Rise of the Tomb Raider 1.0.4 — Mac version
The late-2013 iMacs and 15-inch MacBook Pros that made the cut
If you have squeezed a few more years out of a late-2013 iMac or a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.3GHz chip, the game is officially on the list. Most 2016-onwards 13-inch MacBook Pros and 21.5-inch iMacs from 2017 make the cut too. The real crunch is the 1.5GB graphics memory requirement and finding 36GB of free space on your drive.
Get the controls feeling right
Lara’s expedition across Syria and Siberia needs quick reactions whether you are scrambling up ice or lining up a bow shot. A mouse and keyboard work fine, but plugging in a gamepad makes the climbing and combat feel far more natural on a Mac. The 20 Year Celebration edition packs in extra challenge tombs that reward careful movement over speed.
Keep the frame rate steady
On older metal you will want to dial back shadows and texture detail to keep things smooth. The official eGPU support added in this version means a box like a Razer Core X with a decent card can turn a struggling MacBook Pro into a machine that handles Siberian blizzards without stuttering.
A single-player novel with new 20 Year Celebration tombs
If you treat games like big single-player novels — no rush, no leaderboards — this one delivers. The 20 Year Celebration extras mean even players who finished the original release have new tombs to poke around in. Mac users with a decent dedicated GPU, say a 27-inch iMac from late 2014 onward, will see Syria's sun-bleached ruins and the frozen Soviet installations at their best. People who enjoy tinkering with settings rather than just hitting "auto" tend to get the smoothest experience, especially when balancing resolution against texture quality on Intel machines with 1.5GB video memory.
Anyone nursing an older MacBook Pro along will appreciate that the minimum requirements are honest. A 15-inch model from late 2013 with the right processor genuinely runs the game, provided you clear the 36GB and close background apps beforehand. Exploration-focused players who spend more time in side tombs than the main story get the best value — those spaces are tight, atmospheric and less demanding on hardware than the big open hubs.
Siberian wilderness loads settle quickly on an SSD
Loading into the Siberian wilderness takes a short while on a spinning hard drive but settles quickly once you are in. On an SSD the wait shrinks to something you barely notice. The game itself is stable — crashes are rare if your Mac meets the graphics memory target. The Feral port feels solid, not bolted-on, which matters when you are halfway up a radio tower and a slip means a long fall.
RAM use sits comfortably within 8GB on most setups, though macOS overhead means closing a browser before launching is still a sensible habit. CPU spikes happen during heavy snowstorm sequences, but dialling down level-of-detail keeps them manageable. The eGPU support is the real leveller here. A Mac mini or a 13-inch MacBook Pro connected to an external enclosure suddenly handles 1080p at high settings without the fan screaming. It is the kind of upgrade that makes you forget you are playing on a machine that was never built for triple-A titles.
- Brings the 20 Year Celebration edition to Mac
- Adds official eGPU support for macOS
- macOS 10.13.4 or newer
- Intel processor, 2.3GHz or better
- 8GB RAM
- 1.5GB graphics memory
- 36GB free storage space
Questions from the bench
What Macs can run Rise of the Tomb Raider?
It officially supports iMacs from late 2013 onwards (except the Nvidia GT 755M model) and MacBook Pros from late 2013 with a 2.3GHz processor or better, plus 13-inch models from 2016 and 21.5-inch iMacs from 2017.
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