Hiro, I've read about this Bootcamp beta, but how well can bootcamp run the latest games? How much performance degradation is there compared to a Windows machine? In other words, could a Mac Mini run Half Life 2?
I played Half-Life 2 on my Mini and it ran ok for me but I ran it through Crossover, which means I didn't need to install Windows. Crssover only has compatibility with DirectX 7 so the visuals lacked a bit but annoyingly even at that still better than any Mac game I've seen.
It played pretty well for me but I had no fancy reflections in the water and the detail was mostly at medium since it would crash on anything higher - this was Crossover's fault though. I did manage to play it briefly with everything on high and it stuttered quite a bit so for a good experience, go for a machine with an X1600 GPU or higher.
I'm going to install Windows on an iMac this week and hopefully I'll get to see Half-Life 2 in all its glory. It's the best FPS game I've ever played in my life. It's got giant bugs like in the movie Starship Troopers, tripod things you have to take down like in War of the Worlds, ships and helicopters you have to blast out the sky with rocket launchers and hoverbikes like James Bond, a nice female assistant you can apply a nude patch to, a group of government type people with electric batons like Minority Report and overall a very entertaining storyline.
I would install Windows on my Mini but I need all the space I have and Half-Life 2 is the first game that's interested me in a while so I probably wouldn't play games that much. Plus I don't want to reboot all the time. I think it's the only way though. I might look at partitioning my external firewire HD but I don't know if or how well Windows would run from that.
I'm right there with you Marvin. I love Half Life 2. I play the game on an xbox, and it is the best gaming experience I've ever had.
That's another reason I just cant decide on a platform, because kicking back on the couch, playing a game on a big screen with a controller rocks. I just cant get into keyboard and mouse games anymore. I dont consider myself an action gamer, and I certainly dont play "kiddie games", but even more cerebral games are heading to the console.
One of the reason Mac OS is so reliable is because it can only be run on apple's hardware.
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Populist
I love Half Life 2. I play the game on an xbox, and it is the best gaming experience I've ever had.
That's another reason I just cant decide on a platform, because kicking back on the couch, playing a game on a big screen with a controller rocks. I just cant get into keyboard and mouse games anymore.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
Windows computers are great at the enterprise level. If they are centrally managed and are behind corporate firewalls and security appliances things are great. Unfortunately, the average consumer doesn't have that level of protection. When I have problems with my mac I am usually the one that caused them, with windows they would just happen.
Marvin, there is no doubt that the Xbox 360 is the best console out right now. It has great graphics, and a big library of excellent games. But the reason I keep posting herre is to get Apple's head out of their... a**es and make them realize that they have to answer the competitive threat posed by these new consoles.
Otherwise the evil empire will control the next generation of living room computers.
I would have no problem "acquiring" a copy of windows without paying M$.
haha love your attitude man. damn, i must know 5-8 people who have got xp off the same unofficial instalation disk and put it on their macs, mostly through emulation software, but 1 through bootcamp. i mean come on, they make enough money as it is...
Also, there has been a recently announced kernel extension for Mac OS X that allows it to use ANY PC Nvidia card; therefore, you could buy an 8800GTX or other kickass new card and have it work flawlessly in both OS's.
Wow, that's interesting news! Do you have any links or any more info on this? Won't that put a nail in the "Mac" video card market now that any "PC" card can be used? Any word on a similar extension for Ati cards?
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
Alan Wake does not look that great, sorry. It just uses a bunch of blur to hide the fact that it's just like Half-Life 2.
Also, there has been a recently announced kernel extension for Mac OS X that allows it to use ANY PC Nvidia card; therefore, you could buy an 8800GTX or other kickass new card and have it work flawlessly in both OS's.
Why doesn't AppleInsider report news like this instead of two crappy pics inside some warehouse taken by an isight? I consider being able to use generic PC GPUs a pretty amazing news item. Is there a link to an article about it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Placebo
Alan Wake does not look that great, sorry. It just uses a bunch of blur to hide the fact that it's just like Half-Life 2.
If it's like Half-Life 2 then to me that means it's awesome. Plus, Half-Life 2 didn't have dynamically changing weather or tornados.
Comments
Hiro, I've read about this Bootcamp beta, but how well can bootcamp run the latest games? How much performance degradation is there compared to a Windows machine? In other words, could a Mac Mini run Half Life 2?
