Can you game on a Mac?
That is the big question I get when I’m trying to get people to switch to a Mac: “But can you game on it?” The answer is a mixed bag of yes and no. It really depends on what level of gaming you expect.
If you are a hard core PC gamer then you won’t ever like gaming on the Macs as they currently exist. You are used to a level of hardware customization options that Macs don’t offer. The biggest hurdle for you will be the graphics card. On most of the Mac models the graphics cards is a dedicated card that is part of the motherboard and not upgradable. On a select few models you can upgrade your graphics card, but your options are very limited.
If you are not the kind of hard core PC gamer that will only play on machines that are at Ferrari levels for video game graphics rendering, then you may actually enjoy gaming on the Mac, especially if you splurge and go with the higher end Mac Book Pro, iMac or Mac Pro models. Many people have also found gamer happiness by taking an older Mac Mini and modding it, as the Mac Mini offers a few more customization options than most Macs (it was always aimed at the PC market).
The old complaint used to be that there were less games made for the Mac, and that was certainly true. Then Myst came along and completely changed the game, opening the platform up to a world of possibilities. Its sheer popularity brought Macs to the attention of mainstream game makers like EA and standard titles started getting churned out at a much faster pace. The Mac still lagged behind on getting delivery of Mac versions of big name games, however. Then came the Intel Core Duo Macs and suddenly game makers everywhere were much more willing to work within the Mac platform.
What can a Mac owner expect now as far as game availability and quality of play? If you recall WWDC 2007, EA, Blizzard and other big names in gaming promised same-day shipping on Mac releases of games, and for the most part they have held up their end of the deal. Blizzard is especially good about this, releasing dual boot Mac and Windows OS versions of their games on one CD. ChannelFlip is one of my favorite sources for information on gaming on a Mac,and their video about Mac Gaming 101 is a great place to start in your quest for finding the latest and greatest Mac games:
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July 4th, 2008
Yes, you can game on your Mac… at least according to Palluxo,
http://www.palluxo.com/2008/07/04/play-major-league-with-out-of-the-park-baseball-9-mac-game/
July 4th, 2008
I guess it all depends on what one’s definition of “game” is. I have been playing Medal of Honor on a 533mhz G4 since 2002; in a Mac version, no less. It may not be the latest or greatest, but it still irrevocably devours hours of my life like any new game on a PC would… ^_^
July 6th, 2008
Mac is an excellent computer. However, it is very expensive to buy these machines. These are for the people who are filthy rich only. Those people who cannot afford Macs will just use a clone version of mac or use PC.
July 7th, 2008
You have game support on Macs i didn’t know they made games other than for PlayStations.
July 15th, 2008
Macs can game, but it’s often misleading. For example, the Intel Macbook that I have that is slightly less than a year old is unable to meet the minimum requirements to run things like the Spore Creature Creator due to its integrated graphics card. HOWEVER, I’ve heard from people in my situation that using Boot Camp and logging into Windows XP, you can overcome this since the requirements for the Windows version aren’t as strenuous.
July 16th, 2009
Gaming on a mac is just fine. If you want to game, you really have to consider what you want to play. Anything from Blizz (which is all the love in gaming right now, heh… WoW) normally has relitively low specs… however, look at the new macbook pro… 2 graphic card… and they even lowered the price on them just a bit,
any pc running the “latest and most intense” games and settings isn’t going to be cheap either…
Also, anymore, if a game doesn’t come to mac then i’d prolly rather play it on xbox, because usually the xbox versions come out earlier… more and more pc gaming is kinda being left behind in general. Also, with more recent push to “web” based gaming, like the rise of quake Live, platform is going to more a matter of taste and less of an issue of compatibility.
If i were looking to play anything too intensive though, i would definitely go for the Mac Pro, simply because those beasts can handle anything you throw at them, with up to 4 cores, 32 giggs of ram, 4 terribytes internal hard drive, and more than enough options for graphic expansion, i think you’ll make it. Boot camp if you have to, though many of those games can be played pretty well in WINE if you would like to avoid m$. (which i do when possible… minus my xbox)
although as a side note… if i slapped an apple sticker over my xbox’s logo it would pretty much look like a mini pro tower, lol…