How many FPS does Cities: Skylines get on the MacBook Air M3? 1080p, 1440p and 4K performance
65FPS
1080p High
Estimate
40
1440p
21
4K
About 65 FPS at 1080p on High: Cities: Skylines runs through Rosetta 2 on the MacBook Air M3 (Apple M3, 8-core GPU, 8 GB). It has headroom to spare, so you can raise resolution or quality.
Data reviewed October 1, 2026 · how we calculate it
Affiliate linkDon't have Cities: Skylines yet?
Official Steam key that also activates on Mac. Cheaper on Eneba.
Play in your browser — no downloads, no sign-up.
Coin Crest
Play free →
Kaboom Blocks
Play free →
Balcony Splash
Play free →
Nara and the Forest Roots
Play free →
Hexalia
Play free →
Héroes de Éter
Play free →
King's Towers
Play free →
Snake Odyssey
Play free →
Chess
Play free →
Trivia Party
Play free →
Cities: Skylines FPS on MacBook Air M3 by resolution and quality
Estimate| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 90FPS | 78FPS | 65FPS | 54FPS |
| 1440p | 57FPS | 49FPS | 40FPS | 34FPS |
| 4K | 29FPS | 25FPS | 21FPS | 17FPS |
Estimated average in normal gameplay with the game and macOS up to date. Green: 60+ · lime: 45+ · amber: 30+ · orange: 20+ · red: under 20.
Recommended settings
For 60 FPS
1080p · High
≈ 65 FPS
For 30 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 34 FPS
Moving to 1440p High puts the MacBook Air M3 at about 40 FPS. This game has no MetalFX, so resolution is the setting that matters most.
The MacGameFPS verdict
Calibrated on real Mac benchmarks, not spec sheets
Is the MacBook Air M3 enough for Cities: Skylines?
Yes, comfortably: 65 FPS at 1080p High. You can move to 1440p (40 FPS) or your display’s native resolution.
Excellent · 1440p 40 FPS · 4K 21 FPS
MacBook Air M3 or MacBook Air M4 for Cities: Skylines?
In Cities: Skylines at 1080p High, the MacBook Air M3 gets 65 FPS and the MacBook Air M4 77 FPS: 18% more.
MacBook Air M3 specs
- Chip
- Apple M3
- GPU cores
- 8 / 10
- Unified memory
- 8 / 16 / 24 GB
- Cooling
- Fanless
- Geekbench Metal
- 41,753
- Tier
- Entry level · 11/100
Other Macs with the M3 chip
The Apple M3 also powers the MacBook Pro M3 and the iMac M3. In Cities: Skylines, the MacBook Pro M3 gets 83 FPS at 1080p High, 28% more than the MacBook Air M3, mainly because its fan keeps clocks up under load.
How much memory do you need?
On Apple Silicon the GPU shares memory with the system, so the RAM you picked when buying the Mac is also your video memory. Cities: Skylines asks for 6 GB minimum.
| Memory | 1080p High | 1440p High |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | 65FPS | 40FPS |
| 16 GB | 65FPS | 40FPS |
| 24 GB | 65FPS | 40FPS |
Other Macs for Cities: Skylines
1080p · High
MacBook Pro M3
M3 · 10 GPU
83FPSView analysis
iMac M3
M3 · 8/10 GPU
68FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M3 Pro
M3 Pro · 14/18 GPU
108FPSView analysis
MacBook Neo
A18 Pro · 5 GPU
46FPSView analysisMacBook Air M4
M4 · 8/10 GPU
77FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M4
M4 · 10 GPU
98FPSView analysis
Mac mini M4
M4 · 10 GPU
99FPSView analysisiMac M4
M4 · 8/10 GPU
81FPSView analysis
Cities: Skylines on every Mac →
Shopping for an all-round gaming Mac? Mac ranking by real FPS →
Other games on the MacBook Air M3
- Death Stranding Director's Cut38FPS
- Hitman World of Assassination43FPS
- Lies of P56FPS
- Metro Exodus33FPS
- Frostpunk 242FPS
- GRID Legends54FPS
- No Man's Sky42FPS
- Resident Evil 242FPS
- Resident Evil 332FPS
- Resident Evil 7 biohazard42FPS
Official Mac requirements
- Minimum
- OS X 10.11 · Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHz · 6 GB memory · 512 MB dedicated GPU · 4 GB storage · Intel build, runs on Apple silicon through Rosetta 2
- Recommended
- OS X 10.11 · Intel Core i5-3470 · 8 GB memory · 2 GB dedicated GPU
Source: store.steampowered.com
FAQ
Can the 8 GB MacBook Air M3 run Cities: Skylines?
Yes. With 8 GB we estimate 65 FPS at 1080p High.
Can Cities: Skylines hit 60 FPS on the MacBook Air M3?
Yes: at 1080p High it runs around 65 FPS.
Does the MacBook Air M3 throttle in Cities: Skylines?
The MacBook Air M3 has no fan. In long sessions it lowers clocks to manage heat, and our figures already account for that sustained loss, around 5% in a game this demanding.
What about 1440p and 4K?
On High, the MacBook Air M3 gets about 40 FPS at 1440p and about 21 FPS at 4K in Cities: Skylines. These are native figures.
Do these figures include MetalFX or ray tracing?
No. The headline figure is native resolution, no MetalFX and no ray tracing. Cities: Skylines has no MetalFX on Mac. Ray tracing, where a game offers it, costs a lot of FPS on any Mac.
Is Cities: Skylines native on Apple Silicon?
Not quite: it has an official macOS version, but built for Intel. On Apple Silicon it runs through Rosetta 2, built into macOS, with nothing else to install. Our figures already include that overhead.