I played Half-Life 2 on my Mini and it ran ok for me but I ran it through Crossover, which means I didn't need to install Windows. Crssover only has compatibility with DirectX 7 so the visuals lacked a bit but annoyingly even at that still better than any Mac game I've seen.
It played pretty well for me but I had no fancy reflections in the water and the detail was mostly at medium since it would crash on anything higher - this was Crossover's fault though. I did manage to play it briefly with everything on high and it stuttered quite a bit so for a good experience, go for a machine with an X1600 GPU or higher.
I'm going to install Windows on an iMac this week and hopefully I'll get to see Half-Life 2 in all its glory. It's the best FPS game I've ever played in my life. It's got giant bugs like in the movie Starship Troopers, tripod things you have to take down like in War of the Worlds, ships and helicopters you have to blast out the sky with rocket launchers and hoverbikes like James Bond, a nice female assistant you can apply a nude patch to, a group of government type people with electric batons like Minority Report and overall a very entertaining storyline.
I would install Windows on my Mini but I need all the space I have and Half-Life 2 is the first game that's interested me in a while so I probably wouldn't play games that much. Plus I don't want to reboot all the time. I think it's the only way though. I might look at partitioning my external firewire HD but I don't know if or how well Windows would run from that.
That's another reason I just cant decide on a platform, because kicking back on the couch, playing a game on a big screen with a controller rocks. I just cant get into keyboard and mouse games anymore. I dont consider myself an action gamer, and I certainly dont play "kiddie games", but even more cerebral games are heading to the console.
...
One of the reason Mac OS is so reliable is because it can only be run on apple's hardware.
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
I love Half Life 2. I play the game on an xbox, and it is the best gaming experience I've ever had.
That's another reason I just cant decide on a platform, because kicking back on the couch, playing a game on a big screen with a controller rocks. I just cant get into keyboard and mouse games anymore.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
http://www.alanwake.com/
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
http://www.alanwake.com/
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
Windows computers are great at the enterprise level. If they are centrally managed and are behind corporate firewalls and security appliances things are great. Unfortunately, the average consumer doesn't have that level of protection. When I have problems with my mac I am usually the one that caused them, with windows they would just happen.
Otherwise the evil empire will control the next generation of living room computers.
...
I would have no problem "acquiring" a copy of windows without paying M$.
haha love your attitude man. damn, i must know 5-8 people who have got xp off the same unofficial instalation disk and put it on their macs, mostly through emulation software, but 1 through bootcamp. i mean come on, they make enough money as it is...
Also, there has been a recently announced kernel extension for Mac OS X that allows it to use ANY PC Nvidia card; therefore, you could buy an 8800GTX or other kickass new card and have it work flawlessly in both OS's.
Wow, that's interesting news!
I don't know about reliability. Most Mac users I've spoken to have experienced a kernel panic whereas a lot of Windows users I know have never experienced a blue screen. I know I can't generalize it from the small amount of people I know but Windows runs well enough on 95% of the world's computers that it is used heavily to run major businesses. I'm not saying it's a good system but it's not terrible.
Then I'd say get an XBox360. It's about half the price of a Mini and will play games faster than a Mac Pro with a Quadro FX 4500. You will even get money for selling your XBox. There's another game coming to the Xbox360 called Alan Wake and the visuals are absolutely stunning:
http://www.alanwake.com/
There's a Half-Life 2 pack announced for the Xbox360 too and it includes Episode 1 and 2. A couple of people I work beside want to get the XBox360. I really think that with the 360 being out for so long and having a low price as well as a big games catalogue will be serious trouble for Sony.
Alan Wake does not look that great, sorry. It just uses a bunch of blur to hide the fact that it's just like Half-Life 2.
Also, there has been a recently announced kernel extension for Mac OS X that allows it to use ANY PC Nvidia card; therefore, you could buy an 8800GTX or other kickass new card and have it work flawlessly in both OS's.
Why doesn't AppleInsider report news like this instead of two crappy pics inside some warehouse taken by an isight? I consider being able to use generic PC GPUs a pretty amazing news item. Is there a link to an article about it?
Alan Wake does not look that great, sorry. It just uses a bunch of blur to hide the fact that it's just like Half-Life 2.
If it's like Half-Life 2 then to me that means it's awesome. Plus, Half-Life 2 didn't have dynamically changing weather or tornados.