Steam requirements for a Mac?

[traxxasthomas]

Do you have the have windows installed on a macbook for steam too work? or can you just install it on the macbook apple software?


Oh, I am going to get a macbook pro 13" (Not yet ordered) next week will it come pre installed with snow leopard?

 

[tjb1]

Yes it will have Snow Leopard and yes it will run Steam just like every other laptop out there short of being an Alienware. I dont know why everyone treats Macs as office machines...no other laptop is any better unless your buying an Alienware specifically setup to game and at that setup its not really a laptop anymore.

 

[traxxasthomas]

Yes it will have Snow Leopard and yes it will run Steam just like every other laptop out there short of being an Alienware. I dont know why everyone treats Macs as office machines...no other laptop is any better unless your buying an Alienware specifically setup to game and at that setup its not really a laptop anymore.

So I DONT need windows for steam gameplay?

 

[Neolithium]

So I DONT need windows for steam gameplay?

If you want to run games that aren't ported to OSX you will need to install Windows; it all depends on what steam games you play. Here's a list of the titles which will run natively in OSX.
http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac

 

[tjb1]

If you want to run games that aren't ported to OSX you will need to install Windows; it all depends on what steam games you play. Here's a list of the titles which will run natively in OSX.
http://store.steampowered.com/browse/mac

Yes, Mac can use Steam and as Neolithium said it will only play OS X versions of the games. I checked a while back and alot of them seem to be ported over now...atleast the popular ones.

 

[Jaro65]

Log on to Steam and see if the games you like are available for Mac. If they are, you won't need to worry about installing Windows on your MBP.

 

[TheBaconKing]

From what I have seen games run better on Windows. That is the main reason why I use steam more on the Windows side than on Mac OS X Side. For example Civilization V will not run in OS X for me due to system requirements, but runs fine on Windows 7. It is the same computer, just different operating systems...

 

[Neolithium]

From what I have seen games run better on Windows. That is the main reason why I use steam more on the Windows side than on Mac OS X Side. For example Civilization V will not run in OS X for me due to system requirements, but runs fine on Windows 7. It is the same computer, just different operating systems...

99.998% of the time (If not more) It's due to a crappy port to OSX, not an issue with the operating system itself. Unfortunately not everyone does as good of a job getting stuff on OSX like Blizzard does

 

[204353]

99.998% of the time (If not more) It's due to a crappy port to OSX, not an issue with the operating system itself. Unfortunately not everyone does as good of a job getting stuff on OSX like Blizzard does

You've got to give Valve some credit, though. They've stated that Mac OS is now considered a 'Tier 1' operating system to them, meaning that they're devoting as much effort to it as they do with their Windows development side.

They've led the charge by porting all of their own major titles to Mac (no easy feat, considering that they had to be completely re-written for OpenGL). The company has strong influence in the gaming world (Steam being the most successful online distribution service for computer games) and they're encouraging more and more developers to make games for Mac.

It's true that Valve's Source-based games don't perform as well in Mac OS as they do in Windows, but it's not by a huge margin. They're improving them all the time as well. It's partly Apple's responsibility (along with NVIDIA and AMD/ATI), because the Mac graphics drivers have always been quite far behind those of Windows.

Remember that Valve committed to making native ports for Mac, not just repackaged games, such as the majority of modern EA ports (one of the worst being Battlefield 2142... absolutely awful).

I reckon that within the next two or three years Mac OS will massively catch up as a viable gaming platform, although don't expect that many older games to be ported over.

 

[mulo]

Yes it will have Snow Leopard and yes it will run Steam just like every other laptop out there short of being an Alienware. I dont know why everyone treats Macs as office machines...no other laptop is any better unless your buying an Alienware specifically setup to game and at that setup its not really a laptop anymore.

even more so their about 3x as thick as an MBP, and they overheat if you put an ssd in them, simply because the processor can access data "too" fast? LOL

Unfortunately not everyone does as good of a job getting stuff on OSX like Blizzard does

even they suck at it, look at starcraft II. WoW on the other hand runs like a champ!

Do you have the have windows installed on a macbook for steam too work? or can you just install it on the macbook apple software?


Oh, I am going to get a macbook pro 13" (Not yet ordered) next week will it come pre installed with snow leopard?

what prevented you form googling or just visiting steams website?
http://store.steampowered.com/about/

ill even copy it for you since you appear to be that lazy..

System Requirements
Windows XP, Vista, or 7
512 MB RAM
1 Ghz or faster processor

Intel Mac, OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.
Two-button mouse strongly recommended

1GB HD space (recommended)
Internet connection (broadband recommended)

 

[dusk007]

It's true that Valve's Source-based games don't perform as well in Mac OS as they do in Windows, but it's not by a huge margin. They're improving them all the time as well. It's partly Apple's responsibility (along with NVIDIA and AMD/ATI), because the Mac graphics drivers have always been quite far behind those of Windows.

a.) From the tests I have read it seems more like a huge margin if you compare the same video quality. Everything is optimized for DirectX and OpenGL was always used for CAD stuff not games.
b.) The drivers aren't really Apples fault that is Nvidia and AMD. They have OpenGL opimized workstation GPUs and the DriectX optimized cheap consumer GPUs. They never saw a reason to write really good OpenGL drivers for OSX for their cheap consumer GPUs. And from what I have read about the complexity of GPU drivers they need to feel real pressure to do something and invest. Maybe Apple should do it but I am not sure if that works with either AMD or Nvidia.
Intel is the only GPU manufacturer with Open Source dirvers.

I think running steam on OSX only works for some old not very demanding games. You have less war GPU speed anyway and worse drivers and badly optimized games.

 

[mulo]

nvm