Steam for Mac: First Impressions, Windows Is Faster

There are few things in the gaming world as exciting as a new platform launching. Valve's announcement that Steam would be coming to the Mac was one such occasion. For Mac users, Steam is an ideal platform that promises several things: easier game development, cross-platform launches, and most important, more content.

For the longest time (and admittedly, even today), gaming was the Achilles's heel for anyone considering a Mac. Most games simply never made it to the Mac platform. Steam promises to change all this, and we're already beginning to see the first examples of Valve's effort. Once you hit the Steam store, you're able to see that Valve has already marked games that are available to both Mac and PC users. To celebrate Steam for Mac's release, Valve even announced that its popular title Portal would be freely available until May 24th.

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There are several hurdles that Valve must overcome in making Steam for Mac successful. First of all, a majority of titles on Steam are Windows-only titles. That means that these games are developed to run through Microsoft's DirectX API. In Mac OS X, graphics are handled by OpenGL. While Valve's own Source engine is available for both DirectX (Windows and Xbox 360) and OpenGL (Mac OS X and PlayStation 3), there are major differences.

As of this writing, Steam is being continually updated by Valve. There have already been two big updates for Steam for Mac today, and Portal itself received an update as well. Unfortunately, the game still seems buggy. Sometimes it crashes, sometimes there are missing textures, and sometimes the colors are off. The last major update actually causes the portals to appear black. You're unable to see through them, as you should.

Header Cell - Column 0	Low	Medium	Maximum
OS X 10.6.3	37.3	32.5	32.1
Windows 7	72.6	58.5	54.1

Header Cell - Column 0	Low	Medium	Maximum
OS X 10.6.3	142.7	109.3	87.7
Windows 7	247.9	171.5	109.3

On the hackintosh side, we get a different and more interesting picture. It appears as though a combination of factors could be holding Portal for Mac back from achieving Windows-like 3D performance. First, we're fairly certain that the Mac drivers play a significant role. Currently, the driver for the hackintosh platform is a combination of Apple's default driver with some level of community engineering. This isn't the ideal approach to optimization. Until Apple comes out with higher-performance drivers, we'll continue to see a significant delta between the two platforms.

Second, the OpenGL versus Direct3D debate is ongoing. Some industry experts, like John Carmack, swear by OpenGL. However, it's clear that Microsoft has put a tremendous effort into pulling the software development community onboard with DirectX, and an increasing number of titles are employing the API. OpenGL on the Mac, on the other hand, is better-suited to productivity than gaming performance. On a related note, Blizzard's World of Warcraft, which is available natively for both OS X and Windows, runs far better in Windows than it does in OS X. At 2560x1600 with max settings, WoW can reach upwards of 150 to 200 FPS on the above hackintosh configuration, while it maxes out at 35% to 50% below the Windows scores, suggesting the aforementioned factors are taking a toll.

Graphics driver and application availability will improve over time, and when the Steam for Mac is mainstream enough, developers are not only more likely to port their titles, but unveil games for both platforms at closer to the same time. Things are getting more exciting for an install base of Mac users who've largely been shut out of the gaming world altogether. Unfortunately, GPU selection is a big issue for Apple right now, as the company barely offers anything competitive to what's available on the PC (one of the most advanced graphics option for the expensive Mac Pro tower, for instance, is last-generation's AMD Radeon HD 4870).

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158 Comments Comment from the forums

builderbobftw

Hard numbers:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3726/quick-look-mac-os-x-portal-performance
Reply
aznguy0028

is anyone surprised? lol. so much for your "superior" computer mac fanbois, that can get owned by a PC that is 400+ cheaper :)
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builderbobftw

^ Not only is the hardware deficant, (lol at a 1k$+ compy with a core 2 duo and IGP), but the prized OS (incompatible with everything) but it turns out the OS is ALSO a fail.
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scotters

Man I almost kinda...... actually feel bad for the mac :(

Reply
littlec

Apple may have more games now but that doesn't stop it from sucking. In fact thanks to the folks at Valve the Mac can now suck where it has never sucked before! ;)
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vant

Your still not getting it aznguy. MacBooks are superior in usability. I can care less about playing SC2 on my tiny 13" screen. Thats when the dual 20" Win7 rig comes in handy ;) But in classes, I'll take my multi touch shortcuts anyday.
Reply
Trueno07

I do know a lot of Mac users who are certain that their hardware is better than any PC. I politely remind them that, no, it's not, and that their operating system and hardware aren't being put to the test like a lot of PC's have.

Looks like that's changing...
Reply
frostyfireball

Looks like apple's "magical" hardware and OS aren't so magical after all.
Games are better run in windows. PERIOD.
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descendency

I imagine it is optimized for Windows, but this is about the difference of a generation of graphics cards - which is embarrassing for the fruity company.
Reply
henrystrawn

My wife has a Mac Book Pro of the same specs in this article. I have tried for years to get her interested in gaming. I built her a decent gaming rig, steered her toward a ASUS G72 laptop with the GTX260m. All to no avail. Maybe I can give it one last shot, now that it's available for her precious Mac.
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