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In a world where PC and consoles seem to dominate the gaming industry, one has to wonder as to why anyone would ever choose to play their games on an Apple computer? Well, simply put, there are actually a few distinct advantages to gaming with a Mac.

1. Simple Hardware Lineup

In the realm of computer gaming, you have to be quite knowledgeable about the hardware that goes into your machine lest you can’t run many games. There are quite literally hundreds of different hardware combinations to choose from and while as fun as it is personalizing your computer to the way you’d want it to be, it’s usually a very, VERY time consuming process especially if you decide to build it yourself. Apple makes it relatively easy for you and saves you loads of time as they have a simple lineup of products to choose from.  

There is no need to sift through pages upon pages of information on hardware when you’ve got a neatly packaged Mac that can run most if not all games. You can pick and choose from their iMac, Macbook Pro and MacMini lines which all have the capability to game so long as you choose something in their line up that has something with a bit more beef than an integrated graphics card. Even then though the integrated graphics cards can do the job just fine with a reduction in the graphical settings but at least you still be able to play the game. World of Warcraft, for instance, can run just fine on an integrated graphics card.

2. Apple Product Ecosystem

Gaming within the Apple product ecosystem is also utterly fantastic. This is grantedthat you have other Apple products to interact with but it really offers a different experience in itself. I mean, of course you can still play triple-A rated games on your Mac but that’s only the tip of the iceberg when gaming with Apple. You can also take your gaming on the go with all the mobile games offered with their iOS devices such as the iPad, iTouch, or iPhone. Where the strength of the Apple product ecosystem comes in is the interactions you can have between you devices. Things such as connecting your iPad via Apple TV to your TV to play your games on a bigger screen, or using your iPhone/iTouch to act as a controller in a game. These aren’t even the coolest examples of what can happen in gaming between Apple products. These interactions can only get better and better as time progresses and who knows what innovative ways Apple has in mind for interactions between their products.

3. Ease of Use

As I’m sure you all know, OS X may be the easiest-to-use operating system out there. It is way less complicated than any Windows operating system I have ever used and for the most part it is pretty intuitive. It really makes gaming just that little bit enjoyable since I don’t have to deal with the headache Navigating your Mac to find your games fairly pain free. Even installing certain games and programs are as simple as dragging and dropping it into your applications folder that means fewer headaches for you. You also don’t need to mess around with drivers so much since the video cards in Mac computers are fairly homogenous so as soon as you install a game you are ready to get to gaming. All you gotta do is turn on your machine and get to gaming. Not much need to tinker around so much with the other programs to get your game on.

4. More Reliable

Mac computers are just more reliable than the other gaming platforms. With PCs you usually have parts from all these different companies working in tandem that will sometimes cause a lot of instability if you don’t calibrate them properly. Problems that may occur from this are unexpected shutdowns and the dreaded blue-screens-of-death to name a few. Consoles are also plagued with some instability issues while gaming as well since it’s sometimes difficult to get a patch out in a timely manner. However, the biggest advantage gaming on a Mac has over the other platforms is the fact that virus attacks are few and far between. So it means less time cleansing your hard drive for malware and more time spent enjoying your favorite past times.

5. A Smaller Game Catalogue

  One might wonder why I’d count this as an advantage but hear me out. While a smaller game catalogue means less games to play, it also means less crap games you have to sort through. For every great game released on the PC platform you have to contend with a hundred or more trash games. With the Mac platform, only the most popular games make it through the decision process on whether or not to bring it over which in turn means for better quality games for Mac gamers to enjoy without having to sort through a bunch of junk titles. It may take a bit longer to get since the porting process can sometimes be quite time consuming but the product willbe worth it in the end.

BONUS ADVANTAGE: The Mac App Store

Another advantage that was brought to my attention by Andrew Humphrey from our Facebook page that I completely overlooked:

Well a lot of great games you can buy on the Mac AppStore. You don’t have to go to the developer’s website and buy the game from there. Faster, more reliable, and you don’t need CDs. Buying games from the Mac AppStore also means you can put them on as many Macs as you want, as long as they’re on your Apple ID.

Thanks again Mr. Humphrey!

Any other advantages you can think of that Mac gamers have over their other gaming counterparts? Share them in the comments! I’d love to hear them.

Tags: Mac Gaming   Posted Classic Posts, Mac Gaming, Special Feature |