apple punched into a corner over steam power.

valve has threatened apple to cut their steam program from mac compatibility due to a lack of graphical horsepower. this comes after many apple owers tried to buy games on steam that the cheaper parts pc's could run that the megalith and costly mac's could not. after several complaints and some sour phone calls apple has jsut patched all ati/nvidia gpu's in their systems for improved graphical preformance. how much is unclear but the gains were enough to satiate valve and steampowered.. for now. apple be walking on thin ice over steam.. hopefully she doesnt melt.

http://www.fudzilla.com/graphics/graphics/apple-forced-to-improve-graphics

This has been a problem for as long as I remember. People buy a top-end Mac that a cheaper PC can run circles around performance wise and then can't figure out what is going on. The problem being twofold. 1) Apple has never really had high end games until now so they have done a s*** (obviously) job of optimizing their graphics drivers. 2) Mactards don't realize (or care until now) that they are paying out the ass for a name, when they can get an equivalent or better PC for half the price.

1) Apple has never really had high end games until now so they have done a s*** (obviously) job of optimizing their graphics drivers. SerOlmy

[QUOTE="SerOlmy"]1) Apple has never really had high end games until now so they have done a s*** (obviously) job of optimizing their graphics drivers. RayvinAzn

It stems from laziness as they rack in the millions from fanboys with too much money on their hands.SerOlmy

Sorry mister but MAC is history when it comes to gaming . no point digging out its glory back in the 1990s . This is 2010 .

Kyozumi

Oddly enough I don't even like most Apple products. I haven't used a Mac since I upgraded the family PowerMac 7500/100 with an ATI Rage Orion to play Unreal/Unreal Tournament, Quake II/III, Descent III, and a few other titles. But I still think it's funny how threatened some people seem to get whenever an Apple computer is mentioned. It's even funnier if they rant about it from their iPhone. If you guys want to get mad at something that's threatening your hobby, hate on Dell.

You're going to have to break the news to everyone that Starcraft II is now ancient history then. I'm not going to be the one to do that.

RayvinAzn

Graphically is sure as hell is and I have no problem saying it. It is barely on par with HL2 when it was first released (before the numerous graphic upgrades to the Source engine).

Graphically is sure as hell is and I have no problem saying it. It is barely on par with HL2 when it was first released (before the numerous graphic upgrades to the Source engine).

SerOlmy

This isn't a discussion about great games. It's a discussion of Mac hardware. Blizzard has always aimed for the sweet spot (hardware wise) for their games. They want the max number of people playing. It's a testament to their designers that they can still make good looking games that don't require the best hardware. Macs have never tried to compete with PCs on specs. They prefer stability and battery life. Up to now that's been good enough. Maybe they'll start to worry about performance a bit more.

Good to see Valve give Apple a good kick into the gut. Yes, Apples are overpriced, but they are good at doing what they were made mostly for. I won't deny that. The quality of the products are good despite the price, and of course you have Mac zealots who care less about price and more about name. Honestly I would've bought an iMac 21.5in by now had it been equipped with display-port-in capabilities like the 27in model. The monitors on the iMacs are just brilliantly beautiful. I would've had a Mac + an awesome 1080p monitor for my gaming machine. I seriously contemplated replacing my 32 in LG 1080p set with a 27 in iMac. Considering most monitors of that caliber and resolution are already $1500+, it still seems like a good value to me in terms of what you are getting for the money. For a gamer, it's a terrible value (duh!), but Apple isn't going for the gamers, though they seem to now want to make sure their machines are decently capable of running games if the user chooses too, which I'm glad Apple is doing now. Woot woot for dedicated graphics across the entire iMac line. Be it via OSX or Windows, it only strengthens the PC gaming world. Glad to see OpenGL get some love too.

It's interesting how despite the price, Apple is the only desktop manufacturer that has dedicated graphics standard across their entire range (of desktops of course). No other major company can claim that. Though Apples don't have the highest gaming potential, they seem to have the best readiness when not taking price and OS into account. That's a pretty powerful position to hold, especially as the dedicated graphics not only show advantage in gaming, but across media applications that require high visual computing prowess.

