Can a Mac play PC games?

[Arvandor]

I keep hearing how great Macs are supposed to be, and I'm thinking about getting one, but can it play PC games?

[Mysterio]

If you get a MacPro with the Intel chip it should be able to. You need either Boot Camp or Parallels to do it but it can be done.

[BlairH]

I keep hearing how great Macs are supposed to be, and I'm thinking about getting one, but can it play PC games?

If you have one of the Intel based ones...In theory, yes, but it's probably not worth the effort. You'll have to use a DirectX wrapper if you're still going to be running OSX (and these wrappers usually don't do shader model 3.0 effects very well), or install Windows on your machine (but that defeats the purpose of having a Mac in the first place).

If you want a gaming PC, the best option is usually to build one from scratch using a decent gaming graphics card, decent processor, decent RAM, etc. That's what I did, and I haven't looked back.

http://file031b.bebo.com/15/large/2007/01/14/18/11330704a3202298422b176453768l.jpg

I don't deny that OSX and Linux based Operating systems generally tend to be better "general purpose" systems, but if it's gaming you want, a Windows based machine is the way to go.

[Serik]

Yes, Windows is the best OS for gaming. That's the only reason why millions of people, myself included, still keep a copy around.

[Sheldon]

Well Windows XP is the best for gaming now. Once ATI and Nvidia get their driver issues sorted out then Vista will be the best with directx10 and all that jazz.

[Agent Helix]

If you have one of the Intel based ones...In theory, yes, but it's probably not worth the effort.

The "effort" is really about thirty minutes of installing Boot Camp and then Windows.

I tested out Oblivion on a MacBook running Windows with comparable specs (minus the video card) to my desktop PC, and it ran perfectly well, a little better, in fact, since the Mac had a faster processor than my standard hunk o' junk. I'm almost computer illiterate, so if I can get games running fine on an Intel Mac, anybody can do it. With a decent sized hard drive (which is pretty standard), you can have both OSWhatever and Windows installed comfortably on the same machine, and just switch out between them. It's insanely simple to do.

Now, if only they'd make the damn things cost less than $2500...

[JDogindy]

You gotta have Boot Camp and Windows on your Mac.

If you don't, you're like Jason Fox trying to play World of Warcraft on some crummy iMac ripoff whenever you try to play a PC game.

[BlairH]

The "effort" is really about thirty minutes of installing Boot Camp and then Windows.

And then upgrading your system (especially the graphics card) so that it can comfortably run PC games.

Does any Mac come as standard with a DirectX 10 compatable video card at the moment? (either Nvidia 8800 or ATI's new R600?) Basically, to purchase a Mac capable of playing modern and future PC games, you'll have to spend around 25% more than you would on a PC of similar spec.

[Agent Helix]

And then upgrading your system (especially the graphics card) so that it can comfortably run PC games.

Does any Mac come as standard with a DirectX 10 compatable video card at the moment? (either Nvidia 8800 or ATI's new R600?) Basically, to purchase a Mac capable of playing modern and future PC games, you'll have to spend around 25% more than you would on a PC of similar spec.

This was a MacBook fresh out of the box, with no additional hardware purchased for it. Came with a DirectX ready ATI card.