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[PendekarRajawali]

My wife and I are thinking about getting a cheap Mac Mini M1 and are interested in its potential as a gaming rig. We're well invested in the Apple ecosystem, so it makes sense for us to consider an Apple product for our next purchase. We plan to set it up in our bedroom, primarily for casual gaming.

Currently, we have a mix of devices including a company-issued Windows laptop and several gaming consoles: Xbox 360, PS4, Switch, and Xbox Series S. However, for the Mac Mini, we're specifically interested in its ability to handle emulated games up to the PS2 generation, along with some native macOS games.

Given the Mac Mini M1's architecture and general performance metrics from what we've seen and read, do you think it would be suitable for these needs? I'm somewhat concerned about compatibility with emulators and game availability on macOS. If anyone here has experience using the Mac Mini M1 for similar gaming purposes or insights into emulation performance and native game play on macOS, your input would be very valuable to us.

 

[gaming_again]

You'll always wish you opted for a PC instead. I use MAME on mine sometimes, which is fine, and native Mac games run fine. But there are so few of them to choose from.

 

[RoboFu]

Yes Mac minis are great for old school emulation.

Open emu is a great front end that automatically updates cores.

OpenEmu

Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

openemu.org

Also you can use crossover to run most pc games that aren't something like cyberpunk.

You can do a lot on Mac mini unless your only joy is to run benchmarks and jack off to Digital Foundry.. pc gaming is all about options and scalability.

 

[Hudo]

You'll always wish you opted for a PC instead. I use MAME on mine sometimes, which is fine, and native Mac games run fine. But there are so few of them to choose from.

This.

While there are some competent emulators available on Mac, it's not the gaming platform you're looking for. Unless you want to run Asahi Linux on it. In which case you could utilize Steam's Proton layer to run your games*.

*Actually, I am not too sure about it since Mx chips are completely different architecture-wise.

TL;DR:
Emulation machine? Yeah, sure.
"Modern" Games? I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[midnightAI]

(edit: I actually use Linux for my emulation machine, but thats for old arcade games and I use a Raspberry Pi and an old TV, I will get around to building a full cabinet one day)

 

[Damigos]

Nop

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

Don't buy a Mac for gaming.
Emulation? Maybe, but probably better served elsewhere. Anything else? No.
Source: me. I have a bunch of Macs. We have an M1 Air. I fiddled with it for a bit for gaming. Waste of time. Love it as a laptop, but it's borderline useless for gaming.

If you buy this thing for gaming, you will be disappointed, period.

 

[Interfectum]

I would wait for some more mature M-chips before taking the plunge. Apple is on the cusp of having something but they aren't there yet.

 

[Hudo]

This could change in the long run since Apple want to make their own Wine fork (which is what Proton is as well). But this will take some generations to be really usable, I guess. So maybe when Macs with the M6 come around, you can actually play games.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Don't do it.

 

[diffusionx]

You're not going to get a gaming nerd forum to recommend Mac for vidya, ever. People are going to tell you to spend $3500 on a massive full tower system instead. So the question is why you want a Mac. You say you are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, what does that mean in the context of a computer hooked up to a TV?

The form factor is also probably a factor, but there are PCs with that form factor too. Emulating PS2 is not a big ask anymore and pretty much anything released in the past 10 years can do it. Bottom line, the Mac will do what you are looking for, but it's not ideal for the gaming side. But other options may not be ideal for the other side.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Apple refuses to support the industry standard of Vulcan, so games will always be poorly supported on their silicon. It would be great if used by other devs (M1 Switch 2 anyone?), but we know that won't happen.

 

[Schmendrick]

Mac is crap for gaming or at least tremendously limited in what you can get to run well or at all.

 

[El Muerto]

If you want something for emulating up to PS2 and that can play indies and old games get a mini pc with a Ryzen APU like this one here on ebay. Save some money and these can do PS2 pretty well. https://www.ebay.com/itm/145726905168

 

[phant0m]

My wife and I are thinking about getting a cheap Mac Mini M1 and are interested in its potential as a gaming rig. We're well invested in the Apple ecosystem, so it makes sense for us to consider an Apple product for our next purchase. We plan to set it up in our bedroom, primarily for casual gaming.