[QUOTE="SerOlmy"] It stems from laziness as they rack in the millions from fanboys with too much money on their hands.RayvinAzn

Sorry mister but MAC is history when it comes to gaming . no point digging out its glory back in the 1990s . This is 2010 .

Kyozumi

Oddly enough I don't even like most Apple products. I haven't used a Mac since I upgraded the family PowerMac 7500/100 with an ATI Rage Orion to play Unreal/Unreal Tournament, Quake II/III, Descent III, and a few other titles. But I still think it's funny how threatened some people seem to get whenever an Apple computer is mentioned. It's even funnier if they rant about it from their iPhone. If you guys want to get mad at something that's threatening your hobby, hate on Dell.

Starcraft 2 isn't a demanding game. In fact none of Blizzards games are that taxing on hardware. Mac's have been underpowered for a very long time now.

Starcraft 2 isn't a demanding game. In fact none of Blizzards games are that taxing on hardware. Mac's have been underpowered for a very long time now.

CuDDKiDD

[QUOTE="CuDDKiDD"]

Starcraft 2 isn't a demanding game. In fact none of Blizzards games are that taxing on hardware. Mac's have been underpowered for a very long time now.

RayvinAzn

Good to see Valve give Apple a good kick into the gut. Yes, Apples are overpriced, but they are good at doing what they were made mostly for. I won't deny that. The quality of the products are good despite the price, and of course you have Mac zealots who care less about price and more about name. Honestly I would've bought an iMac 21.5in by now had it been equipped with display-port-in capabilities like the 27in model. The monitors on the iMacs are just brilliantly beautiful. I would've had a Mac + an awesome 1080p monitor for my gaming machine. I seriously contemplated replacing my 32 in LG 1080p set with a 27 in iMac. Considering most monitors of that caliber and resolution are already $1500+, it still seems like a good value to me in terms of what you are getting for the money. For a gamer, it's a terrible value (duh!), but Apple isn't going for the gamers, though they seem to now want to make sure their machines are decently capable of running games if the user chooses too, which I'm glad Apple is doing now. Woot woot for dedicated graphics across the entire iMac line. Be it via OSX or Windows, it only strengthens the PC gaming world. Glad to see OpenGL get some love too.

It's interesting how despite the price, Apple is the only desktop manufacturer that has dedicated graphics standard across their entire range (of desktops of course). No other major company can claim that. Though Apples don't have the highest gaming potential, they seem to have the best readiness when not taking price and OS into account. That's a pretty powerful position to hold, especially as the dedicated graphics not only show advantage in gaming, but across media applications that require high visual computing prowess.

mouthforbathory

Well said. As far as I've known Mac's quality has never been in question. Just their proprietary nature and price structure. They have carved out a space in the market. However the rest of the people who don't have the resources to put into such an endeavour have to deal with a whole new reality of cost and functionality. Just look at the hundreds of different and diverse builds used by people on these boards. Everything from $3,000.00 uber machines to $600.00 PCs that with great care and love where put together to satisfy the individual need of that person who made sacrifices because they couldn't afford any more. The point is they can and that is where Apple falls short. It seems that the PC world has managed to do things with what they have better then Apple because of the challenge presented by the diversity of hardware and software. Just sayin'.

>It's interesting how despite the price, Apple is the only desktop manufacturer that has dedicated graphics standard across their entire range (of desktops of course). No other major company can claim that. Though Apples don't have the highest gaming potential, they seem to have the best readiness when not taking price and OS into account. That's a pretty powerful position to hold, especially as the dedicated graphics not only show advantage in gaming, but across media applications that require high visual computing prowess.

mouthforbathory

[QUOTE="RayvinAzn"][QUOTE="CuDDKiDD"]

Starcraft 2 isn't a demanding game. In fact none of Blizzards games are that taxing on hardware. Mac's have been underpowered for a very long time now.

markop2003