Can it run League of Legends without eGPU?

[adamcz]

I'm a pretty casual gamer. League of Legends, Hearthstone, Diablo III, stuff like that.

How well can the 2018 Mini handle 10-year-old games like these without adding an external GPU?

Light gaming seems like such a silly reason to be dragging my heals on a new computer, waiting for the Mac Pro to get announced, but I *really* hate the idea of paying a price and performance penalty for a tiny enclosure and then having a mess of wires plugged into external drives and eGPU to make it work.

 

[russell_314]

I'm a pretty casual gamer. League of Legends, Hearthstone, Diablo III, stuff like that.

How well can the 2018 Mini handle 10-year-old games like these without adding an external GPU?

Light gaming seems like such a silly reason to be dragging my heals on a new computer, waiting for the Mac Pro to get announced, but I *really* hate the idea of paying a price and performance penalty for a tiny enclosure and then having a mess of wires plugged into external drives and eGPU to make it work.

I'm not a big LOL player but I'm going to download it just to see if it'll work on the 2018 mini. BTW it's not really correct to call games like LOL and D3 because the graphics are updated with patches. The last big update for D3 was in 2017. Now I'm sure any modern computer would play those games if you got the original version and were able to launch it.

 

[russell_314]

Okay as I said I'm not a big LOL player but I did play the training practice tool and a 5 player against bots intro game on Summoner's Rift. I found that while even at max graphics settings the FPS was over 100, scrolling across the map wasn't smooth. Medium and Medium Low settings seem to be the best. For some reason the tutorial wouldn't launch but I don't think that's a GPU issue but rather some bug with the LOL Mac client. A big problem with software that is primarily Windows based is they often put most of their effort on the Windows version and the Mac one gets pushed aside.

I haven't tried D3 but I play WOW on low settings. No raiding or anything like that of course. I don't think the Intel graphics would be enough.

I'm really surprised that you didn't get more replies since LOL is a popular game.

 

[adamcz]

Thank you for sharing. What you're describing sounds worse (or at least not better) than what I get on my current 2013 iMac and its 6 year old mobile graphics card. Disappointing to hear, but I definitely appreciate the info.

 

[russell_314]

Thank you for sharing. What you're describing sounds worse (or at least not better) than what I get on my current 2013 iMac and its 6 year old mobile graphics card. Disappointing to hear, but I definitely appreciate the info.

If you were expecting integrated graphics to be good then I don't know what to say. There’s a reason why gamers spend hundreds of dollars on graphics cards. To be honest I was surprised that the integrated graphics was that good. I remember when integrated graphics would not play games at all. When I bought my first Windows PC I did not know anything about computers or at least computer hardware so I ended up with the computer with only PCI slots and really terrible integrated graphics. From the original post it sounds like an iMac would be the best thing for you. It would not have a bunch of wires and it would just be the monitor. Then there’s always Windows but since you’re asking in a Mac form I’m guessing that’s not what you’re looking for. I plan to get a GPU enclosure for my Mac mini and use it for games. I’m not a serious gamer but rather a casual one.

 

[adamcz]

From the original post it sounds like an iMac would be the best thing for you.

I already have a nice 4k monitor on my desk that I use with my work laptop, and I would *much* rather have a headless personal computer to use with the same monitor vs having the monitor and a giant iMac side by side.

If you were expecting integrated graphics to be good then I don't know what to say.

If you're giving the biggest tech company in the world a free pass for selling a $2,000 desktop computer that doesn't match the performance of laptops from 5 years ago, I don't know what to say.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[russell_314]

I already have a nice 4k monitor on my desk that I use with my work laptop, and I would *much* rather have a headless personal computer to use with the same monitor vs having the monitor and a giant iMac side by side.

If you're giving the biggest tech company in the world a free pass for selling a $2,000 desktop computer that doesn't match the performance of laptops from 5 years ago, I don't know what to say.

Obviously you just want something to complain about. I mention a solution and your answers are just silly. Get an eGPU oh I don't like wires. Get an iMac oh I already have a monitor. The mini far exceeds the performance of 5 year old laptops. Performance isn't just gaming and all computers aren't designed for this. If you just feel like trolling the forums by all means go ahead but it's silly.

 

[adamcz]

Obviously you just want something to complain about..

