Hello, I am completely new and haven't bought a flight sim yet. What got me interested in watching cockpit videos on YouTube.

I own a MacBook Pro. So I have some basic questions.

- does MSFS work on a Bootcamp installation of Windows 10?

- most hardware such as joysticks or yokes says "compatible with PC" and not Mac. I'm thinking of getting a joystick as my first option. What joysticks marked as "For PC" would work on a Mac Bootcamp Windows 10 installation? I've seen some statements in Google Search results that most of them do, but I would like to understand better.

- is the integrated graphics on a MacBook pro such as Intel Iris good enough for decent MSFS performance?

 

Thanks!

Mike

 

 

Welcome !

41 minutes ago, MikeMos said:

- is the integrated graphics on a MacBook pro such as Intel Iris good enough for decent MSFS performance?

Pretty unlikely.

Your best choice is to buy the gamepass and try it yourself. Xbox Game Pass for PC. Play over 100 high-quality PC games on Windows 10, plus enjoy all the benefits of EA Play, coming in 2021 at no extra cost. Join now to get your first month for $1.

Going a different direction, I have a 10 year old desktop PC with a graphics card (I forget which one). I have it in storage but I could always get it out and try it.

At this point my question would be: to get started with inexpensive control hardware, what would be a recommended joystick - something I wouldn't be UNhappy with until such point that I get a yoke system.

Mike

 

On 3/10/2021 at 5:15 PM, MikeMos said:

Hello, I am completely new and haven't bought a flight sim yet. What got me interested in watching cockpit videos on YouTube.

I own a MacBook Pro. So I have some basic questions.

- does MSFS work on a Bootcamp installation of Windows 10?

- most hardware such as joysticks or yokes says "compatible with PC" and not Mac. I'm thinking of getting a joystick as my first option. What joysticks marked as "For PC" would work on a Mac Bootcamp Windows 10 installation? I've seen some statements in Google Search results that most of them do, but I would like to understand better.

- is the integrated graphics on a MacBook pro such as Intel Iris good enough for decent MSFS performance?

 

Thanks!

Mike

 

 

Yes, MSFS will work with Bootcamp on Windows 10 but you will lose some performance in the sim with this setup. Best to stick to a PC setup in the long haul if possible.

On 3/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, MikeMos said:

Hello, I am completely new and haven't bought a flight sim yet. What got me interested in watching cockpit videos on YouTube.

I own a MacBook Pro. So I have some basic questions.

I can help here from a first hand experience (Mac user here, too ;)).

On 3/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, MikeMos said:

- does MSFS work on a Bootcamp installation of Windows 10?

Technically: yes. In my case I have installed Windows 10 on a separate, external SSD. Just because I did not want to "mess around with the fusion drive" that is installed in my iMac 27" from 2017. And I wanted to have a "clear separation of data" etc. - but a "boot camp installation" on your main drive should work equally well (for as long as Windows runs "natively" on your Mac, and not in some kind of virtual machine, that is).

On 3/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, MikeMos said:

- most hardware such as joysticks or yokes says "compatible with PC" and not Mac. I'm thinking of getting a joystick as my first option. What joysticks marked as "For PC" would work on a Mac Bootcamp Windows 10 installation? I've seen some statements in Google Search results that most of them do, but I would like to understand better.

Any "USB joystick" should work, really. I had a several years old 40+ EUR "plastic joystick" from Logitech and now a Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG throttle and stick. Everything works as expected. Of course it always boils down to "how many buttons and axis of a specific joystick are recognised and supported", but that's rather an FS2020 specific question than a "bootcamp / Mac" related question: bootcamp (Mac) should impose no restrictions here on USB joysticks.

On 3/10/2021 at 11:15 PM, MikeMos said:

- is the integrated graphics on a MacBook pro such as Intel Iris good enough for decent MSFS performance?

Uhm... as others have already mentioned: "It is highly unlikely that you get any satisfactory performance" with an integrated Intel Iris GPU. I mean, you might get FS2020 to actually run, but the limited amount of VRAM ("video ram", as opposed to your "normal" RAM) itself may already be a showstopper.

For reference: I have a pretty maxed out iMac 27" with an Intel i7 4.2 GHz, 32 GB RAM and an AMD Radeon Pro 580 with 8 GB VRAM (that is, the "maximum GPU option" for that system at the time!), and I can play FS2020 with "full HD" (1920 x 1080 resolution) with "High" settings (with some settings set to "Ultra", while other settings lowered). I have never really done any real "frames per second" (FPS) benchmarks, but subjectively I'd say I get around 20 FPS under "normal conditions". "Photogrammetry heavy" landmarks such as London however put my system on its knees and are barely playable with those "High" settings.

Now you do the math where that puts your Intel Iris performance 😉 Again, if you put everything to "low" (including your expectations ;)) it might actually be fun to play - best bet is to try it with "one month of the XBox gaming pass", which costs around 5-10 EUR a month, or so I understand...