We examined CD Projekt Pink’s spectacular Mac port of Cyberpunk 2077 on three gadgets and in contrast efficiency throughout a variety of PCs

Cyberpunk 2077 is a large recreation – and now it is lastly out on Mac. Practically 5 years on from its unique launch, CD Projekt Pink has delivered a model of the RPG epic for Apple Silicon Mac computer systems, promising ray tracing help and superior MetalFX options. So how does the sci-fi journey maintain up on Apple’s current-gen laptop lineup and what ought to avid gamers anticipate in efficiency and stability? We put the port by its paces on a variety of contemporary Mac {hardware}, helpfully equipped by Apple, and the outcomes are intriguing.

Out of the field, the Mac model of Cyberpunk 2077 is pretty easy. The sport boots with out challenge on my M4 Max Macbook Professional, and it presents a settings menu that’s basically similar to the PC model of the sport. There are only a few objects of notice right here, apart from the presence of Apple’s MetalFX temporal upscaler, which is obtainable right here alongside the analytically-based FSRs 2.1 and three.0. The sport helps any M-series Mac chip with not less than 16GB of RAM, so no 8GB machines or Intel-based Macs. I am testing three machines as we speak, together with a lower-end M4 Mac Mini, and an M4 Max MacBook Professional and M3 Extremely Mac Studio in basically maxed-out configurations.

Whenever you load your first save, the sport appears to endure a speedy burn of shader compilation, as noticed utilizing the detailed MacOS 26 Steel efficiency HUD. The variety of compiled shaders explodes in the course of the first load right here on a recent MacOS 26 set up, with little or no obvious shader compilation exercise throughout gameplay. Loading one other save in a special phase of the world fires up one other spherical of shader burn, and shader compilation whereas in-game is pretty restricted. Because of this, the sport would not seem to endure from shader compilation stutter, so this answer appears fairly efficient. I ran Cyberpunk below MacOS 15.5 for the testing on this video, however I did dip into the MacOS 26 Beta 3 to floor a few of these metrics.

Because of Apple for supplying the above {hardware} for this piece.

By default, the sport kicks you into the “For This Mac” graphics preset, which modifications graphical settings primarily based on the chip you are utilizing. For the M4 Max laptop computer, we’re basically getting extremely settings at 1440p with MetalFX because the upscaler of alternative. Dynamic decision scaling is enabled to steadiness GPU load in opposition to a 60fps frame-rate goal. This default setting appears to work fairly effectively on the MacBook, typically logging a 60fps replace with out challenge. There are some barely regarding drops throughout open-world traversal, the place the sport suffers from pronounced stutters for just a few moments. Heavy fight moments can drag down the frame-rate graph as effectively with temporary however harsh tumbles down into the 50s. Prolonged stutters pop up in these sequences too, which momentarily pause the motion. I am unsure precisely what is going on on right here.

I did strive altering the MetalFX preset to efficiency to get rid of any DRS-driven variance, and that appeared to alleviate the problems to a point, however I struggled to duplicate the issues on a constant sufficient foundation to make sure. It is onerous to inform precisely the place these drops stem from as a result of the sport’s GPU time readout within the Steel Efficiency HUD would not appear to correspond with precise in-game load. Typically talking, I would not be too involved and I performed by prolonged stretches of gameplay with no efficiency points by any means, however chances are you’ll not get pleasure from a very faultless run of play right here.

Apple’s MetalFX temporal upscaler is vital to the visible outcomes as it is a very succesful upscaling answer for this title. Uncooked, native MetalFX decision metrics are an ideal match for AMD’s FSR scaling presets, and line up carefully with Nvidia’s DLSS presets as effectively. Utilizing MetalFX with dynamic decision scaling seems to reveal a wider scaling vary in comparison with the presets, with a flooring at 50 p.c axis res and a ceiling at 80 p.c axis res in my testing at 1440p. So, at native 1440p, the dynamic decision vary is 720p to 1152p.

