Gaming On The Mac Mini?

[CCBPES34]

I want a new Mac for gaming, as my Macbook's disc drive is broke and it's a little slow for what I want to play. Money's tight and the iMac that I'd like is a bit out of our price range, unfortunately. The games I'd like to play are:

• COD 4
• COD 5
• COD 8
• BFBC2
• Battlefield 3
• Portal 1&2
• Sims 3 and its EPs
• The S.T.A.L.K.E.R series

My main questions are:

1. How well will the Mac Mini handle BF:3 and COD 8? These are the games I'm most worried about.
2. What about other games on the list? Are there any that you don't think the Mini could handle fairly well?
3. What would be more important, a slightly faster proccesor or more RAM?
4. Obviously, I'll need to bootcamp it. What version of Windows should I try and get?

Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions, I just want some answers and advice.

EDIT: For the record, Medium graphics is fine with me. I don't have to have epic graphics. Can the Mac Mini not handle most of those games on medium fairly well? I mean, the only system I have right now is the Wii, and its graphics are horrid. Surely, the Mac Mini would do better than it.
EDIT2: How well could it handle BFBC2? A spokesperson for EA/DICE said on twitter that if your PC could handle Bad Company 2, it could handle Battlefield 3 fairly well.
Thanks in advance,
CCB

 

[superericla]

The 320m in the mini isn't going to get you great framerates to say the least. There's rumored to be an update coming soon to the mac mini as well.

 

[Messy]

I think you'll be lucky to play any of those games particulary well on the current Mac Mini tbh.

 

[FroMann]

If you have to get a Mini, make sure you get the 2.66ghz Core 2 Duo model, upgrade the ram yourself to 4GB, and it has the Nvidia 320m GPU. Even with those parts however, games like Battlefield 3 would not run well. I think it would be better if you just buy last years iMac refurbished for $929. It has a better 2 core processor, GPU, 4GB of ram, and a big enough hard drive to hold both a OSX and Windows Partition.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC508LL/A?mco=MTkwMjE2MzY

or build a custom gaming PC because your going to need to run Windows either way to play some of those games.

 

[mrlhxc]

No

Sorry man but you're going to want to get a PC. You can easily get a PC that can play those games on High settings around 1080p for the same price of the cheapest Mac Mini. Plus there could be a refresh soon anyway. Word of caution, don't even think of getting one if they put in the integrated Intel graphics and your still considering gaming. I have the 2010 13" MBP with the 320m and while its impressive for how small the machine is its not that great. I could play BC2 on it in Windows 7 with graphics on low and it was playable, but on a 13" screen 1280 x 800, its not much fun. I've been building computers for the last 7 years and I'd have to say, the current iMacs, especially the 27" caught my attention. But like you said, its expensive, you can't afford it.

 

[archurban]

just one thing. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT INTEL INTEGRATE CHIP. IT WON'T PLAY ANY MODERN GAMES AT ALL especially if you want to play them on your list. unfortunately, if you think of playing gaming on mac, you are just wrong. don't buy mac for gaming. serious. you will waste a big chunk of money. it's my experience. so don't ignore. just for advice here. gaming requires more than core 2 duo 2.2Ghz (minimum), NVIDIA GT 540M, or AMD 5650M (each 1GB memory). if you seriously think about gaming, you need any intel quad core i5 or i7 processor, NVIDIA GTX 460, or AMD 6790M (1GB memory each). I have a gaming laptop which equips with intel core i7 2.0ghz, NVIDIA GTX 560 (2GB), 8GB memory. this laptop is still cheaper than macbook pro 15 or 17inch high end (2011 models). it is still over powered, easily smoke any macbook pro in the market. so you have to think over.