04-20-2011, 08:24 PM

I am currently using a 4 year old Windows PC with a Pentium 2. I play the game Second Life for hours at a time.

I am considering switching to Mac and thinking that the Mac Mini may be my best value for the money considering i can use mt New 27 'LG LED monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Someone told mt that because Second Life is such a intensive 3D game that the graphics in the Mac Mini may not do the game justice.

Does anybody know if I will get the quality I'm expecting from the Mac Mini.
I read that a newer Graphics package is set to be released in the Yet to be released Mini.

Should I waite for that to come out. Im really confused HELP

04-20-2011, 08:31 PM

One quick question, You said you own a Pentium 2? That is a OLD system. Did you mean something else like Core 2?

Not sure on that game. Maybe someone who knows it better can help.

04-20-2011, 08:32 PM

If you are in no rush I would certainly wait if it is a Mac mini you are after, as I think as much as it is a great budget package, if you are expecting to be blown away, this won't do it for you.
Around the corner there will be a new iMac line up, and a new Mac Mini line up wouldn't be too far away either.

Also, as dtravis7 added, pentium 2 is quite ancient, so I'm sure it would blow that out of the water, but as far as a machine that can handle high end graphics, you would be looking at a high end Macbook Pro or an iMac unless the Mac mini is updated with a sandy bridge processor and dedicated graphics.

04-20-2011, 08:49 PM

I was thinking the same thing Six String
Does anybody know the likelyhood of the New Mini coming out with a dedicated graphics card and Sandy Bridge processor ?

04-20-2011, 08:59 PM

Unfortunately, no-one knows until Apple tells us

04-21-2011, 12:37 AM

Given that the Mini is Apple's budget machine, the odds of both of those things happening in the near future is pretty close to nil imho.

The current Mac Mini appears to have no problem running Second Life:
New MacBook AIR 13" & SecondLife - Second Life

04-21-2011, 01:13 AM

With the size of the Mini, I doubt it will ever have the room for a dedicated graphics card. Check Chas's URL. Sounds promising as to the game working.

Are you sure you have a Pentium 2? That is a 1997 or so CPU. That would never run that new game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_II

04-21-2011, 02:20 PM

I have a mini with 8 gigs of ram. I just downloaded 2nd life to see how it would work. I tried 2nd life a while back on an HP desktop that I had at the time. I was not impressed then, and it is probably only a little better on the mini. I don't think this is what it is supposed to be like, because the graphics aren't very impressive. So, my opinion is that you won't be happy with it. Keep in mind that I don't know what it looks like on your computer, though.

By the way, the HP that I used to have would play games like Wolfenstein and Enemy Territory pretty well... so I expect the mini would do at least as well with those type of games, but 2nd life seems to be a real graphics hog.

04-21-2011, 06:17 PM

Dont use a MacMini to play second life, you will only be able to play it with the lowest quality setting. If you go all max quality, you will get monstrous lag.

And I can say this because I won a MacMini and I tryed playing second life.

Get a MacMini for your life and a Windows PC for your games, or get a superior Mac and use bootcamp for games. The choice is yours.