OS Neutral PC over Mac or Console ?

[Irishman]

Bootcamp was a double-edged blade from the beginning. It actually dissolved many people's hesitations to switch from PC to Mac, as it played the role of the safety net for any application that would not work on the OS X side and/or virtualization. It also brought the Windows vast library of games to the Mac.

On the other hand, it worked as an alibi for Apple to ignore the OS X side of gaming. FWIW, though, I don't think things would be much different for Mac gaming if bootcamp was not available. After all, bootcamp or not, the required h/w is still missing.

Good points.

But what do you mean by the required hardware is still missing?

 

[antonis]

Good points.

But what do you mean by the required hardware is still missing?

Just wanted to point out that I don't think Mac h/w would be more "games friendly" if bootcamp didn't exist. Bootcamp or not, apple has decided for some time now to equip almost all of their mac models with iGPUs. It's a generic direction they've made showing that desktop gaming is not a priority for them.

Weighing the pros and cons, I think that bootcamp overall was a positive thing and - after all - not the real factor that kept mac gaming on subpar levels.

 

[Irishman]

Just wanted to point out that I don't think Mac h/w would be more "games friendly" if bootcamp didn't exist. Bootcamp or not, apple has decided for some time now to equip almost all of their mac models with iGPUs. It's a generic direction they've made showing that desktop gaming is not a priority for them.

Weighing the pros and cons, I think that bootcamp overall was a positive thing and - after all - not the real factor that kept mac gaming on subpar levels.

What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall of the lab(s) at Apple where they're researching VR and/or AR.

That sheer horsepower required for these is probably our only hope for a more traditional desktop Mac configuration in the near term (Bringing back and updating the cheese grater Mac Pro).

 

[saturnotaku]

It's harder for you to accept anything less. Many of us do it quite easily and still have fun.

And you are well within your right to do this. At the end of the day, however, I prefer the superior experience of other platforms while at the same time having more money in my pocket.

 

[happycadaver]

I only play games which are available for Mac. Works for me. End of story.

 

[Digitalclips]

Apple does not care at all about computer gaming (iOS is another story) and their hardware isn't any good for the higher end games anyways. I don't expect that to ever change, if not get even worse. You would get better performance for the same price, or cheaper parts for the same performance, if you went PC instead of Mac. The only thing you miss out on is a nice-looking case (which I am still upset about since building my own PC recently)

So no, not unless you buy a classic Mac Pro and put it through an upgrade project. Which says a lot when a 'classic' product is more viable than a modern one. Also, chances are you're going to be running Windows if you went through with it, which you may not mind.

Well it's not a straight forward solution but not hard, if you have Parallels or VMWare already on your Mac you can use a couple of free utilities for Windows miniTools Lite and WintoUSB to make an external USB3 bootable Windows 10 drive. Once made hold option on booting the Mac and select the EFI drive and 'voila' you are running native Windows directly on your Mac without partitioning your Mac's internal for Boot Camp. You can still install Boot Camp drivers of course. I do this and have a Steam account and can run anything made for PC. GTA V at 60 f.p.s. on a 27" Mac screen at 2560 x 1440. Better than many if not most PCs I might add. I did buy a genuine Windows 10 ISO download via Amazon which authenticates immediately on my Mac no mater how many external Windows boot drives I make (I have several). I use 256 GB SSDs as they are really fast for this set up.

 

[Washac]

Well it's not a straight forward solution but not hard, if you have Parallels or VMWare already on your Mac you can use a couple of free utilities for Windows miniTools Lite and WintoUSB to make an external USB3 bootable Windows 10 drive. Once made hold option on booting the Mac and select the EFI drive and 'voila' you are running native Windows directly on your Mac without partitioning your Mac's internal for Boot Camp. You can still install Boot Camp drivers of course. I do this and have a Steam account and can run anything made for PC. GTA V at 60 f.p.s. on a 27" Mac screen at 2560 x 1440. Better than many if not most PCs I might add. I did buy a genuine Windows 10 ISO download via Amazon which authenticates immediately on my Mac no mater how many external Windows boot drives I make (I have several). I use 256 GB SSDs as they are really fast for this set up.

I know I was not going to post in this thread again, but this is about wanting to know the process and what I need and how to setup the above ? Sounds very interesting, I have Parallels installed already.

Maybe a thread on how to set this up, bet quite a few would find it of interest, I would

Thanks

 

[gkarris]

From my experience:

I was helping a lady with trying to make her older MacBook run X-Plane 9 for PC (she had bought the PC version). Some "IT Guru" she hired configured her MacBook in Bootcamp and Window 7 Home 64-bit OEM.

Unfortunately, going back-and-forth between the OS's messed up her OS X side somehow, plus X-Plane wouldn't even run properly.

The "kicker" was that this "IT Guru" charged her A LOT of money, which she could've spent less on a decent windows desktop...

What I told her to do was to go to the Apple Store to upgrade the RAM to 8 Gig, update to the latest OS X, and get X-Plane 10 for Mac (and run it on "low"). This strategy worked....

At least she didn't register Windows 7 and she gave it to me for my help (which I used in my Console PC and upgraded to Win 10).

I was thinking of the same thing - get just a new Mac Mini and boot to Windows. But the Mini isn't upgrade-able and I wouldn't be able to simply upgrade it to run VR.

Sometimes it is just not worth it to try to get a Mac to run Windows games. Just get a PC. The Best Buy I was just at over the weekend had a CyperPowerPC "console" PC on sale for $399 (some AMD CPU and discreet R7 video card).

 

[antonis]

I know I was not going to post in this thread again, but this is about wanting to know the process and what I need and how to setup the above ? Sounds very interesting, I have Parallels installed already.

Maybe a thread on how to set this up, bet quite a few would find it of interest, I would

Thanks

This would be a good place to start. I used it when I had the nMP. Worked great.
[doublepost=1467700402][/doublepost]

I only play games which are available for Mac. Works for me. End of story.

No argue to that per se. It's just a shame that a gamer (who obviously loves well-made games) would be missing some real gems like Witcher 3 or Dark Souls 3 etc. just because they cannot run on a specific platform.

 

[Washac]

This would be a good place to start. I used it when I had the nMP. Worked great.

Link goes to a dead page

 

[antonis]

Link goes to a dead page

Oops sorry, fixed.

 

[Washac]

Oops sorry, fixed.

That's it, thank you

 

[gkarris]

No argue to that per se. It's just a shame that a gamer (who obviously loves well-made games) would be missing some real gems like Witcher 3 or Dark Souls 3 etc. just because they cannot run on a specific platform.

Yeah, I was wondering about the lack of Spaceflight Sims on the consoles (especially now with the consoles being so powerful). Found out their home is on the PC...

Back in the old days (here I go again) - consoles were definitely weaker and less storage (like on carts) and PC games transferred to them always lacked. Seems like the games are now equal, but the console games seem to be going for more money (even if they are downloaded). The new Doom is already on sale for PC for $40 and Battleborn for $30.

Once you invest in a good PC, the newer games will be cheaper.

This is the way is SHOULD be - you get a good break for buying a download instead of physical...

Then it goes back to waiting for a used console and used console games, as you cannot resell downloads.