Apple Macs and gaming have long been odd bedfellows. Compatibility issues and different hardware designs has often made gaming on these proprietary devices a bit tricky. Thankfully, most of these problems are set to live in the past, and gaming on Mac machines is becoming more commonplace. They're still rather walled off by Apple's ecosystem, and often Apple's pricing, but if rumours are true the new Mac mini could be about to break down that wall.
Techradar spotted rumours stating a new Mac Mini with an M5 chip alongside an M5 Pro Apple Silicon machines are being tested, shared on AppleInsider. They're expecting the new M5 Mac Minis to retain the same form factor that we currently see, but with a spec boost. This could make for a great little gaming PC that sits unassumingly wherever you put it, with the usefulness of an Apple device, you know, if you're into that.
Alex Blake over at Techradar absolutely is. After complimenting their M1's fair price and powerful abilities, Blake is thinking this new machine could be a great device for gamers. The old M1 had served them well, even handling games like Cyberpunk 2077, though admittedly with some toned down specs to run well.
When Blake pitted the M1 against the current M4 chip for Cyberpunk shenanigans, the M1 outperformed the newer tech thanks to higher graphical components. Our reviewer also had fairly good time playing games on the Apple Mac Studio M4 Max. Apple's new M5 chips are said to have additional graphic cores, so there's a good chance these new chips should blow both the old ones out of the water.
The other big boon for gaming on Mac is Apple's MetalFX. This is Apple's upscaling tech that allows low resolution images to be rendered and upscaled much faster than it would take to simply render the high resolution image. All of this could see much better graphical rendering performance than what we've ever seen on a Mac mini, and yeah I think Blake is onto something here.
The tricky part here is pricing. If Apple releases these tiny guys at the expected $600 USD pricepoint, that's a pretty great deal for a mini gaming PC. Plus as an added bonus you get a Mac and can now play with all that Apple stuff that was previously out of reach. I hate to say it, but with all this factored in I'm starting to think my next lounge PC might just be a Mac Mini.
1. Best overall:
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
2. Best budget:
Intel Core i5 13400F
3. Best mid-range:
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
4. Best high-end:
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
5. Best AM4 upgrade:
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D
6. Best CPU graphics:
AMD Ryzen 7 8700G
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