Currently, we have a mix of devices including a company-issued Windows laptop and several gaming consoles: Xbox 360, PS4, Switch, and Xbox Series S. However, for the Mac Mini, we're specifically interested in its ability to handle emulated games up to the PS2 generation, along with some native macOS games.

Given the Mac Mini M1's architecture and general performance metrics from what we've seen and read, do you think it would be suitable for these needs? I'm somewhat concerned about compatibility with emulators and game availability on macOS. If anyone here has experience using the Mac Mini M1 for similar gaming purposes or insights into emulation performance and native game play on macOS, your input would be very valuable to us.

It is very good for emulation. OpenEmu is great for older stuff as others have mentioned, but AetherSX2, Dolphin and Ryujinx all run great as well.

There's a small but good selection of native modern games available between Steam and the Mac App Store (BG3, No Man's Sky, RE4 + Village, Stray, Lies of P, Dreamlight Valley, 40k Rogue Trader, Chained Echoes).

The good news is if you really want to dive into a bigger selection of heavier modern games GeForce Now is really quite good, esp on the ultimate tier. I've play 50+ hours of CP2077 @ 1440p/120 on my Mac via GFN.

 

[Dorfdad]

Yes Mac minis are great for old school emulation.

Open emu is a great front end that automatically updates cores.

OpenEmu

Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

openemu.org

Also you can use crossover to run most pc games that aren't something like cyberpunk.

You can do a lot on Mac mini unless your only joy is to run benchmarks and jack off to Digital Foundry.. pc gaming is all about options and scalability.

If you want a Mac which is understandable for many reasons gaming really isn’t one of them. You will have all the Apple Store games but for AAA titles you’re mostly going to need to invest in GeForce now if you have a good internet connection, and while it doesn’t have all the game it does have quite a few big titles and mmos that should cover most of your needs

 

[diffusionx]

If you want a Mac which is understandable for many reasons gaming really isn’t one of them. You will have all the Apple Store games but for AAA titles you’re mostly going to need to invest in GeForce now if you have a good internet connection, and while it doesn’t have all the game it does have quite a few big titles and mmos that should cover most of your needs

He made it clear he was looking to play native MacOS games and emulation. I swear gamers' brains shortcircuit when they see "Mac" and "gaming" in the same sentence.

 

[Banjo64]

For casual gaming I say go for it.

macOS Titles

Steam Store Hub

store.steampowered.com

 

[theHFIC]

It's fine for emulation between Open Emu, Retroarch, and the iOS emulators that are and will be coming out.

Getting Windows games to run through translation layers like Apple's developer-centered "Game Porting Toolkit" or Crossover are hit and miss. None of them perform at the same level as a PC with equal specs and anything that uses anti-cheat is a complete non-starter.

Along with that, all of those translation layers require Apple's Rosetta 2 translation layer which takes x64 and converts to Apple ARM. Apple will remove Rosetta 2 at some point in the next few years like they did with Rosetta 1 when going from PPC to Intel. It was just meant to ease in the transition to Apple ARM for the "tentpole" Mac apps like the Adobe suite, Office, etc. Now that most of those apps are native, there is less a need to keep legacy code in the OS and aren't going to invest in long term support of it just so some poorly converted games run on it. Apple would rather have no games than non-native games running like shit.

 

[STARSBarry]

cheap Mac

You can only pick one of those two words, they can't be combined.

 

[Topher]

If there are Mac games you would enjoy playing then sure, I guess. I don't know anything about Mac games. Outside of that, there are better options in mini PCs if that form factor is desired.

 

[Sethbacca]

You can get the M1/M2 Minis pretty cheap, but I can't help but feel like you'd get more mileage out of something like one of the Minisforum HX99G or UM 790 PRO. Personally I'd just wait for the Strix Point/Halo versions to drop in the 2nd half of the year.

 

[Randall365]

Mac gaming rig?

Sounds a bit ill considered. You can get Apple Music, iCloud and Apple TV apps on PC now, if you want a gaming rig that allows you to use your Apple products and get something that will have far more games to play.

 

[gooner4life_uk]

a Mac Mini M1 is quite weak sauce GPU wise and RAM, honestly

 

[The Last Ninja]

I have an M2 Pro Mini and an M1 Max MacBook Pro and even using native Apple silicon emulators my old gaming PC with an 8700k is better. Love Macs for basically everything except gaming.

