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Why do so many people buy iMacs for gaming?
- Thread starter Siderz
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price:spec ratio, not nearly as many games as other platforms, barely any exclusives.
Why not?
They run windows games too....
Why not?......'cause it's none of your concern what other people do with their machines.
Why not?......'cause it's none of your concern what other people do with their machines.
Why would you spend all that money when you're just gonna run Windows on it anyway?
I can ask what I want, it's a free country. If people don't want to answer my question, then don't...it's not your decision whether or not people want to answer me.
Because it's a great machine and runs Windows as well as any other.
Free country or not is no excuse for your faulty logic.
I bought one and use it daily for windows games, you got a problem with that?
Free country or not is no excuse for your faulty logic.
I bought one and use it daily for windows games, you got a problem with that?
"I'm looking for trouble" Pink
The only way to be legal is iMac with windows for gaming and iMac with 10.8.x or 10.9.x for mac osx.
Or you can do mac mini with parallels/ windows and a good diy pc for gaming.
To me a better solution then an imac. As i get a 46 inch screen this way for the mac mini and for the pc.
If you need to crosstalk between the two machine you can. and it costs less then a loaded iMac.
BUt I have a Home Theater room. In an apartment the iMac is better.
I'd say that actually, it's faulty logic buying a Mac for gaming.
I can't say I have a problem with you buying a Mac for gaming, I'm only asking why you want to do that.
iMacs can play all but the very demanding games decently.
They look great. (except for, IMO, the wide bezel at the bottom. Eew.)
Well, it's an Apple and ready-to-run when you get it home; minimal assembly required. That's especially great for people who don't have the time to build a computer nor care to build one.
If you're an Apple fan and don't want to create a black hole in your wallet by purchasing a mac pro then the iMac is next choice. Some people don't care for all-in-ones but the iMac target buyer typically isn't that person.
I have a Mini and really love it but an iMac isn't a good fit for me. I needed really good specs for doing cad/cam/cae as well as a flight sim and game running graphics on ultra settings. Also I really, really dislike that fat bezel on the bottom of the iMac. Eew.
They look great. (except for, IMO, the wide bezel at the bottom. Eew.)
Well, it's an Apple and ready-to-run when you get it home; minimal assembly required. That's especially great for people who don't have the time to build a computer nor care to build one.
If you're an Apple fan and don't want to create a black hole in your wallet by purchasing a mac pro then the iMac is next choice. Some people don't care for all-in-ones but the iMac target buyer typically isn't that person.
I have a Mini and really love it but an iMac isn't a good fit for me. I needed really good specs for doing cad/cam/cae as well as a flight sim and game running graphics on ultra settings. Also I really, really dislike that fat bezel on the bottom of the iMac. Eew.
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Correct me if I'm mistaken, but are you suggesting gaming in a virtual machine is a good idea?
My property, my rights. So I can do whatever the hell I want to my own Mac.
Besides, hardware on iMac lasts longer than on Windows. The Intel i7 chips in Macs aren't the same as the ones you buy off the shelf for Windows PCs. They're custom built to meet Apple's requirements of withstanding higher temperatures and stress. Same goes to RAM and SSDs and GPUs.
The i7-4770S that you buy off the shelf isn't the same as the i7-4770S in the 21.5" iMac. Rather the i7 in the iMac is tougher. Keep that in mind. Same applies to the Crystal Well chips in the 15" rMBPs.
For the price, it's cheaper in the long run, because you don't send in a Mac for repairs as often as Windows. And there's value added with free software from Apple.
Overall, a Mac is cheaper than a Windows machine. If you own a Windows machine for 4 to 5 years then you are likely to upgrade Windows 2 to 3 times. Those upgrade can run $100 each. On top of that, Microsoft is going to ding you for Office 365 at $100 per year. On top of that, you get more in the way of technical support from Apple especially in-person help with Genius Bar appointments at their stores being free. Then you have to think at how much time you will save if you go all-in on the Apple ecosystem with things just working together.
Besides the hardware is pretty good. 4GB of GTX 780 is great for BF4. Well worth the initial expensive investment.
Besides, hardware on iMac lasts longer than on Windows. The Intel i7 chips in Macs aren't the same as the ones you buy off the shelf for Windows PCs. They're custom built to meet Apple's requirements of withstanding higher temperatures and stress. Same goes to RAM and SSDs and GPUs.
