Do you have the feeling that current iMacs will be more future proof than old?

[jaminthejar]

I was thinking this when reflecting on my now 4 year old Macbook Pro (2.0Ghz, Radaeon x1600, 2GB RAM). When I got my computer, it wasn't bad. It could certainly run games better than my previous computer (Played some Knights of the Old Republic, Ultimate Spider-Man, Age of Mythology, and others), and for about a year or two I was pretty happy. I had never been a hardcore PC gamer, so I was content to play some older games like Halo (or less demanding games like Portal). Now I'm a little sad that I have to miss out on Starcraft 2, and also miss out on super cheap PC games (versus their more expensive console counterparts).



My Macbook Pro was never really state of the art by any stretch of the imagination (in terms of gaming). It did the job, but kinda showed its age fairly quickly. Now though, as opposed to the beginning of the last decade (and the late 90s), consoles pretty much dictate where graphics are going. Consoles are where the money is at, and it doesn't look like we'll be seeing a new XBox or PS3 any time soon. Because of that (and also the fact that the hardcore PC gaming population is shrinking), isn't it kind of logical to assume that the Macs that are coming out won't be THAT outdated in a couple years time? They're making so many of these games to scale nowadays (just look at how many computers still run MMOs, or Source games). This is kinda just speculation on my part, but I think there may be some truth in there. What do you think? As time goes on, will PCs/Macs tend to last longer for gamers?

 

[0186279]

It dosen't really work that way.

Don't forget that the games you play on an Xbox and a PS3 were made on a computer.

Typically, whatever game you play on your 360 or PS3 will look and play better on a strong PC.

And I bet we see new playstations and xbox's in about 4 years anyways.

 

[jaminthejar]

I guess I just mean, that even if current PCs/Macs won't be able to play games in a couple years at peak performance, the dip in performance won't seem as bad because we'll likely still be in the same 'generation' as we are now (since this generation will last longer than the one before).

 

[rasmasyean]

There is a new effort to bring state of the art games into "the browser" and "your television". One of the first to market was Onlive, which streams games in HD to your whatever (even iPad, iPhone).

So depending on what you're looking for and how this "cable TV for games" turns out, your Mac may be satisfactory for a long time...as long as it can display the level of HD streamed.

Theoretically, this "cloud system" can nerf any future console that will (or will not) be produced because it's basically a supercomputer that can separate into many computers of various degrees to serve each customer.