Are Macs Bad For Gaming? (5 Reasons)

The world of video games entertains millions of people around the planet. There are thousands of titles that are played on consoles, mobile phones, and computers, with Windows being the ideal operating system. Given this, many wonder if Macs are bad for gaming.

Apple computers are not designed to play video games, and although there are some compatible titles, they are the exception. At the hardware level, they are not as efficient, and even if they were, very few video games are marketed for Mac.

Of course, to understand this argument better, it’s important to delve into what an Apple computer offers. It’s also important to establish whether they are “bad”, a very different adjective from “inappropriate”. We will talk about all of this in this article.

Contents

Why are Macs inappropriate for video games?

Virtually everyone would like to have a Mac, and as much as there are Windows fans, it’s no secret that Apple computers are great. Visually they are very attractive and their performance is also highly satisfactory.

However, gamers have a pretty tough time if they’re using a macOS computer. Even though there are titles that can be run on this platform, they are very few, and in most cases, the experience is not as pleasant as on a console or on a Windows computer.

Technically speaking, there are 5 main reasons why Apple PCs have fallen out of favor in the gaming world:

1. They are not designed for gaming

Speaking of commercial and industrial terms, Apple computers have not currently been sold as gaming devices. However, it is good to remember a little history about this great company. In the 1980s, Macs had great games for its operating system.

But Windows PC was far more functional and far more than just a gaming machine. For this reason, Apple set out to be a much more serious company and leave video games aside. It began to offer practical functions for users, leaving aside the entertainment part.

Apple did not want to be known only as a computer for gaming or entertainment. On the contrary, its purpose has always been to offer functional and high-end work equipment.

This is where a distinction between Windows and Apple begins to be made, but of course, that does not mean that Windows is less serious. Rather, it means that Microsoft offers users all kinds of resources to perform on a computer, from basic tasks to video games.

On the other hand, Mac computers are classified as much more professional. In fact, you see this in business, where many blue-chip companies prefer Mac over Windows, though of course, this is not a rule.

In any case, Apple computers are usually purchased for work, be it programming, graphic design, architecture, among others, while Windows is a more general operating system.

2. Lack of hardware power

Here, it’s important to clarify some key elements to understand what we mean by hardware power. When Apple computers go on the market, especially the higher-end ones, they have excellent features and the latest generation hardware.

The problem is that these devices are not possible to upgrade. That is, you don’t have the ability to replace the processor, upgrade the RAM, install another graphics card, or upgrade other components of your computer over time.

If you buy a Mac with a certain configuration, you’ll have to stick with it for the rest of its life span. This is a very important difference from Windows computers because the exact opposite is true. PCs allow you to replace, expand and modify parts, depending on the generation.

Therefore, for gamers who are dedicated to this activity intensively, it’s not practical to acquire a Mac computer. For some time, it could be a very powerful computer, but after a couple of years, it may not be. And considering their prices, it’s not easy to replace them with a new one.

3. No dedicated graphics card

Almost all Apple computers work with the integrated graphics card, usually in the processor. For very simple games, this is more than enough, but it can be a big problem for the latest, more demanding games.

Even now that Apple has started using Ryzen CPUs, they still don’t come close to matching the performance of a dedicated graphics card. And it goes without saying that a graphics card is essential for gaming, especially intensively with the most demanding games.

As mentioned before, you can’t modify the hardware, upgrade it, or replace parts.

4. Very high price

Here, we will talk about two main elements. First of all, people who have a Mac know that they cannot go buy a new computer every year to be updated with the new generations. These computers are really expensive, especially when compared to a Windows computer.

And secondly, that same high price that these computers have means that fewer people use the Mac operating system as opposed to Windows. Consequently, the target audience is smaller, so large companies in the video game industry do not see it profitable to invest in this operating system.

5. Small catalog of games

Finally, even if you have the possibility of overcoming all the previous barriers, you will find yourself with a problem: the video game catalog is very small.

You can have the best Mac computer and have enough money to buy another one every year. However, you will not be able to enjoy the vast majority of video games because almost all of them are developed for Windows computers or, alternatively, video game consoles.

→ Get more clients with an optimized website

Are there alternatives to game on a Mac?

Despite the drawbacks mentioned above, there are still many reasons to have Mac computers. For example, as an Apple user, you can take advantage of its ecosystem, and it’s possible that you prefer this platform to Windows, and that’s entirely valid.

However, you probably also want to play video games during your free time, and there are still practical alternatives in this operating system. As we have said before, there are games that are available for Mac, and even some major next-gen titles. To find out which ones are available, visit the Steam website.

In the same vein, streaming video game services have recently become popular, as is the case with Nvidia’s GeForce Now. The good thing about these types of services is that they run online and do not require a very powerful computer to game.