If we evaluate MetalFX down the preset ladder, we’re taking a look at a near-doubling of efficiency going from native 4K with TAA to MetalFX high quality with the efficiency preset yielding a couple of 130 p.c bump in frame-rates. 1440p carries considerably much less compelling boosts, topping out at roughly double the efficiency with the biggest scaling issue. MetalFX ought to yield some satisfying outcomes right here, particularly in direction of the upper finish of the decision vary.

Picture high quality comparisons show fairly compelling for MetalFX. FSR 3 is definitely conquered right here at 1440p decision with efficiency mode upscaling, with much less troublesome breakup and disocclusion when propelled ahead by the setting. Curiously although, it truly compares considerably favourably to Nvidia’s top-tier Transformer mannequin DLSS on PC, producing a extra secure, although softer, picture in my assessments. Slower traversal exposes extra of that MetalFX softness and shimmering points are typically pretty apparent on each machines. Our prior assessments discovered that MetalFX is aggressive with PC ML-based upscalers, and that pattern is broadly holding true right here.

Sadly, that is not fairly true when the sport’s lighting is path traced. RT Overdrive tends to be fairly messy utilizing MetalFX on the MacBook, whereas DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction manages to wash up the picture successfully. The splotchy, shimmery reflections on the foyer flooring on this shot replicate the drawback Macs have and not using a Ray Reconstruction different. Picture high quality with RR is not good, but it surely’s a far cry from the tremendous resolution-only options we might in any other case use.

Apple is ready to debut the MetalFX denoised upscaler in MacOS 26 later this yr, which replaces hand-tuned denoisers with one machine learning-based denoising go. This may hopefully produce a extra aggressive visible outcome with the likes of DLSS Ray Reconstruction, with which it shares a variety of frequent inputs.

The Mac model of Cyberpunk is a fairly strong expertise on the MacBook Professional I have been testing to date, in ways in which aren’t strictly performance-driven. HDR on the interior show as an example seems extremely impactful, with searing brilliant highlights and dimmed blacks. MacOS does an excellent job integrating HDR and SDR content material in the identical interface – one thing Home windows would not even try to handle – so Cyberpunk can function in HDR whereas the remainder of the OS seems completely nice mapped inside a extra restricted, dimmer luminance house.

No built-in Mac display helps VRR, however the MacBook Professional does help Apple’s ProMotion tech, which permits for various fastened refresh charges as much as 120Hz. I had no challenge capping Cyberpunk to 30fps, 40fps, or 60fps by the in-game v-sync choices, and these frame-rates offered with out frame-time inconsistencies.

In the meantime, battery life on the MacBook Professional is strong for a laptop computer below heavy gaming load, working for about an hour and eighteen minutes on the default ‘for this mac’ settings with HDR enabled at max show brightness. That is a great outcome for a gaming laptop computer working at basically full-tilt. Most gaming laptops cannot even provide full energy to their GPU and CPU below battery, however the MacBook absolutely maintains its efficiency stage whether or not related to the mains or working solo.

That is pushed by the spectacular effectivity of Apple’s SoCs. Beneath load, we’re pulling about 55 Watts at peak for the CPU, GPU, and Apple Neural Engine mixed. It might be fascinating to see these figures in contrast in opposition to AMD’s Strix Halo, which adopts an identical power-sipping system-on-a-chip design. Apple is packing a 99.6 Wh battery that is calibrated proper to the FAA 100 Wh restrict, so that is about nearly as good because it will get for Mac endurance.

As an general expertise on a high-end Mac, I am happy with Cyberpunk 2077 – it is a well-done port that does not step into prior Mac port pitfalls and it comes full of loads of Apple-specific expertise to justify its place on the Mac platform. Nonetheless, we do want to check efficiency just a little extra completely to see how Apple’s Macs fare in opposition to common PC chips within the Home windows ecosystem.

With that in thoughts, we examined throughout three Macs, two representing the high-end of Apple’s current-gen choices and another attribute of its lower-end elements. The M4 Max and M3 Extremely within the MacBook Professional and Mac Studio are these higher-end chips, and the M3 Extremely finally ends up beating its weaker counterpart by 35 p.c to 41 p.c in benchmark assessments throughout extremely settings and RT overdrive, falling to about 23 p.c in extremely RT.