 

[twilo99]

PC or xss if you want something cheap.. can be had for under $200 used

 

[Thanati]

If you want a small computer, get a mini PC instead for gaming. They're really powerful right now and cheaper than a mac mini. Also lets you play ALL PC games as well as emulation.

 

[UltimaKilo]

A 3 1/2 year old machine that was never intended to be used for gaming is a terrible idea.

The M4, based on the rumors, might be worth waiting for. Then again, only for light gaming.

 

[PendekarRajawali]

You're not going to get a gaming nerd forum to recommend Mac for vidya, ever. People are going to tell you to spend $3500 on a massive full tower system instead. So the question is why you want a Mac. You say you are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, what does that mean in the context of a computer hooked up to a TV?

The mac will also be used as entertainment system, playing apple music, tv+ and access the icloud something like that.

 

[The Last Ninja]

The mac will also be used as entertainment system, playing apple music, tv+ and access the icloud something like that.

sounds like an apple tv on input 1 and something else on input 2

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

It's fine for emulation between Open Emu, Retroarch, and the iOS emulators that are and will be coming out.

Getting Windows games to run through translation layers like Apple's developer-centered "Game Porting Toolkit" or Crossover are hit and miss. None of them perform at the same level as a PC with equal specs and anything that uses anti-cheat is a complete non-starter.

Along with that, all of those translation layers require Apple's Rosetta 2 translation layer which takes x64 and converts to Apple ARM. Apple will remove Rosetta 2 at some point in the next few years like they did with Rosetta 1 when going from PPC to Intel. It was just meant to ease in the transition to Apple ARM for the "tentpole" Mac apps like the Adobe suite, Office, etc. Now that most of those apps are native, there is less a need to keep legacy code in the OS and aren't going to invest in long term support of it just so some poorly converted games run on it. Apple would rather have no games than non-native games running like shit.

For what it’s worth codeweavers has said that their plan is to reimplement x86 translation as part of crossover because just like you, they expect Apple to drop it at some point.

But yeah, I wouldn’t rely on the fact it exists now to make a purchasing decision.

That being said, while the selection is smaller native Mac games are available on steam. I’d rather people would support the market that exists than try to chase the pc emulation route.

When it comes to emulating retro systems there’s lots of options so that is covered.

 

[diffusionx]

The mac will also be used as entertainment system, playing apple music, tv+ and access the icloud something like that.

FWIW I think both a mini PC and Mac Mini would do what you want. It's not as seamless of course but you would be able to listen to Apple Music or watch Apple TV+ on a Windows machine.

Both solutions would work. Ultimately it comes down to whether you value gaming power or access/integration to your Apple ecosystem more.

 

[Banjo64]

You can only pick one of those two words, they can't be combined.

M1 was £299 from Costco around last Christmas time. Deals do come up.

 

[keraj37]

This is gonna be great pacman nd tetris box!

 

[lestar]

you don't game on mac

 

[kiphalfton]

If you want something for emulating up to PS2 and that can play indies and old games get a mini pc with a Ryzen APU like this one here on ebay. Save some money and these can do PS2 pretty well. https://www.ebay.com/itm/145726905168

Apple user: "But those aesthetics..."

 

[Banjo64]

Apple user: "But those aesthetics..."

If OP is anything like me it’s not aesthetics, because let’s face it Macs are bland silver slabs. It’s just that Windows is vile.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

you don't game on mac

Then how come I can natively game playing Civilization 6 and indies like Book of Hours? Or the hit RPG from Larian Baldurs Gate 3?

 

[Sorcerer]

How ancient is the Windows laptop? If you have an Apple TV you can use Steam Link to play games from your Windows laptop with Steam installed. I'm not saying this is a great solution, but if you have the equipment anyway you may want to try it out before buying the M1. Or at least hold out for a more powerful Mac down the road. Keep in mind Steam has Retroarch and a nifty Nes emulator that translates games to 3D (sort of).

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

You'll always wish you opted for a PC instead. I use MAME on mine sometimes, which is fine, and native Mac games run fine. But there are so few of them to choose from.

