Flight Simulation (for IR practice mainly) on Mac

[jsstevens]

Does anybody here have experience with setting up a reasonably complete IR practice flight sim on a Mac? Does it require dual boot to make it work? (Since Macs with intel processors can run Windows.) How do the supported peripherals work (if I want, say a GNS530 or G-1000 with all the knobs and buttons) ?

And to stave off some of the inevitable Mac bashing (or Wintel bashing) I leave these:

 

[denverpilot]

Furthest I ever got was installing Xplane on the fastest MacBook Pro available at that time — a few years ago — and watching it stutter so much I stopped.

Video chipset wasn’t up to the task. Not at nice resolutions anyway.

Never got to trying any of the fancy controls.

 

[jsstevens]

Furthest I ever got was installing Xplane on the fastest MacBook Pro available at that time — a few years ago — and watching it stutter so much I stopped.

Video chipset wasn’t up to the task. Not at nice resolutions anyway.

Never got to trying any of the fancy controls.

I'm thinking the new ones should do that better...

 

[wayneda40]

X-Plane 11.5 works very well (graphic settings to nearly max) on my iMac, and decently on my MacBook Pro. Memory is critical... suggest 16GB minimum. If OP is just starting with a sim, here's a Primer on X-Plane 11.
Wayne

 

[JScarry]

X-Plane works great on my M1 Mac Mini with 8GB of RAM.

Works well enough for IFR practice on my 8 year old Mac Mini with all the setting set to the minimum, but not ideal.

 

[murphey]

Even better if you can find an older (and cheaper) copy of XPlane 10...Doesn't require as much memory or horsepower. And it's native Mac so no need to run a VM.

 

[wayneda40]

Even better if you can find an older (and cheaper) copy of XPlane 10...Doesn't require as much memory or horsepower. And it's native Mac so no need to run a VM.

X-Plane 11 is also native Mac. Specifically make sure you get X-Plane 11.5 (or higher) as that is the first version to support the MUCH faster Vulcan/Metal graphics.

 

[murphey]

X-Plane 11 is also native Mac. Specifically make sure you get X-Plane 11.5 (or higher) as that is the first version to support the MUCH faster Vulcan/Metal graphics.

X-Plane has always been native Mac. I suggest an older version to avoid buying a new mac that supports v11. To practice IFR, fantastic graphics are not needed. In fact, downgrading the graphics is a benefit.

 

[bflynn]

MMDUU, don’t be jealous.

X-plane is your answer. Still a better program than MSFS2020. Get the Honeycomb yoke, you can thank us later

 

[Somedudeintn]

MMDUU, don’t be jealous.

X-plane is your answer. Still a better program than MSFS2020. Get the Honeycomb yoke, you can thank us later

Honeycomb yoke is nice. Off topic - I’m loving msfs 2020 for graphics, but think the default flight models need some work. Even on PC I think default X-plane is the best option for IFR practice at this time.