Gamers Itching To Switch To Macs?

An anonymous reader writes "CNET.com.au is forecasting Windows gamers will be flocking to Intel-based Apples, saying many 'have been looking for an excuse to switch to Macs.' The article says: 'Of course, games enthusiasts who like to customise their systems and upgrade their hardware (such as graphics cards) at the drop of a hat may still prefer the tinkering freedom a PC allows. But then there are the legions of more casual gamers who only upgrade every several years or so -- as long as they can play what's available at their local games shop, I'm sure they won't be fussed that they're not running off the latest gear from ATI or NVIDIA.'"

Comments

Half-Life 2 on a MacBook Pro?

[Ford Prefect]

Yup. And it works really well. Really, really well. Better than on my desktop PC.

At the Valve Developer Community, a few of us are logging how Valve games run on these new Macs, so if you've got any new information, feel free to contribute.

I do think it will kill most native MacOS gaming, or at least cause a major shake-up. But I'm not surprised - paying through the nose for years-old ports of PC games just didn't appeal to me, to be honest.

But what I've got now is a Universal Computer, capable of running Mac software (both PowerPC and Intel), UNIX stuff (thanks to Fink and X11.app) and now Windows stuff. I've been dual-booting on my PCs between Linux and Windows for years, so I'm familiar with the drawbacks, but the advantages are great. By day, for work and for my photography, I have a high-powered Mac laptop, and by night, for gaming and modding stuff, I've got a high-powered PC laptop.

Not bad!

Re:Half-Life 2 on a MacBook Pro?

[Ford Prefect]

What I'm looking for, and hopefully will shortly see on your wiki, is a comparison between the two CPU choices on the mini. I had originally settled on a Single Core with 1Gb of RAM as the best set-up for me, but if Dual Core is going to make a difference to gaming, I might stretch the credit card a little further.

My father's got a single-boot, single-core Intel Mac Mini, and while it's a great little machine for MacOS X stuff, from what I've heard from web forums and the like the graphics system on both Mac Mini models is fairly low-performance. While it'll run HL2, you wouldn't want it as a gaming machine.

Probably only the iMacs and MacBook Pro will be any use for PC gaming purposes due to the faster graphics chips in them, but they're probably only recommended if you want a Mac which can also run PC games, rather than a machine for games only. There's no possibility of replacing a graphics card at a later date, for example.

Still, I'm happy with this MacBook Pro. I bought it as a high-speed Mac laptop, and amused to find it's also a high-speed PC as well. I'm not complaining...

Re:Apple is going to make a killing...

[avalys]

Give me a break. College students learn what on a Mac? No one goes to college and takes "Checking your email 101".

OS X is Unix on the desktop that works. That's why it's appealing to me.

I hated Macs for years until OS X comes out - I was a die-hard Linux user. But now, I have all the ease-of-use and hassle-free-ness of OS X, with access to every one of my favorite Unix/Linux applications when I need them.

There are other features, too: Spotlight is incredibly cool, for instance. And Expose is awesome.

Re:All that remains...

[Anonymous Coward]

Are they old DOS games or Windows 95/98 games?

If the former, then DOSBox, with an optional front end of D-Fend works awesome. I play all kinds of old games, like Starflight, XCOM, Diplomacy, etc. The only one I have not gotten to work at all is Crusader:No Remourse, although a few are just too processor intensive for DOSBox to emulate.

D-Fend provides a very nice front end so you don't have to do a lot of messing around in text files.

As far as Windows 95/98 games, check the properties on the application. Look in the Compatability tab, and try setting the checkbox for Compatability mode. I've had a lot of 95/98 applications work fine under this mode.