What you using for Mame, so far I havent been able to find a good source.

 

[Jaybe]

I think BALATRO is native on macOS, so there’s that.

 

[Orutisu Furio]

Yes, you can use an M1 Mac Mini for most casual gaming. Your expectations however should be reasonable. Apple M series chips are really great and powerful, and also very efficient working with the memory and storage onboard for speediness. But don’t expect PS5-level performance. Most games available on the Mac App Store will look good and run well, especially those optimized for M processors.

If you intend to mostly play emulated games from the PS2 / Gamecube / XBOX era and before, it will work just fine using the various emulation software available, and most of the emulators available have updates already for use with Apple M series chips.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube showing Mac Mini (M Series) running various games and emulators. You should watch those to get an idea of what the experience will be like.

 

[welshrat]

Don't buy a mac for gaming, buy a mini PC with an AMD APU if form factor is something you care about. I am hardware agnostic and have two Macbook Pros for dev work (Xcode). One with the M1 Max chip but I really would not consider it a viable gaming platform.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Specifically for gaming, stay away from a Mac. I say this as someone who has three different Macs at home and prefers them for work. Sure you can emulate some of the older systems relatively well, but it's no match for Windows or even Linux.

 

[Comandr]

Mac enjoyer here. The M series is great, but with a rumored refresh around the corner - companies are going to look to liquidate their old stock at some point soon.

If this is just going to be your ps2 and below emulation station, I would actually probably just recommend a steam deck. Put it in a dock, connect your controllers and call it a day. Then you’ve got the added benefit of playing the games on the go if you feel like it.

 

[gundalf]

You are better off getting a Steam Deck (or even something stronger) with a dock and call it a day.

 

[M1chl]

Nah, if you are not buying something like a Mac Studio, you will get shit performance, very limited catalog of native games and all in all device which isn't suited for your use case

 

[MrRibeye]

God awful comments here. Don't listen to these guys.

M1 with 8GB can run a ton of games.

6th Gen (PS2 / GameCube / Wii) Emulation
PCX2 and Dolphin both run like butter. You will have a ton of fun playing Def Jam or New Super Mario Bros with your missus.

7th Gen (PS3) Emulation
RPCS3 has serious issues with 3D games, not because of low FPS but because of weird graphical glitches. 2D games to play couch co-op such as Dragon's Crown run like butter though.

Native Steam games
Baldur's Gate 3 runs with stable 30 FPS on the M1. Video here.
Hades stable 60 FPS.
Hundreds of indie games like Celeste, Night in the Woods all run like butter.
All the fun party games you can play with your wife, such as Ultimate Chicken Horse and Nidhogg run like butter.
The big MMOs like EVE Online, Elder Scrolls Online and Final Fantasy XIV have native clients and run at smooth 45 FPS.

AppStore games
You get stable 40+ FPS with these games:
Death Stranding
Resident Evil 4 Remake, proof video here.
Divinity Original Sin 2
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Stray
Civilization VI

Blizzard games
All the ones available on macOS run like butter 60 FPS.
Starcraft 2
Diablo 3
World of Warcraft

Riot games
You can play League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics at stable 60 FPS.

Non-native games on Whisky (modern DX12 games have best performance, older DX9 doesn't run most of the time)

You can get Whisky to do magic. The following games listed here have "Gold Status" and install out-of-the box with no issues, no complicated configurations or complex steps to follow. Just install and enjoy stable 30 FPS.
Alternatively you can buy Crossover for $24 here in case Whisky doesn't run a game you want.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice with video proof here.
Metal Gear Solid V
Monster Hunter World
Dead Space (2023) with video proof here.
Dark Souls 3
Cyberpunk 2077 runs with stable 30 FPS (video here runs ~25 FPS with Medium-to-High settings)
Control
Blasphemous 2

And of course check out the Apple Gaming Wiki M1 Master List for compatible games.

 

[Randall365]

It just seems so pointless when Apple Music, Apple TV and Icloud run fine as apps on a PC from Windows Store - you are paying way too much for worse hardware.

It would be different if you were buying a macbook or something for portable use or needed the photo software.

 

[MrRibeye]

If you want me to try a specific emulator and game that you're concerned about, shoot me a DM and I'm happy to give it a try.