Why are Macs supposed to be better for gaming ?

Hi there!

It's common to hear people hanging around praising that macs are far better for gaming than pcs. As few games are developed for Mac operating platforms, I assume this comes from the hardware.

Do any of you have a technical explanation to this fact (or myth) ?

Thanks for your answer.

Ummmm... where have you heard THAT??? If the computer is going to be used primarily for gaming I don't know of anyone that would recommend a Mac over a Windows machine.

Well, it's not common on this forum. Quite the opposite in fact. I have seen post after post over the course of the last year by pretty much all of the long time Mac users recommending over and over again - if your primary use is gaming, buy a Windows machine. Can't recall a single post otherwise.

Personally, I can see the point if you consider a Mac Pro with the GeForce 8800 graphics card. This system in my mind is "better" than a large majority of PCs for gaming. The reason is not any inherent Mac benefit to gaming, simply the fact that Macs are typically higher quality machines than most PCs. It does depend on your gaming requirements though.

I bought a Mac Pro with a single Quad core processor and the GeForce 8800 GT graphics card. I can't say just how awesome this machine is yet as it is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Going the Boot Camp route though I would imagine that this machine is going to screen running Windoze XP. Anything short of Crysis and maybe a handful of other titles should be amazing.

Scott

High performance gaming is likely the ONLY reason I'll be keeping my XP machine around. It's hard enough to get games to work on Windows machines as it is with constant driver revisions, DirectX versions, etc.

I do find it incredibly ironic that I'm using my Mac for the more important things and my PC is relegated to a gaming system. Runs counter to all the Apple Mac vs PC commercials.

Actually considering how fast the Mac Pros are, not to mention very stable even with Windows, I have to say they should be the gaming machine of choice. The only downside is that none of the graphics card options available are DX10-compatible, last I heard, though I believe there's only a couple games that really use that yet. My Mac Pro and my previous PowerMac have been the only branded computers I've ever bought, or ever will consider. All my Windows boxes were assembled myself from parts of various makes, selected based on whose was fastest and most stable at the time judging from various reviews online. I never saved money doing it that way, but I had a darned better and more stable computer than anything Dell, HP, Compaq, et al ever thought of making.

Macs(with the exception of Mac Pros) aren't exactly good are gaming because:

1. Most of the hardware are non-upgradable.
2. The graphics card that comes with the Macs are exactly top-of-the-line.
3. There are far too few games for the Macs, unless you're gonna boot into Windows.

But whatever it is, Macs are decent gaming machines.

Never heard that before. A survey from Mac users will probably result in the vast majority saying that in fact, Windows is better for gaming.

A note from a freak of scientific methods: Never believe what you "hear being said", demand the hard sources and make sure their peer-reviewed :-D

Good thing you came to this forum. Those statements you heard are to be taken as false based on user experiences and the facts that Game development is heavily Windows-focused and that Macs don't come with a wide variety of hardware (excepting the Mac pro, which will swallow almost anything), which is why PC's are generally more powerful when it comes to games.

Wow ! So much answers .
Thank you for your participation !

So the major feeling about Macs for Gaming is that they become mostly interesting when it comes to make high end gaming PCs as far as the hardware is concerned. I assume MacPros then compete with Alienware products at that point, right ?

In a nutshell, it is the quality of Apple hardware components that makes Mac computers great high end gaming platforms ; not the Mac OS or whatsoever.

Obviously PCs remain the best as regards compatibility between most games and the Windows OS ; as well as regards their upgrading ability.


Well thank you very much everyone .

Now digressing a little bit: does Apple have factories of hardware components itself (for memory, motherboard, etc.) ? or are they produced by other hardware companies which dedicate part of their production to mac compatible stuff ?

NcR said:

So the major feeling about Macs for Gaming is that they become mostly interesting when it comes to make high end gaming PCs as far as the hardware is concerned. I assume MacPros then compete with Alienware products at that point, right ?

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Macs aren't marketed as gaming rigs, so they don't "compete" with Alienware, but the Mac Pros are simply the fastest machines available, which is what a high-end gaming rig needs to be.

In a nutshell, it is the quality of Apple hardware components that makes Mac computers great high end gaming platforms ; not the Mac OS or whatsoever.

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EXACTLY! Now that Macs are based on Intel hardware and can run Windows, it's really important to differentiate Mac "the machine" from Mac "the OS". The Mac Pro is a great gaming machine, but the Mac OS X is not a great gaming OS due to lack of game titles. Windows XP on a Mac Pro is a GREAT combo!

One thing that most people seem not to realize also is that, even though Apple's Boot Camp provides the necessary drivers to get Windows XP running, you can still update drivers as need be from the OEM supplier. For example... need a more current graphics driver for your nVidia? Get it from nVidia, just like you would for any other Windows computer. I had to upgrade my audio drivers to be able to play Eve Online, for example.

Obviously PCs remain the best as regards compatibility between most games and the Windows OS ; as well as regards their upgrading ability.

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Nothing obvious about that at all. Today's Macs ARE PCs. The only difference is they have something called EFI rather than BIOS to boot the machine. Due to that, OS X's Boot Camp is needed to help get Windows installed, but once Windows is installed, it is NO DIFFERENT than any other PC from a compatibility standpoint. You can't do much to upgrade an iMac... they are basically a laptop that you can't take with you. The Mac Pro is a fully upgradable PC tower.

Now digressing a little bit: does Apple have factories of hardware components itself (for memory, motherboard, etc.) ? or are they produced by other hardware companies which dedicate part of their production to mac compatible stuff ?

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Nope... Apple doesn't have their own factories. Their mainboards, for example, are made by Asustek. In fact, ASUS makes some of the best and most reliable mainboards for PCs, and I believe that choice by Apple to use them is much of the reason their Intel Macs are so good.

bobtomay said:

Well, it's not common on this forum. Quite the opposite in fact. I have seen post after post over the course of the last year by pretty much all of the long time Mac users recommending over and over again - if your primary use is gaming, buy a Windows machine. Can't recall a single post otherwise.

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Unless you have money to burn, then buy a Mac Pro and run XP on it. ;D

Got it .
Thank you very much for your precise and complete answers !