I upgraded from my 15 year old PC to one of the new Mac Minis at Xmas last year, thinking that I would be fine for gaming with my Xbox / Game Pass, and I would “skip a generation” on PC hardware. I have a small Steam / Epic library, but everything that didn’t work on MacOS, I had a Game Pass version of.
Fast forward a year. Xbox shit itself, RAM and GPU prices / 2026 outlook are dismal, etc etc
What’s my best option going forward for gaming? The only option I see right now is cloud gaming like GeForceNOW, but it seems like such a ripoff.
Any advice?
Edit- a lot of people are fixating on GamePass. I canceled my GamePass sub when the price went up. I no longer have it.
Um… you need to sell that Mac and build a computer with DDR4 and maybe a 40 Series NVIDIA GPU (so as to not pay the high prices on both fronts), slap Linux on it (I’d recommend Mint or Pop_OS!), and learn how to set it up for gaming. That’s stupid otherwise.
Sorry, but the Mac is for art and music. I make money with it, its non-negotiable.
Please point me to a comparable PC build that can be had for a total price tag of $575, since that’s what I shelled out for the Mac.
If you can’t, why did you even make this comment?
With current pricing, it’s going to be tough and that’s no joke.
Even the new Steam Machine is being predicted to be around $1,000.
https://www.indy100.com/gaming/steam-machine-price-cost-release-date-2674829977
The era of $600 gaming PCs is 1-3 years ago now.
(NGL - I still want a Steam Machine. :)
Yeah, that’s unfortunately the conclusion I’m reaching. I was hoping there was an angle I hadn’t considered yet.
Maybe I’ll just give in and do a year sub to GeForce and then reassess prices next Xmas. I definitely can’t afford to build a new machine now, but a lot can happen in a year.
With the Mac Mini’s use, that is completely understandable. I tried to find something that fit your price range, and couldn’t find squat. However, you might want to take a look at Cevo, which is a Taiwanese ODM, that many of the Linux computer makers utilize.
Good shout with Cevo. One of the few angles I haven’t looked super deeply into is a Linux machine. Time to study.
Mac user as well. I have an M2 Pro mini on my desk, and a base M2 MacBook Air.
To be fair, you didn’t specify in the OP why you bought the Mac. Their comment is fair, and this is coming from a guy who doesn’t like Windows. It’s also a bad recommendation: you’re not gonna get a good deal on the Mac that would get you a comparative PC. Your best bet would either be a used Switch or a used Xbox Series S, or maybe a PS4 (Xb1 sucks).
That said, you can get a comparable PC for $575, but you won’t get $575 for a $575 Mac selling it secondhand. The fallacy with that suggestion is you’ll get about 2/3 what you paid at best and that’ll put you in a much worse spot. Now you might be able to get a Chinese PC with everything on the chip like the Mac mini is, with 16GB DDR4 and something like an i3 dual core that will do some of the things the Mac will do, but it won’t have a Windows license, you’ll need to pay for that or get Linux. Still a bad idea if your new Mac works and you’re happy with it.
I made my comment entirely based on the picture, which is kinda my bad but I’m leaving it. I read the text after. I blame my autism.
That being said, you didn’t buy the Mac for gaming. If you did that’s on you. Heroic is good for some Steam games. M2 Pro isn’t great for gaming. I suspect you have an M4 base with 16 or 24GB of RAM (doesn’t matter in most cases). That’s a more capable machine. Still not great. Macs are not gaming machines. GeForce Now is a decent way to go if you have Steam games. You only need to pay the $10/month price to get decent game streaming, but only if the latency is good enough based on your location. If it’s not, the $20/month tier isn’t going to help. It’s just better graphics.
OP is using the Mac for music and art, and that’s how he makes money. This was a clarification in response to what I said to him.
If you are buying new, $575 isn’t going to get you a lot.
But if you buy used and don’t mind lurking on second-hand platforms for a while to find a good deal, you should be able to get something decent for that amount.