In 3 years, 50% of all computers capable of playing AAA games will be Macs

[dmccloud]

You can get a Surface Laptop Go for less than $400.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" Touchscreen, Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 128GB PCIe SSD, Up to 13Hr Battery Life, WiFi, Webcam, Windows 11 Pro, Platinum Silver

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" Touchscreen, Intel Core i5-1035G1 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 128GB PCIe SSD, Up to 13Hr Battery Life, WiFi, Webcam, Windows 11 Pro, Platinum Silver

www.amazon.com

Anything Microsoft releases with "Go" in the product name will be underpowered and under specced. That's a low-power Intel CPU from three generations back, coupled with half the RAM and storage of the base MBA. It's actually somehow a worse machine (comparatively speaking) than the original Surface RT, which was Microsoft's first attempt at an ARM-based system.

 

[Homy]

Anything Microsoft releases with "Go" in the product name will be underpowered and under specced. That's a low-power Intel CPU from three generations back, coupled with half the RAM and storage of the base MBA. It's actually somehow a worse machine (comparatively speaking) than the original Surface RT, which was Microsoft's first attempt at an ARM-based system.

Apparently this subject keeps repeating itself despite previous explanations. Exactly one month ago I pointed this out on the previous page: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s.2275962/page-56?post=32281276#post-32281276

 

[salamanderjuice]

Anything Microsoft releases with "Go" in the product name will be underpowered and under specced. That's a low-power Intel CPU from three generations back, coupled with half the RAM and storage of the base MBA. It's actually somehow a worse machine (comparatively speaking) than the original Surface RT, which was Microsoft's first attempt at an ARM-based system.

How is it possibly worse than the Surface RT? The i5-1035G1 while not an amazing CPU is not that bad. It's faster than what's in a base model 2020 Intel MBA (i3-1000NG4). And for a whole $40 on that same page you can get a 512GB SSD model. Yeah 4GB RAM is not the best but for light usage you can make it work. If you're fine with reburbs it's not too hard to find 8GB units for not much more. There's also about a billion other cheap sub-$500 laptops with decent specs.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/667631/msi-modern-14-c12m-032-14-laptop-computer-classic-black

The whole point was that for light computer usage (which is what a lot of MBA users do) you can get a laptop + a console for gaming for the same price as a MBA. Which you can.

 

[Realityck]

If ever there was an example of why they need Mac's to play AAA games it's this one.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1684295189849071618

'Call of Duty' Players Are Being Hit With Self-Spreading Malware

'Modern Warfare 2' (2009) players, beware.

www.tomshardware.com

Call of Duty players returning to the 2009-launched Modern Warfare II are being targeted by hackers in a massive malware push that's able to self-replicate and spread through the game's multiplayer lobbies. Data collected on the incident seems to point to June 26 as its starting point, as that was when it was first publicly reported directly on Steam's forums. The malware infection has seemingly been enough for Activision to bring the game offline, even if the company's acknowledgement of the issue is as opaque as could be.

 

[Gudi]

The i5-1035G1 while not an amazing CPU is not that bad. It's faster than what's in a base model 2020 Intel MBA (i3-1000NG4). And for a whole $40 on that same page you can get a 512GB SSD model. Yeah 4GB RAM is not the best but for light usage you can make it work.

And people call me an iSheep for defending the 8GB M1 option. 🤭

Tablet OS Market Share Worldwide

Everything that isn’t iOS or Android has a zero percent Tablet OS market share. With that in mind, how exactly is the Surface Go 3 a "2-in-1 tablet and laptop"? Microsoft is selling a lie. Without a keyboard it’s not a laptop (replacement) and without a viable touch OS, it’s not a tablet either. It’s a big nothing burger.

 

[Solomani]

And people call me an iSheep for defending the 8GB M1 option. 🤭

Tablet OS Market Share Worldwide

Everything that isn’t iOS or Android has a zero percent Tablet OS market share. With that in mind, how exactly is the Surface Go 3 a "2-in-1 tablet and laptop"? Microsoft is selling a lie. Without a keyboard it’s not a laptop (replacement) and without a viable touch OS, it’s not a tablet either. It’s a big nothing burger.

And it doesn't even come with the cheese!

