OS Neutral Mac Gamers, Can you live without Windows?

Cooee! · Feb 16, 2014

I think the biggest problem about OS X Gaming is not about gaming performance, but the availability of games. Most games I want right now require windows. I really hope all future games will have OS X compatibility. I really don't want to install windows because it's a waste of space on my ssd.

But I guess I have no choice, I think I will bootcamp windows and install all my games on windows.

malman89 · Feb 16, 2014

Nope. Either some games aren't available or they perform worse in OS X than Windows, so I've had Bootcamp ever since it came out.

I don't game as much as I used to, but I used to go weeks without even booting into OS X on my Mac.

Plutonius · Feb 16, 2014

Yes. The only game I have played under Windows in a year is Talisman - Digital edition (beta) under Steam. The game will be coming out as an OS X port after it is officially released so then I will no longer need to play this under bootcamp. What is your list of games that you want to play and wouldn't you be better off with a console ?

Wardenski · Feb 16, 2014

Windows is a very useful tool for playing games as they were intended, so its a no for me.

I don't play a huge amount of games and many of my games have OSX ports or can be run through WINE etc but I want to play my games as well as my hardware can give me and in surround sound.

gregorsamsa · Feb 16, 2014

Not since late 2011. Back then, I owned a lot of older Mac games. Starting with OS X Lion 10.7, the forced obsolescence of PPC with loss of Rosetta killed off a fair number of OS X classics for those buying new Macs. Finding that a number of those classics were useless on my latest Mac made me wonder about future OS X releases. Particularly as each new version of OS X tends to cause more incompatibilities for older Mac games. Without developers updating these games, many are of course lost to the Mac gaming catalogue.

Rather than buy an older Mac, I switched to PC for gaming. So far, even with Windows 8, I've had no issues with most of those older classics, for eg. Rise of Nations, AoE 2, et al. The fate of a good number of my older Mac classics was, sadly, very different. Otherwise, I'd have stuck with Mac gaming only.

Dirtyharry50 · Feb 16, 2014

Cooee! said:
But I guess I have no choice, I think I will bootcamp windows and install all my games on windows.

You do have choice but if you like the selection on Windows versus other gaming platforms then you may want to have Windows installed. I posted a thread a while ago going on about selection of games for the Mac platform which I find to be more than enough personally. You can read the original post here if you are interested:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1697223/

N19h7m4r3 · Feb 16, 2014

I don't even own Windows anymore. I do all my gaming in OS X.

I have more games then I ever have time for, and the list is ever increasing thanks to developers, and publishers even sending things now.

I can honestly say there's nothing I miss on Windows. I got bored of so called "AAA" games a few years ago. There's nothing amazing or AAA about rehashed rushed out games in my opinion.

Cooee! · Feb 16, 2014

Dirtyharry50 said:
You do have choice but if you like the selection on Windows versus other gaming platforms then you may want to have Windows installed. I posted a thread a while ago going on about selection of games for the Mac platform which I find to be more than enough personally. You can read the original post here if you are interested:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1697223/

I read the thread. But if you think about splitting PC gaming into two platforms, Mac and Windows, Windows is clearly the better choice because it has almost all the pc games available and the games not available on the Mac are like "windows-exclusive titles," and the Mac has very few.

I really don't want to go back to windows, and so far I think I'll just sacrifice being able to play windows titles.

Do you guys think ESO is good? or Titanfall? I tend to like playing new games.

And · Feb 16, 2014

I made a decision about 10 years ago not to be a PC gamer after watching my brother spend a fortune on keeping his PC cutting edge. Basically, you spend your time constantly playing catch up with graphics cards, memory, software updates for drivers, etc. So I decided I'd just play console games - overall it's cheaper, they're designed for the system in question, and without all the pressures on your PC hardware to be top notch you can keep your PCs longer. So, several consoles later I still think it makes sense. So, yes I can live without windows, and just play the odd OSX game here and there.

blasto2236 · Feb 16, 2014

I had a Bootcamp partition about a year ago, mostly to play Bioshock Infinite when it released. Eventually it became a PITA and I deleted it, losing the license I had in the process. Since then, I've just been gaming on Mac since I didn't want to spend money on a new copy of Windows 7. And honestly, the number of games I go to play that are Windows only are few and far between. Most of the high profile indies (which is 75% of what I play) come out for both these days, and even the AAA titles usually just require some patience.

Having said all that, I have very much considered getting another partition set up so I can play South Park: The Stick of Truth.

N19h7m4r3 · Feb 16, 2014

Cooee! said:
Do you guys think ESO is good? or Titanfall? I tend to like playing new games.

In regards to ESO please read the last page here after the NDA lifted.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1683358/

Washac · Feb 16, 2014

I would not have Bootcamp setup at all if it were not for games that I want to play.

sonicrobby · Feb 16, 2014

I could. Because most of the games I play are Valve games, which are supported on mac, I can gladly live without windows!

roadbloc · Feb 16, 2014

Nope. I keep all my games on PC for the best performance.

