Assassin’s Creed Shadows is among a small number of AAA titles available natively on macOS. Recent testing shows the new MacBook Air 15, equipped with a faster version of the M5 SoC (10 GPU cores), is capable of running the game smoothly. This follows earlier observations of excellent gaming performance on the smaller MacBook Air 13 M5, which maintains stable performance without thermal throttling despite its passive cooling system. The larger MacBook Air 15 M5 demonstrates similar capabilities.
Even as maximum detail settings aren’t achievable, the game reached approximately 35 frames per second at a resolution of 1710 x 1107 pixels, low detail and with MetalFX upscaling, utilizing the Quality preset. Performance remained consistently stable throughout testing, with no noticeable frame drops. This is particularly noteworthy given the absence of disruptive fan noise. The ability to run demanding titles like Assassin’s Creed Shadows on fanless devices underscores advancements in Apple’s silicon and efficient game development.
Power consumption is also efficient, measuring just 23 watts during gameplay. When running on battery power—where performance only significantly decreases when the battery reaches 3%—players can expect nearly three hours of playtime. The MacBook Air 15 M5 also handles other titles, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil Village, and No Man’s Sky, with higher detail settings. The smaller MacBook Air 13 M5 with the base M5 SoC (8-core GPU) struggles to reach 30 fps in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but performs well with the other mentioned titles.
For more information, see the detailed review of the new MacBook Air 15 M5.
