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will steam's release for OSX influence gaming hardware on the mac?
- Thread starter iamrawr
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Steam is cool and all but unless you were A) A gamer on the Windows Side in a past life and B) care about that sort of thing you probably won't even know that Steam is coming out on OS X.
Every mac user on the planet would have to utilze steam and subsequently complain about performance before the R & D and marketing teams grow a pair and tell Steve that the consumers are demanding high end gaming hardware. Otherwise it won't happen.
Edit: and yes, I AM in line for Portal 2 and gots my HL2 keys waiting.
Every mac user on the planet would have to utilze steam and subsequently complain about performance before the R & D and marketing teams grow a pair and tell Steve that the consumers are demanding high end gaming hardware. Otherwise it won't happen.
Edit: and yes, I AM in line for Portal 2 and gots my HL2 keys waiting.
Wait so if I already own a retail PC version of HL2, I can play the Steam Mac version?
I say for sure, Apple used to tout it's C2D line as "gaming" notebooks, first hit on Google search for a while when you typed gaming notebook.
They showed Cod 4 looking good and being playable, but now since that game is old news, and there is really nothing cool out for mac to use as an advertisement post, they don't.
L4D 2, Portal 2, etc will make mac a current gaming platform again, and allow Apple to advertise as such. I think Steam and games on mac will draw many PC'ers over the next few years as well, so they will have no choice but to accommodate them.
Hopefully at the next refresh we see a 5830, then we could really crank this stuff.
They showed Cod 4 looking good and being playable, but now since that game is old news, and there is really nothing cool out for mac to use as an advertisement post, they don't.
L4D 2, Portal 2, etc will make mac a current gaming platform again, and allow Apple to advertise as such. I think Steam and games on mac will draw many PC'ers over the next few years as well, so they will have no choice but to accommodate them.
Hopefully at the next refresh we see a 5830, then we could really crank this stuff.
Until they get current generation video solutions (and solutions that are decently priced for that matter, $419 for a 4870? HAHAHA!) and half-decent drivers they won't truly be close to a "current gaming platform". Not to mention, the enthusiast community will never swap over to Apple. That's not to say nothing good will come of this whole steam thing; but it will be a long while til we see anything tangible.
isn't there a good amount of people complaining about the mac's hardware already? or is it not enough for them to reconsider what the put into macs?
I think it might.
The more people consume macs for gaming purposes, the more apple will bump the specs.... and maybe the prices.
The more people consume macs for gaming purposes, the more apple will bump the specs.... and maybe the prices.
okay i shot steve.....in the face. no just kidding. i shot him an email asking what his mindset was on letting the imacs become better speced tham the mac pros. he has yet to reply. it was at 10:30 eastern time last night.
Steve changed his stance on FireWire, but only after a large outcry.
Anything is possible but the community has to create a tangible tought in jobs mind where he has to say to himself "maybe I'm wrong?"
cuz he won't listen to any of us telling him he's wrong (though even that is subjective)
so then... why did Steam decide to come to mac?
if macs aren't primarily built for gaming why did Steam invest in OSX?so then... why did Steam decide to come to mac?
Because it's an untapped market? There's no denying that OSX is trash for gaming at the moment, and Mac hardware is very low on the gaming scale. Valve doesn't have to provide a great gaming environment since they're pretty much the only player in the OSX game. Also there's the fact that source engine games can run on almost anything (possibly even a toaster) so Valve can showcase them even on sub-par mac hardware.
so then... why did Steam decide to come to mac?
It's pretty obvious; untapped market full of people with big wallets not scared to pay a premium - easy easy money.
Don't be so sure about it. In June Nvidia will launch it's Fermi mobile cards.
Since Apple is so in bed with Nvidia and refuses to use ATI cards, I guess around June-September, a new big improvement in graphics performance can be expected.
That's just something that I'll think will hapen.
Are you talking about only the notebooks? Because Apple uses ATI cards in some iMac models.