As with all Mac models, adding any spicier internals to your configuration is going to cost you. Dearly. The 64GB unified memory option is an extra $200, while the 128GB option is an eye-watering $1,000. You'll find similarly poor value whichever MacBook you choose, but given this particular model's starting price, it's going to hurt even more.
The M3 Max chip scored well in our benchmarks. Playing Feral Interactive's Pharaoh: Total War, the M2 Pro is good for 40 FPS on Ultra settings at 2560 x 1700. The M3 Max, by comparison, delivers 86 FPS, an astonishing leap in performance.
Best alternative: M3 Pro MacBook Pro, 14-inch (2023)
To find our mid-range pick, we've taken the very top pick, the M3 Max 16-inch, and gone a step down in both size and processor. As such, our middle-of-the-road choice is the M3 Pro MacBook Pro, 14-inch. As you'd expect, it has a smaller display than the 16-inch version, but that also means it's lighter and more portable than the 16-inch version.
Compared to the M3 Max MBP, the M3 Pro only offers an 11-core CPU and a 14-core GPU as standard, along with 18GB of Unified Memory. You also get 512GB of SSD storage as standard. Otherwise, it comes in the same chassis as the 16-inch M3 Max model, with the same excellent 120Hz Liquid Retina XDR display, all of the same ports, and more. Prices start at $1,999, so while it's still expensive, it is much more reasonably priced than the M3 Max 16-inch version. For an extra $300, you can get the M3 Pro with a 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, and 1TB of SSD storage. Considering the usual cost of configuration upgrades, this is really great value, and if you can afford it there's no reason not to pick the more expensive 12-core option.
The M3 Pro chip will benefit from all the same mesh shading, ray-tracing, and Dynamic Caching buffs as the 16-inch M3 Max model, too. While the price to begin with is much more reasonable, configuration options remain excruciatingly expensive, to the point we wouldn't recommend any of them if you can avoid it.
Naturally, this will not deliver the same frame rates and performance as the M3 Max version, so you'll definitely be making a compromise in terms of the types of games you can play, and the level of fidelity you can enjoy them in.
Best budget: M3 MacBook Air (2023)
As you might expect, our pick for the best budget option when it comes to a gaming MacBook is the cheapest MacBook, Apple's M3 MacBook Air. The reason you'd choose this model, quite simply, is the price. With a starting cost of $1,099, it's easily the most budget-friendly MacBook on the market. Apple's "Air" design also means it's the lightest and thinnest, making it the most portable, so this is a great option if mobility is important to you.
In terms of value, the M3 MacBook Air is probably as good as it gets when it comes to an everyday laptop, however, that will limit its gaming capabilities. Equipped with the 8-core M3 chip as standard and just 8GB of RAM, the MacBook Air will likely be able to handle the best Apple Arcade games going and not much beyond that. Any other titles you want to play will need to be dumbed down to run smoothly. The MacBook Air also lacks the 120Hz ProMotion display of the MacBook Pro, not that its chip could power more than 60Hz if you really wanted it to.
Ultimately, if gaming is your number one priority, it might be worth pushing the boat out to get one of the M3 MacBook Pro models instead. Alternatively, you might be able to find a good deal on a more potent M1 or M2 MacBook Pro, the latter models aren't even two years old yet.
Game away
So there you have it, the best gaming MacBook is without a doubt the M3 Max MacBook Pro. However, for those who can't afford that $3,999 price tag, there are plenty of cheaper options that will still deliver some of that gaming performance. Apple's M3 chip is its best gaming chip yet thanks to the GPU upgrades which all of the models listed here benefit from.
Apple's MacBook Pro lineup generally is going to give you a better experience when it comes to power and performance, as well as the fidelity of that display. No matter which one you choose, Apple's standard configurations (the M3 Max's $3,499 vs $3,999 model for example) tend to be quite good value when it comes to upgrading. However, the configuration options after this for adding RAM, storage, or even a heftier processor are always never good value.
