OK, I'm going to write this out, even so the Mac people can understand what I'm saying.
First off, I'm a very strong supporter of what Mac is for the market. I believe what Mac does for the market is allow people, that would normally be afraid of interfacing with a computer, able to do so with something that doesn't scare them. An easy to use, easy to customize OS that is very powerful for what it does.
Secondly, here is what a Mac does. A mac is designed and has been designed since the days of the AppleIIgs, to be a media workstation. Mac has been all bout graphics since then and will be forever. Macs are an easy to setup quick and powerful solution to the problem of media production in many fields.
Third. Here is what Mac doesn't do. Mac isn't interested in supporting the 'Masses'. Have you seen where they put the Mac stores? There are only two in my state and they are in the highest end shopping malls in the state and right next to some of the most expensive stores. They aren't interested in creating products that support the masses, as far as computers are concerned at least. They have an image and it works, it is the only thing maintaining their market share, Job's knows it, and so they run with it.
Fourth. Jobs and Bill are going to go in record books as the marketing geniuses of the 20th and 21st century. Jobs probably more so than Bill, just because of the, "Pretty" factor that he added to the market. So just like Wrightly in the video, I know that what apple says about gaming is Jobs way of creating some market share out of those few that are crazy enough to believe him before he delivers.
Lastly, as a comparison. The PC platform per dollar spent is WAY! cheaper then the Mac platform. As well most PC games will not support the high end options that you can put into a Mac.
Lets Tick them off and talk about them:
1. 4 Graphics Cards
It just doesn't work. It is AWESOME if you want to render some artwork out of a 3D editing tool, but most games jut don't support what it would take to pipeline real time graphics out of the system. Great for rendering digital artwork, not for real-time gaming.
2. 8 Processor Cores
Yet again, we get back to the problem of no games can use this. Granted it allows for there to be, theoretically 64GB of memory in the system, it isn't good for games. There just isn't anything that would take advantage of it. Great for hight end graphics and audio production applications but no gaming support.
3. Price, Price, Price! $$$$
This is the killer for the PC gamer.
So, on perusing Mac's store, which you can get to here:
http://www.apple.com/store. I would like to know, and I'm serious, what gamer out there is willing to spend $2500 dollars as a base price, for:
* Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon “Woodcrest” processors
* 1GB memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)
* NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory
* 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200-rpm hard drive1
* 16x double-layer SuperDrive
Any gamer would laugh in your face if you offered those stats for a PC gaming rig. Where is my 8000 series dx10 graphics card? Where is my 500GB of storage. For that price any accomplished gamer, you could build a SWEET system with all the fixings and still have money left over. Not to mention get monitors and a keyboard, which for 2500 bucks you don't get with the Mac. Just try it out, go to NewEgg and build a system for yourself. In Fact Look at what I just did:
2x Apple M9177LL/A Silver 20" 14ms Widescreen WSXGA+ Mac Display - $1,188.00 ($594.00 each)
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05 -$36.99
LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6700 - $317.00
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - $113.001
ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - $144.992
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $149.98 ($74.99 each)
APEVIA ATX-AS600W-BL ATX12V / EPS12V 600W Power Supply - $89.992
XFX PVT84GUDE3 GeForce 8600GTS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card $419.98 ($209.99 each)
Grand Total: $2,549.92
For your money. Which would you want?
4. Lower end Machines are weak
Again, taking a look at the apple store. We see that the systems that aren't the Mac Pro, are generally underpowered and built around a technology that is more suited to being in a Laptop as another poster mentioned. Great, cost effective machines for people that want to do some low end graphics editing, but not powerful enough for gamers or graphics professionals.
In summary, here is what it always comes down to, in all discussions related to Mac. Mac has a great purpose for the market. Their lower end systems feed the technology revolution for those that don't want to deal with the perceived hassle of a PC and would normally be afraid to get into the market. Mac creates powerful products for media design professionals that create digital arts and it is great for them. This is what Mac has been doing for 20Years! When you break it down in the game market it turns out PC gamers are a generally picky lot that want to know what is in their system and hand pick it themselves; Mac doesn't offer that. Granted, there are a lot of weekend gamers out there and maybe someday Mac will want to spend some money on getting their attention, but this time, unless they are willing to support newer 'real-time' graphics rendering technology and open up their hardware specs to be more customizable, they are only blowing smoke about gaming on their platform.
As a last note:
I will begin to believe that Jobs is interested in really stepping up to the plate and playing ball when it comes to gaming, when Mac adopts a universal driver architecture and ports the OSX to work on any PC platform. If they do that, then they will have to get serious about supporting lots of technologies and stepping up their level of competition. Until then, any talk about supporting PC gaming is laudable at best and a marketing ploy by the companies involved.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram