Starting July 17, Apple Silicon Mac users can finally dive into Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. 
While the game boasts advanced visuals, CD PROJEKT RED has made it clear that ray tracing won’t be enabled by default on Macs, due to the significant performance hit it causes.
Despite the buzz around Apple’s M1, M3, and M3 Max chips, only the latest M3 series can support hardware-accelerated ray tracing. However, even with the M3, smooth gameplay isn’t guaranteed. For a playable 30FPS experience with medium ray tracing settings, you’ll need at least an M3 Pro, running at 1080p with MetalFX DRS upscaling turned on manually.
For those lucky enough to own an M3 Max, 60FPS gameplay with ray tracing is possible-but only at a reduced resolution. This means while ray tracing adds stunning lighting effects, Mac players should expect compromises between visuals and smooth performance unless they have top-tier hardware.
CD PROJEKT RED also hasn’t yet clarified if path tracing, which demands even more power, will be available or enabled on Macs. Meanwhile, Apple’s Metal 4 API offers MetalFX upscaling and frame interpolation, helping to boost performance and balance visuals with smoother framerates.
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will launch simultaneously on the Mac App Store, Steam, GOG.com, and Epic Games Store, marking a significant milestone for Mac gaming. But the performance realities underline that while Apple Silicon has come far, pushing graphically intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077 to their limits still requires cutting-edge, and often costly, hardware.