Intelligent · Feb 16, 2014

Cooee! said:
I think the biggest problem about OS X Gaming is not about gaming performance, but the availability of games. Most games I want right now require windows. I really hope all future games will have OS X compatibility. I really don't want to install windows because it's a waste of space on my ssd.

But I guess I have no choice, I think I will bootcamp windows and install all my games on windows.

I do live without windows, don't have bootcamp.

T'hain Esh Kelch · Feb 16, 2014

With the number of games available on the Mac, I survive fine without any Windows.

ElderBrE · Feb 16, 2014

I've been thinking about removing the Windows partition, I rarely use it... betas maybe, testing something..

erayser · Feb 16, 2014

I'm a fan of technology, and I'm planning on getting Mac... mainly for my wife... but I want to play with it too. But I have no plans on using it for gaming. I prefer gaming with 3 monitors (NVidia Surround) with high refresh rates. Also, I like build/update my rig once in a while. I enjoy that part of it... especially the watercooling part.

Previous build - 2 years+ ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14478529/

Current upgraded - 1 month ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18593199/

Love playing in nvidia stereoscopic 3D on 3 monitors:

.... And the benefits of playing new games like Titanfall:

Also, I like tinkering with BIOS and overclocking my CPU/RAM/Benchmarking. If things don't work, I actually enjoy looking for solutions.

Nope... I'm not willing to give up windows for gaming, or giving up my hobby building/upgrading my rig, tinkering to maximize my system. Way too much fun to give up.

Cooee! · Feb 16, 2014

erayser said:
I'm a fan of technology, and I'm planning on getting Mac... mainly for my wife... but I want to play with it too. But I have no plans on using it for gaming. I prefer gaming with 3 monitors (NVidia Surround) with high refresh rates. Also, I like build/update my rig once in a while. I enjoy that part of it... especially the watercooling part.

Previous build - 2 years+ ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14478529/

Current upgraded - 1 month ago:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18593199/

Love playing in nvidia stereoscopic 3D on 3 monitors:
Image

.... And the benefits of playing new games like Titanfall:
[url=http://alternativepb.com/pbn/tfbeta1.jpg]Image[/URL]

Also, I like tinkering with BIOS and overclocking my CPU/RAM/Benchmarking. If things don't work, I actually enjoy looking for solutions.

Nope... I'm not willing to give up windows for gaming, or giving up my hobby building/upgrading my rig, tinkering to maximize my system. Way too much fun to give up.

That is so cool! Maybe buying a dedicated PC for gaming is another option.

I'm still deciding whether to go for windows or not. Too bad I can't put up a poll.

Oudinot · Feb 16, 2014

I don't do windows!

Huntn · Feb 16, 2014

This last vacation I went on stayed in Windows 7 for the entire time for surfing and game playing when the opportunity arose. The MacOS has become such a dog for both OSX 8 &9 in normal everyday computing tasks. In comparison, Windows 7 cranks right up and gives me a desktop in about 30 sec vs 5 min for MacOS. When I get home, I'll crank OS9 up once again. See my signature. I do plan on upgrading my hardware to 8Gb soon.

edddeduck · Feb 17, 2014

Huntn said:
This last vacation I went on stayed in Windows 7 for the entire time for surfing and game playing when the opportunity arose. The MacOS has become such a dog for both OSX 8 &9 in normal everyday computing tasks. In comparison, Windows 7 cranks right up and gives me a desktop in about 30 sec vs 5 min for MacOS. When I get home, I'll crank OS9 up once again. See my signature. I do plan on upgrading my hardware to 8Gb soon.

Interesting I have completely the opposite experience.

Windows is something that has to be endured as a necessary evil when I have something to do that is Windows only.

Edwin

Exhale · Feb 17, 2014

Not even close.

Even when a game is available on OSX - its usually not going to deliver the same experience and reliability. Especially games which are enhanced by community patches. (There are several games that quite frankly should not be played without such mods/patches)

SingularityG · Feb 17, 2014

edddeduck said:
Interesting I have completely the opposite experience. Windows is something that has to be endured as a necessary evil when I have something to do that is Windows only.

Edwin

I absolutely agree. I used to be a 100% Windows user, but everything is such a drag in compare to OS X. Even the simple tasks, like using Outlook to send a message, is a very depressing process. Seriously, I could not bring myself to do it, today.

erayser · Feb 17, 2014

edddeduck said:
Interesting I have completely the opposite experience. Windows is something that has to be endured as a necessary evil when I have something to do that is Windows only.

Edwin

Since he is talking about just the boot to desktop mainly, most PC builders will buy SSD's just for their OS boot drive. Booting to desktop within 30 seconds is pretty common in Windows 7. With Windows 8 installed on SSD's, boot to desktop is a lot faster... like within 10 seconds... but I still refuse to install Windows 8 for now, or at least until they fix things for tri-surround monitor setups. It's nice to boot to desktop fast, and open apps instantly without waiting for setups. That's what I hate about my wife's HP computer with OS installed on a HDD. It is way to slow... and the main reason I want to replace her computer for a Mac.

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