Mac Mini Intel, Windows & Gaming.

eloquence · Dec 29, 2006

I'm thinking of replacing my old 1.42 GHz eMac and buying a 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac Mini.

With my mini I'd quite like to be able to run windows and using windows run certain games like Battlefield 2 and the like.

How would this 1.66 Mac fair up against a PC of equivalent spec when playing demanding games like BF2? Would I be able to run windows as quickly as something designed to run windows?

Would this dual core Mac Mini with 64 MB of VRAM be better at playing BF2 than my 1.86 (not dual core) Windows machine with 128 MB of VRAM?

just interested.. :yinyang:

eloquence.

mr g5 · Dec 29, 2006

eloquence said:
I'm thinking of replacing my old 1.42 GHz eMac and buying a 1.66GHz Core Duo Mac Mini.

With my mini I'd quite like to be able to run windows and using windows run certain games like Battlefield 2 and the like.

How would this 1.66 Mac fair up against a PC of equivalent spec when playing demanding games like BF2? Would I be able to run windows as quickly as something designed to run windows?

Would this dual core Mac Mini with 64 MB of VRAM be better at playing BF2 than my 1.86 (not dual core) Windows machine with 128 MB of VRAM?

just interested.. :yinyang:

eloquence.

it will run windows as fast as a pc with windows of the same specs.

I've heard that the vram varries according to what the apps needs, all the way to 280MB. I cant confirm that info though. So if you get it max out the RAM.

eloquence · Dec 29, 2006

Kay! Thanks for the reply. I've read the VRAM is 64 on both minis and the default ammount of RAM is 512.. sooo.. yeah.

ToddG · Dec 29, 2006

I'm not familiar with the Mini, but if it lacks a discrete video card it will perform poorly running any kind of graphics-intensive game. It isn't a function of VRAM, it's a function of having a separate dedicated video processor with enough power to handle gaming.

edited to add: This has absolutely nothing to do with Mac OS X. You'd almost certainly need to run from WinXP via Boot Camp, in which case your Mac really is a PC with the same specs.

christm · Dec 30, 2006

i would suggest getting an iMac and not a mini if you want to run games like bf2. the graphics aren;t too good for games on the mini. especialy the one you pointed out you may be interested in.

i run bf2 on medium settings on my imac and it runs fine. havn;t tried high settings yet but i guess it would be ok.

if you install xp on an intel mac with bootcamp it will run the same speed as it would if you had those specs on a PC.

hope this helps
chris

eloquence · Dec 30, 2006

Yeah, but I'm a bit tight for money.. buying an iMac might prove difficult on my budget. Besides, I've just bought a 19" LCD monitor, and an iMac wouldn't really need that would it.

Just another question. Would my current PC (1.83 GHz CPU (no dual core), 128 MB of VRAM, 512 RAM) be better or worse at playing BF2 than the basic Mac Mini from Apple?

ToddG · Dec 30, 2006

If your PC has a discrete video card, it would be better assuming BF2 will run on a 1.83 ... otherwise, it will be worse.

mr g5 · Dec 30, 2006

What I said in my other post is not on apples website. I read it in another thread.

Also the core2duo version of the mini will be out soon and i'm sure they will put better graphics in it.

ToddG · Dec 30, 2006

Looking at the Apple site, it says the mini uses an Intel GMA 950 graphics processor. This is the same on-board processor used in the C2D MacBook. So while it's certainly possible that Apple will upgrade the mini's graphics processor to a discrete card, they are obviously willing to keep the Intel on-board chip in C2D systems for economics.

eloquence · Dec 30, 2006

mr g5 said:
What I said in my other post is not on apples website. I read it in another thread.

Also the core2duo version of the mini will be out soon and i'm sure they will put better graphics in it.

but then won't the price go up?