Anyone else disappointed with Mac offerings?

TheLegendOfMart

TheLegendOfMart

TheLegendOfMart

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I've been dabbling with a Hackintosh on and off for years, I've been using the latest one as my main computer for past few months.

I really want to make the switch to actual hardware but their range of computers is terrible.

The only decent Macs are the iMacs but to get top end hardware you are talking over £2000. 21.5" are too small.

Mac mini are cheap but they come with inferior Dual Core Haswell with weak Iris iGPU.

They have no middle machine, I could use a Macbook as a desktop computer but that is getting into silly territory as I'm paying a premium for a screen I wouldn't use.

For £1300 I could build:

Core i5 4670K
Gigabyte H97M-D3H
16GB DDR3 RAM
2GB Nvidia 960
250GB SSD
3TB HDD
Bitfenix Prodigy/Phenom Matx case full of Corsair Fans
Corsair H80i GT Cooler
25" Dell U2515H 1440p Monitor

That is comparable to the £1600(£1740 if you want 780M) 1440p 27" iMac in price but has far better specs and has the ability to upgrade.

I know you can't really compare the machines as they have different methodology and that Apple don't cater to this slice of the market but does anyone think it is ridiculous that they don't have a machine that's inbetween Mac Mini and iMac?
 
The spec you listed suggests it's going to built with gaming in mind. I don't think Apple designed the Mac mini for gaming.

There has always been a premium for Mac hardware, it's nothing new.
 
I'm not moaning about the price premium, I'm moaning about the weak specs and not having a machine between the Mini and iMac, the spec I listed isn't for gaming but there is no reason why they can't have more powerful GPUs, especially considering the price premium.

Dual core cpus and integrated graphics aren't powerful enough to run high res displays, hell even the 4GB M295X hitches on the 5K.

** No hotlinking **
http://techreport.com/r.x/2015_3_7_A_peek_inside_Zotacs_consolekiller_Steam_machine/box-front.jpg

The Zotac SN970 Steam Machine that's coming out in November is similar sized to the Mac Mini and will have Quad Core Skylake, 64GB SSD, 1TB Storage drive and Nvidia 970M GPU and is priced at $999 and they have promised that by launch the price will come down some as well.

Is it too much to ask for quad core CPU and better graphics for the £800 it costs for the top Mac Mini.
 
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check out the last gen mac mini's 2nd hand, they had a quad core cpu option and ram/hd upgrade options. tbh I find os x works really well on lower spec hardware, my 2010 macbook pro is an old c2d and never slows down. Same with my air 13" with it's 1.3ghz dual core chip, it's completely fine for normal use. The guts of the current mac mini are just a mac air really. The only thing they can't do is 3d games, all the indy 2d stuff is fine though.
 
Yeah I considered a 2012 Mini but the graphics are weak. They have HD4000 graphics, I have HD4600 in my current Haswell and I slapped a GTX580 in because it was too weak.

I'm not looking to game on it but it needs to have enough power for 1440p monitor and some light gaming.
 
Jesus, I know they aren't.

I am just saying there is a huge, gaping, gap in the market for a machine that has the CPU /GPU power of the iMac but doesn't come with a monitor.

I don't need a 27" screen but 21.5" is too small and Mac Mini doesn't have the power.
 
Just buy a previous gen MM QC and quit your jibber jabber. Seriously it will do just fine for what you've stated.
 
Calm down tiger. Maybe I should have added a big smiley face to infer the meaning? -> :D

Your wrong, imo. I used to Hackintosh. Had similar worries. Switched to a 13" MBA. Powered a 27" 2560x1440 Dell U2713H and light gamed. Then switched to a 13" rMBP and power 2 * U2713H and light game + run multiple VMs. If anything the Macs are far more stable than the Hackintosh was. I've never looked back or regretted the switch, or felt it was under powered compared to the Hackintosh.
 
I have an Intel HD4600 Haswell GPU and it can't play even simple 3d games at a decent enough framerate at 1080p.

I'm not expecting to play the latest blockbuster AAA game but stuff like Cities Skylines and New n Tasty Abes Odyssey run like crap on HD4600.
 
My mini powers my 1440p just fine. I'm not trying to play games on it, never had an issue. Granted it would probably fail doing CAD or something but then I wouldn't buy a mini to do that.
 
Yeah if you want to play games you'll need to keep a separate windows box, it's just that simple really. Even a mid level windows box will play most games fairly well. Then buy an Air and use it for it's portability :p

The only reason I've keep a proper PC at home is for gaming, as soon as I stop wanting to play 3d games I'll go all mac.
 
They are missing a trick though, I'd spend £1000 on a displayless Mac that had a decent quad core cpu and nvidia graphics like the iMacs do.

But then I'll probaby wait till that Zotac box comes out and hope I can hackintosh it.
 
Even the imac is using a low power notebook cpu and I don't think apple have ever offered a top end current gen GPU option. It's just not their market.
 
I used to really like Macs. Have owned 2008 and 2010 MBP, wife has a 2010 Air and they've been great machines and still going strong. But I will probably never buy a Mac again going by their current trend (from 2011 onwards).
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
27" non 5K has 780M and 5K has M295X.

I'm not expecting an Nvidia Titan X but surely an 800 or 900 series mobile GPU isn't out of the question.
Click to expand...

It's the holistic approach though. Heat management, noise management and such rather than aiming for the gaming market that isn't Apple's audience.

TheLegendOfMart said:
They are missing a trick though, I'd spend £1000 on a displayless Mac that had a decent quad core cpu and nvidia graphics like the iMacs do.
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This argument has been raging on for what feels like years. Again this isn't Apple's demographic and strong sales figures say that Apple are right.
 
DanF said:
Yeah if you want to play games you'll need to keep a separate windows box, it's just that simple really. Even a mid level windows box will play most games fairly well. Then buy an Air and use it for it's portability :p

The only reason I've keep a proper PC at home is for gaming, as soon as I stop wanting to play 3d games I'll go all mac.
Click to expand...

It's all Mac at our house apart from my Windows machine and that's for gaming!
 
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