Regardless of its title, the M3 Extremely was truly launched after the M4 Max and consists of two M3 Max chips related over a silicon interposer. Apple has indicated they could be skipping an Extremely chip for the M4 era, so that is most likely going to face because the quickest Apple chip out there for a while to return. If we add the Mac Mini to the combination, we’re logging a efficiency stage that is excellent for an iGPU, however is a small fraction of the throughput of the bigger chips. The Mac Mini has a couple of quarter of the M4 Max’s GPU assets, and is available in at a couple of quarter of its frame-rate in these assessments.

The M4 Max MacBook Professional’s closest PC competitors on this recreation might be the RTX 4060, which trades blows with it in our raster-only Extremely benchmarking, although have in mind the MacBook Professional is managing with a small fraction of the RTX 4060’s 115W TDP. These PC settings do seem to match their Mac counterparts, so these must be like-for-like assessments. After we dial in ray tracing although, the M4 Max begins to path the RTX 4060 just a little bit. It isn’t an enormous deficit, however it’s noticeable.

M3 Extremely falls someplace between the 4060 and 5060 Ti in matched raster assessments at extremely settings – nearer to the 4060, however nonetheless straddling the 2 playing cards. Nonetheless, it drops additional after we throw ray tracing into the combination, falling into lockstep with the 4060. It is a fairly comfy stage of efficiency for rasterized Cyberpunk, and I would not anticipate any actual points with affordable settings.

The Mac Mini proves a little bit of a trickier prospect. Measured in opposition to a comparatively weak trendy discrete GPU, the AMD RX 6600, it falls considerably behind. The distinction between the playing cards is definitely a bit bigger with ray tracing, which maybe suggests a persistent MacOS deficit right here, given the relative weak point of RNDA 2’s RT acceleration. Nonetheless, in comparison with one thing like a Steam Deck – which has built-in graphics and is extra in step with the facility consumption of an M4 chip – the M4 scores a superior outcome with 47 p.c higher efficiency in our raster benchmarks. Your level of reference issues loads right here, however in comparison with most PC built-in graphics options, I believe the M4 fares simply nice.

I feel the Mac port of Cyberpunk 2077 is kind of good. Barring some hard-to-reproduce preliminary hitches, it runs easily, is straightforward to grasp and configure, and helps key Apple tech like MetalFX upscaling. That is undoubtedly the most effective AAA ports to MacOS I’ve seen. Evaluating PC efficiency comparisons is just a little difficult. In a whole lot of benchmarks, higher-end Mac GPU {hardware} lands someplace across the 70 collection Nvidia merchandise, typically even reaching the 80 collection chips. That is very true in productiveness duties, or in additional artificial rendering assessments. Nonetheless, efficiency in precise retail video games tends to slide just a little – usually nearer to lower-end desktop equipment and midrange laptop computer elements. That is one thing I hope to check extra completely within the close to future.

That mentioned, energy effectivity is extremely spectacular in comparison with PC elements and Mac {hardware} can squeeze into comparatively slim enclosures, with minimal thermal load and fan noise. Getting full efficiency on battery, and effectively over an hour of gaming time below load at max brightness, is one thing the MacBook Professional can ship and most gaming laptops cannot. Plus, the Mac carries a console-like simplicity that’s reassuring: there are not any driver updates to deal with, there is not any want to fret about some obscure elements mixture that might trigger complications, and Macs have high-quality inbuilt shows which can be completely calibrated to the wants of the working system and video games.

Apple eliminates a whole lot of the troubleshooting that Home windows PC customers are most likely used to, which leaves extra time to truly get pleasure from software program. All instructed, I am comparatively happy with the general expertise of taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 on Mac {hardware} and the efforts made to ship a tailor-made expertise for specific Apple Silicon – an virtually console-like set-up, with the choice to drop again to a completely tailor-made expertise. CD Projekt RED has actually put the legwork in right here, so when you’ve got the equipment, it is a strong port that is effectively price a glance.