 

[salamanderjuice]

And people call me an iSheep for defending the 8GB M1 option. 🤭

Tablet OS Market Share Worldwide

Everything that isn’t iOS or Android has a zero percent Tablet OS market share. With that in mind, how exactly is the Surface Go 3 a "2-in-1 tablet and laptop"? Microsoft is selling a lie. Without a keyboard it’s not a laptop (replacement) and without a viable touch OS, it’s not a tablet either. It’s a big nothing burger.

Because 4GB for less than $400 is understandable. 8GB for a $1000 much less so. 🤭

Why does Apple spend considerable space on the iPad website making claims like "designed for all kinds of productivity" and give half the space to talking about how great the not included $250 keyboard and trackpad and $100 Apple Pencil are? It's marketing. It's all lies. At least with keyboard the Surface Go can actually replace your laptop and tablet. The iPad though still falls far short of many kinds of productivity. I can do my job on a Surface Go (admittedly wouldn't be the best experience) but the iPad would literally be impossible.

 

[Gudi]

Because 4GB for less than $400 is understandable. 8GB for a $1000 much less so. 🤭

Geez, I have a 2GB device for less than $200 to sell to you!

Why does Apple spend considerable space on the iPad website making claims like "designed for all kinds of productivity" and give half the space to talking about how great the not included $250 keyboard and trackpad and $100 Apple Pencil are? It's marketing. It's all lies.

And just like that, you've created a false equivalent. Apple's iPad keyboard is not meant to turn into a laptop running on macOS.

I can do my job on a Surface Go (admittedly wouldn't be the best experience) but the iPad would literally be impossible.

What an awful job. 😫

 

[diamond.g]

Is this the first time Linux has overtaken macOS in the Steam hwsurvey?

 

[mi7chy]

In other news, Steam Linux overtakes Steam MacOS. Not that MacOS is a competitor since many titles don't run like Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart.

 

[Nugat Trailers]

I'm curious, what do you believe caused such a gigantic leap in Linux use on Steam?

I mean, it's surely not just a one-off thing, that would be a silly idea.

 

[Pressure]

July 2023 Steam Survey puts Apple Silicon at 62.09% (+3.45%) market share on macOS.

SoC	Market share​	Change​
M1	29.42%​	-1.47%​
M2	11.61%​	+1.27%​
M1 Pro	11.40%​	+1.45%​
M1 Max	4.56%​	+0.72%​
M2 Pro	3.35%​	+0.85%​
M2 Max	1.60%​	+0.57%​
M1 Ultra	0.18%​	0.00%​
M2 Ultra	0.07%​	+0.07%​
Intel	37.83%​	-3.47%​

Seeing an increase in M1 Pro and M1 Max (probably great deals on those and people selling their used machines to upgrade) and an increase for the entire M2 series.

A year from now should look interesting in the Intel vs Apple Silicon marketshare if the trend continue.

 

[salamanderjuice]

I'm curious, what do you believe caused such a gigantic leap in Linux use on Steam?

I mean, it's surely not just a one-off thing, that would be a silly idea.

My guess is the new Steam Decks people got from the Steam summer sale.

 

[Pressure]

My guess is the new Steam Decks people got from the Steam summer sale.

I'm guessing the Steam Deck is the answer as well.

 

[bogdanw]

Ars Technica - Linux surpasses the Mac among Steam gamers
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/linux-surpasses-the-mac-among-steam-gamers/

 

[George Dawes]

Modern games are so derivative and boring I don’t really care if apple don’t have big market share in the gaming scene

It’s all sequels sequels sequels and no original ideas at all

 

[diamond.g]

Modern games are so derivative and boring I don’t really care if apple don’t have big market share in the gaming scene

It’s all sequels sequels sequels and no original ideas at all

I agree for big budget games, new IP is rare to see. Mostly because if it doesn't catch on that is a lot of money wasted.

 

[Reverend Benny]

What I do find strange is how some games make it to the Mac and not iOS and vice versa.
Looking forward to them getting even closer in terms of releases.

