How many FPS does Cities: Skylines get on the MacBook Air M5? 1080p, 1440p and 4K performance
104FPS
1080p High
Estimate
66
1440p
34
4K
About 104 FPS at 1080p on High: Cities: Skylines runs through Rosetta 2 on the MacBook Air M5 (Apple M5, 8-core GPU, 16 GB). It has headroom to spare, so you can raise resolution or quality.
Data reviewed October 1, 2026 · how we calculate it
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Cities: Skylines FPS on MacBook Air M5 by resolution and quality
Estimate| Resolution | Low | Medium | High | Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 136FPS | 122FPS | 104FPS | 87FPS |
| 1440p | 92FPS | 80FPS | 66FPS | 55FPS |
| 4K | 48FPS | 41FPS | 34FPS | 28FPS |
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
1440p · High
≈ 66 FPS
For 30 FPS
1440p · Ultra
≈ 55 FPS
Moving to 1440p High puts the MacBook Air M5 at about 66 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 M5 enough for Cities: Skylines?
Yes, comfortably: 104 FPS at 1080p High. You can move to 1440p (66 FPS) or your display’s native resolution.
Excellent · 1440p 66 FPS · 4K 34 FPS
MacBook Air M5 or MacBook Pro M5 for Cities: Skylines?
In Cities: Skylines at 1080p High, the MacBook Air M5 gets 104 FPS and the MacBook Pro M5 128 FPS: 23% more.
MacBook Air M5 specs
- Chip
- Apple M5
- GPU cores
- 8 / 10
- Unified memory
- 16 / 24 / 32 GB
- Cooling
- Fanless
- Geekbench Metal
- 65,377
- Tier
- Mid range · 18/100
Other Macs with the M5 chip
The Apple M5 also powers the MacBook Pro M5. In Cities: Skylines, the MacBook Pro M5 gets 128 FPS at 1080p High, 23% more than the MacBook Air M5, 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 16 GB | 104FPS | 66FPS |
| 24 GB | 104FPS | 66FPS |
| 32 GB | 104FPS | 66FPS |
Other Macs for Cities: Skylines
1080p · High
MacBook Pro M5
M5 · 10 GPU
128FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M5 Pro
M5 Pro · 16/20 GPU
162FPSView analysis
Mac mini M5 Pro
M5 Pro · 16/20 GPU
163FPSView analysisMacBook Pro M5 Max
M5 Max · 32/40 GPU
178FPSView analysis
Mac Studio M5 Max
M5 Max · 32/40 GPU
178FPSView analysisMac mini M6
M6 · 12 GPU
145FPSView analysis
MacBook Neo
A18 Pro · 5 GPU
46FPSView analysisMacBook Air M4
M4 · 8/10 GPU
77FPSView analysis
Cities: Skylines on every Mac →
Shopping for an all-round gaming Mac? Mac ranking by real FPS →
Other games on the MacBook Air M5
- Baldur's Gate 335FPS
- Control Ultimate Edition34FPS
- Death Stranding Director's Cut65FPS
- Hitman World of Assassination71FPS
- Lies of P93FPS
- Metro Exodus54FPS
- Resident Evil 449FPS
- Resident Evil Village49FPS
- Total War: PHARAOH31FPS
- Frostpunk 271FPS
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 16 GB MacBook Air M5 run Cities: Skylines?
Yes. With 16 GB we estimate 104 FPS at 1080p High.
Can Cities: Skylines hit 60 FPS on the MacBook Air M5?
Yes: at 1440p High it runs around 66 FPS.
Does the MacBook Air M5 throttle in Cities: Skylines?
The MacBook Air M5 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 M5 gets about 66 FPS at 1440p and about 34 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.