Steam and the 2010 Mini: Yea or Nay?

[Deathlok2001]

SO, now that games like team fortress and 1/2 life are available on the mac, can the mini handle them? I might like to try some of these out. DO you have to Dl the entire game off this stream site? How does it work?

Or should one just get a Mac Pro with the 512 Radeon vid card and be done with it?

 

[dh2005]

Dude... you mean a MacBook Pro, right? Because, frankly, if you can afford a Mac Pro then the Mini was never designed for you...!!!


The 2010 Mini, I'm told, does a pretty solid (if unspectacular) job with 3D games. I'm running a 2009 Mini right now, and it plays Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Portal, Return to Castle Wolfenstein etc. pretty well, on medium-to-high settings. If the blurb is true, and the 320M is around twice as powerful as the 9400M... well, I reckon it'd be running these games on high-to-maximum settings.

As for Steam itself; yes, you download the whole game.

 

[Deathlok2001]

Dude... you mean a MacBook Pro, right? Because, frankly, if you can afford a Mac Pro then the Mini was never designed for you...!!!


The 2010 Mini, I'm told, does a pretty solid (if unspectacular) job with 3D games. I'm running a 2009 Mini right now, and it plays Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Portal, Return to Castle Wolfenstein etc. pretty well, on medium-to-high settings. If the blurb is true, and the 320M is around twice as powerful as the 9400M... well, I reckon it'd be running these games on high-to-maximum settings.

As for Steam itself; yes, you download the whole game.

NO dude, I mean teh mac desktop Pro. The BIG KAHUNA!

I currently use a mirror door 867 dual G4 with a 256 Radeon vid card that leaves artifacts on the screen and the cd drive does not work. SO its time for an upgrade!


The REASON I am thinking of a Mac Mini is.... it will be a "go between" mac until APPLE updates the Mac Pro desktops. Then I can get one of those. I am going to use the 867 G4 as a non internet backup for photos and stuff.

 

[dh2005]

Well, okay... if you've money to burn, I wouldn't mince about with the Mini!

Although, if you only want to run older Steam games, I reckon it can do the job just fine.


Ah, I see you've added to your post...

... well, sure. I mean, if you just want the Mini as a stop-gap, why not?

 

[Deathlok2001]

Yes. Games I am interested in are older andinclude: Diablo 2, team fortress, Quake 4. Thats about it. Maybe Postal just because its so crazy!

What I really want is an new CARMAGEDDON GAME!!! I LOVED THAT GAME! (anything similar to it that it out?)

 

[flopticalcube]

My daughter's iMac (2GHz C2D/X1600) plays Steam games just fine at 1440X900. Especially the older ones. The mini's GPU is better so it should be no problem.

 

[dh2005]

Yes. Games I am interested in are older andinclude: Diablo 2, team fortress, Quake 4. Thats about it. Maybe Postal just because its so crazy!

Sure, I reckon those games will run fine.

 

[Deathlok2001]

oh well...


WOOHOO

 

[Kebabselector]

My early 09 Mini (2ghz 4gb 9400) runs Halflife2,portal and TF2 o.k I do tend to run it at 1680x1050 though. But to be honest I'm happy with it. I guess the new Mini should out perform my old one.

 

[Deathlok2001]

oh well I do not run games at that rez..... 1024 x 968 or whatever.....

 

[dh2005]

Oh, you'll be more than fine, then. I run Half-Life 2 at 1200-ish x whatever (16:9 ratio).

 

[pugple]

Because, frankly, if you can afford a Mac Pro then the Mini was never designed for you...!!!

What? Just because you can afford a Mac Pro doesn't mean the Mini wasn't designed for you at all. They're two different machines that fill different niches.

 

[dh2005]

They're two different machines that fill different niches.

Yes. Hence, my surprise at them being the two alternatives suggested by the OP - how can a person struggle to decide between two completely different things, that look different, perform different functions and cost radically different sums of money...? Whereas the MBP is substantially similar to the Mini in spec, only portable, which would make them more obvious bedfellows.

Furthermore; chill out. It was a semi-humorous comment. Hence, the exclamation marks.

 

[anthorumor]

Might as well get an i5 or i7 iMac instead of the MacPro.
Or a PS3...