One example was "Return to Monkey Island" that was released on PS5, Switch, PC and Mac, but not iOS initially. (released a few weeks ago)

 

[Homy]

Ars Technica - Linux surpasses the Mac among Steam gamers
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/linux-surpasses-the-mac-among-steam-gamers/

As already mentioned in the article that’s not the whole picture. We know that Steam stats can vary much each month so you have to wait a few months to see if the trend remains. That number shows most likely the increasing number of Steam deck owners, not desktop Linux gamers. ”Arch Linux” is the variant that has increased most and that’s what Steam deck uses now. The fact is that game developers are actually abandoning desktop Linux because of the success of Proton on Steam deck so the more correct conclusion is ”Steam deck gamers now outnumber Mac gamers on Steam”.

This also doesn’t mean that the number of Mac gamers has decreased on Steam. In fact that number had a small increase last month. The increase of ”Linux” gamers is thanks to people abandoning Windows. Windows lost about 0.5% to Linux. So game developers still haven’t lost any Mac gamers. The whole increase could also be because of Windows gamers being on vacation and not playing so there are many reasons for these stats changes.

 

[Irishman]

Ars Technica - Linux surpasses the Mac among Steam gamers
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/linux-surpasses-the-mac-among-steam-gamers/

I think that we could call that the Steam Deck effect, right?

 

[Huntn]

Ref Thread Title: "...if games are being written for Macs and Macs have adequate market share". 🤗

 

[Pressure]

August 2023 Steam Survey puts Apple Silicon at 64.62% (+2.53%) market share on macOS.

SoC	Market share​	Change​
M1	29.12%​	-0.30%​
M2	12.90%​	+1.29%​
M1 Pro	11.41%​	+0.01%​
M1 Max	4.94%​	+0.38%​
M2 Pro	4.19%​	+0.84%​
M2 Max	1.89%​	+0.29%​
M1 Ultra	0.20%​	+0.02%​
M2 Ultra	0.07%​	0%​
Intel	35.28%​	-2.53%​

 

[theorist9]

August 2023 Steam Survey puts Apple Silicon at 64.62% (+2.53%) market share on macOS.

View attachment 2255185

SoC	Market share​	Change​
M1	29.12%​	-0.30%​
M2	12.90%​	+1.29%​
M1 Pro	11.41%​	+0.01%​
M1 Max	4.94%​	+0.38%​
M2 Pro	4.19%​	+0.84%​
M2 Max	1.89%​	+0.29%​
M1 Ultra	0.20%​	+0.02%​
M2 Ultra	0.07%​	0%​
Intel	37.83%​	-2.53%​

Interesting. Though putting this in context (source: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam ):

Also curious how the Mac hardware distribution among Steam users compares to that among Mac users generally (i.e., to the current installed user base). I.e., is AS more or less likely to be found among Steam users than Mac users generally?

 

[Nugat Trailers]

I don't think Apple's actually said anything recently on how many Macs are ASi vs Intel.

I'd say that Steam's a fairly decent representation, though. The most popular 'unsorted' models are Mac14,2 (M2 MacBook Air, 13 inch), Mac14,7 (M2 MacBook Pro, 13 inch), and Mac 14,9 (14 inch MacBook Pro, guessing M2 Pro). Those 3 make up over 10% of Macs by themselves, and the oldest is just over a year.

Some others are 14,3 (M2 Mac Mini), 14,15 (15 inch MacBook Air), 14,6 (16 inch MacBook Pro, guessing M2 Pro again), and 14,10 (16 inch MacBook Pro, guessing M2 Max).

So it's really mostly base M2s, with M2 Pros also appearing, and M2 Maxes at the end.

 

[Pressure]

Interesting. Though putting this in context (source: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam ):

View attachment 2255188
View attachment 2255189 View attachment 2255190

Also curious how the Mac hardware distribution among Steam users compares to that among Mac users generally (i.e., to the current installed user base). I.e., is AS more or less likely to be found among Steam users than Mac users generally?

We don't have any numbers outside of Steam. We can only guess that is where a majority of the gaming segment would be visible.

Since 2020 with the release of Apple Silicon we have seen an average of ~2.8 million units per quarter, much higher than the previous quarters.

We also know that Apple's "gaming" revenue is higher than Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony combined so people in the Apple eco-system sure like to spend money on gaming 🤷🏼‍♂️