The i7-4770S that you buy off the shelf isn't the same as the i7-4770S in the 21.5" iMac. Rather the i7 in the iMac is tougher. Keep that in mind. Same applies to the Crystal Well chips in the 15" rMBPs.
For the price, it's cheaper in the long run, because you don't send in a Mac for repairs as often as Windows. And there's value added with free software from Apple.
Overall, a Mac is cheaper than a Windows machine. If you own a Windows machine for 4 to 5 years then you are likely to upgrade Windows 2 to 3 times. Those upgrade can run $100 each. On top of that, Microsoft is going to ding you for Office 365 at $100 per year. On top of that, you get more in the way of technical support from Apple especially in-person help with Genius Bar appointments at their stores being free. Then you have to think at how much time you will save if you go all-in on the Apple ecosystem with things just working together.
Besides the hardware is pretty good. 4GB of GTX 780 is great for BF4. Well worth the initial expensive investment.
Because it's an Apple and it does everything I want with quality.
Why do people buy Mercedes to haul the kids to school and back?
This is where it being a free country comes in, it's because they want too and can.
What makes you think that the specs are inferior for gaming?
Again, why do you care?
Parallels runs Steam and Half-Life very well. I get 70+fps which is twice as fast as the last window box I had could do it.
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Again why do you care? Is it money?
You seem to think playing games on a Mac is some how 'low class."
No one needs to justify to you how much they spend or do with the product.
That's a good point, but is a Mercedes going to bog down while driving on a normal road?
I suppose if you're not going to have a problem playing 15 year old games in it. But if you're wanting to run say, Arkham Origins at full, a Mac Mini with a windows virtual machine will not cut it.
*face palm*
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You can run bootcamp too or Parallels which ever is required. Parallels 9 was a major improvement and I like being able to use OS X and windows at the same time. Just a finger swipe and I'm woking/playing in either OS.
I'm just here asking a simple, genuine question. I'm not trying to be hostile or 'troll' the forums, I'm genuinely curious as to why so many people buy iMacs for gaming over cheaper/better alternatives and hope to have a nice discussion about it, and people are answering well and putting thought into it. There's no need to bother if you're just gonna ask more questions and write 'facepalm', the goal here is to feed my curiosity and change my views.
I didn't buy an iMac "for gaming" - I bought an iMac to use as a computer, and one of the functions it performs is gaming.
The alternative is to have a separate machine for gaming, but that's *all* it would be used for. Being able to game pretty effectively via bootcamp (or native for some games) is preferable to having to buy a whole separate windows box that will sit idle for most of the time just so I can get a few more fps in a dick waving contest online.
The iMac has enough horsepower (CPU and GPU) to give me pretty damn good gaming performance for when I want to do that. It's certainly not the main reason I own one, however.
I don't think anyone buys an iMac (just) for gaming. They buy them to do lots of things. Gaming just happens to be one of its uses and hence the gaming related questions.
my suggestion involved 2 solutions both legal.
1) an imac for all things cost about 3500usd
2) a diy pc for gaming plus a mac mini designed to run both windows and 10.8 or 10.9. You do not use the mini to game but it has windows capability.
Cost wise. A quad 2012 mac mini is available under 800 usd. A good diy pc is about 1000 usd A good tv screen is under 1000 usd. so under 3k and it runs rings around an iMac at 3500 usd.
I couldn't agree with you more... It's sad how some people are so argumentative and feel compelled to troll a thread. However, to get back on topic, I am not a gamer at all but I think it would be cool to try a game on the iMac. Kinda like my wife's SUV, it has 4X4 capabilities but she's only used it once in the last year to show off to her brother lol. I'm sure if she was an avid off-roader, she would have bought a vehicle that is especially made for off-roading. Does that make sense?
I don't think people buy Macs specifically for gaming. They buy them to do everything they want to do with a computer, including gaming.
I love my iMac but its ability to play games and reboot to Windows as needed for that also was a key factor in my finally making the switch over from many years of being a PC user. I always wanted a Mac but the one area in which it was for a very long time lacking in a big way was gaming. That isn't true anymore. Now I can have it all on my preferred computer.
I think that's why you see a lot of gaming related posts and a forum dedicated to it here, because more and more people are enjoying being able to do it all with their Macs.
I doubt very much that many if any people set out to purchase a Mac with the sole intent of playing games on it.