No, what I want is a normal desktop computer for less than $3,000 that can do normal things that you should be able to take for granted from a desktop. I've been a Mac user since the Apple II, and have owned and loved countless Mac towers, iMacs, and MacBooks over the years. It's sad to me that since Steve's death, Apple's computer division has declined so much that you get raged at as an unrealistic whiner if you wish Apple still made appealing desktop computers. I guess the most rationale thing for me to do is to start researching what I could replace Logic and Photos with if I were to move to Windows.

 

[russell_314]

No, what I want is a normal desktop computer for less than $3,000 that can do normal things that you should be able to take for granted from a desktop. I've been a Mac user since the Apple II, and have owned and loved countless Mac towers, iMacs, and MacBooks over the years. It's sad to me that since Steve's death, Apple's computer division has declined so much that you get raged at as an unrealistic whiner if you wish Apple still made appealing desktop computers. I guess the most rationale thing for me to do is to start researching what I could replace Logic and Photos with if I were to move to Windows.

If I had a dollar for every time someone tried to blame their dislike of Apple products on Steve Jobs death. You're comments are the standard "I hate Apple" comments. Apple products are overpriced compared to their "normal" Windows counterparts. It's a broken record but don't let me stop you from playing it lol

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[russell_314]

Are we talking about the same Steve Jobs who told us, "Don't hold it that way."

He may have told you to "Just buy an eGPU."

I think it's funny how some people don't really know the history of Steve Jobs. If Apple put a dedicated GPU in the mini the argument would be it's too expensive and Apple is out of touch with its base. Someone can criticize anything they do.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[adamcz]

You're comments are the standard "I hate Apple" comments.

Are you sure I'm the poster child anti-Apple attacker? I've been a member of this forum for over 15 years, have been using Macs since the 1980s and in my household we currently own 3 iPhones, 3 iPads, 2 watches, an iMac, two MacBook Pros, and a MacBook. As somebody who's owned at least a dozen Macs in my life, I feel like I've earned the right to point out that the current desktop lineup sucks without that making me a "hater".

 

[philipma1957]

No, what I want is a normal desktop computer for less than $3,000 that can do normal things that you should be able to take for granted from a desktop. I've been a Mac user since the Apple II, and have owned and loved countless Mac towers, iMacs, and MacBooks over the years. It's sad to me that since Steve's death, Apple's computer division has declined so much that you get raged at as an unrealistic whiner if you wish Apple still made appealing desktop computers. I guess the most rationale thing for me to do is to start researching what I could replace Logic and Photos with if I were to move to Windows.

I am on your side bro. But it is simply a losing battle.
I ended not buying a 2018 mini I grabbed a few 2014 mini used.and I game with a windows.
The only new apple product I will end up getting is and iPad mini 5.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[philipma1957]

Apple has chosen to do this with gpus since forever. they simply won't make a unit like the Hp Elite 800 G4 as the fourth pc.

So the mini is short gpu and need a ton of add ons
the iMac has no screen choice
the mac pro is over kill

This has been the story for a long time. It will not stop until people don't buy pc's from apple. Which is not going to happen. Try as I may I can say the only new Apple gear that works for me is an iPad mini 5 which I will replace my iPad 3 with very soon.

 

[F-Train]

I guess the most rationale thing for me to do is to start researching what I could replace Logic and Photos with if I were to move to Windows.

If you want to replace Logic, an excellent and popular choice is Ableton Live. It costs US$750, plus annual upgrades. Plus whatever you think your time is worth to learn a new digital audio workstation.

I’ve owned Logic for 8 years. It’s the same price ($300) now as when I purchased it, and I have never been charged for an upgrade. The annual cost for me works out to $37.50 and decreases every year.

Would you like to talk about the cost of replacing Photos, which is free? Lightroom is a great choice, extremely popular, and a subscription will only cost you $120 per year, prepaid. Only $600 over five years, on the rather optimistic assumption that the price doesn’t go up.

I have saved a significant amount of money by using macOS (free) and Apple applications (in most cases free, or close to it), and it is always amusing to read the non-stop bellyaching from people who apparently think that hardware runs without software.

 

[russell_314]

Saying the current desktop lineup sucks because Apple's only choices are an AIO or eGPU for gaming is silly. Saying I'm "attacking" you for pointing out the silliness is even sillier. As to Apple not making a dedicated gaming desktop that's not an AIO causing people to stop buying Macs, yeah I'm not even going to address that.

Your original post was asking if you could play the games you mentioned so far the answer is yes. It almost feels like you asked that question with an answer in mind so you could complain about the mini not having a dedicated graphics card built in.

I think I've said all I needed to in this thread. I bit the troll post and you reeled me in but at this point there's no point in keeping it going.