So they play WoW on a Mac because the Mac is the computer they have.
And in addition to this I would add:
And they could make that choice because for over a decade of WoW's existence, Mac support has been pretty decent. It's only fairly recently that we've seen macOS performance really nose-dive and witnessed Blizzard's response to the Mac community wither.
I personally would love to see Blizzard return to the kind of Mac support they offered 'back in the day'. It may have taken them longer to respond to our issues than it did a Windows-related performance issue, but they actually listened and implemented change. Now it seems like we just get MVPs telling us why macOS / Apple is inferior in general, instead of anyone actually addressing the game issues.
I've used Macs since I was a freshman in college (1985). I have also used Windows over the years, mostly for work stuff.
So, I play WoW on macOS because I have a Mac. I have a Mac because I don't like Windows. It's that simple.
For what its worth. My home system is a Hackintosh. I can dual boot into Windows or MacOS. I played WoW using both OS's just see how they compare. Operation and performance are identical with the exception of using Command key vs Control key.
The graphics are equal in terms of frame rates and resolution.
I suspect very few people choose a Mac in order to play WoW. In the great majority of cases, they chose a Mac for everything else they do in front of a computer. So they play WoW on a Mac because the Mac is the computer they have.
Not here. I don't have a Mac. I have a home-built Hackintosh. I prefer to use MacOS for my daily work (sound/video editing) and it's a pain in the !@# just to reboot to Windows only to play games.
If I'm spending most of my gaming time in WoW, as I am currently, I basically never reboot to Windows.
There's also the advantage that the Mac's built in screen-capture and screen recording tools are way easier (for me at least) to quickly cap footage with.
I got tired of maintaining my PCs, both hardware and software, mainly from being older and busier.
Not too long ago, there was no apple store. apple actually had like the most infamous reputation around for support, famously bad non-existent support, really horrible, can't say that enough.
But .. for whatever reason, that changed. They hired some retail executive to remake support and the apple store was born. And it is great. I literally just drop off broken crap and most of the time it's fixed for free. Not sure if it's that good anymore (haven't had breaks in a while) but it has been.
today though, the decision to purchase a new mac is a careful one. they obsolete their machines too quickly now. the change from 32 to 64 was painful too, support was dropped more quickly for 32 hardware than I would have liked.
buy another mac, maybe. the price difference between mac/pc is getting bigger.
I got tired of maintaining my PCs, both hardware and software, mainly from being older and busier.
Not too long ago, there was no apple store. apple actually had like the most infamous reputation around for support, famously bad non-existent support, really horrible, can't say that enough.
But .. for whatever reason, that changed. They hired some retail executive to remake support and the apple store was born. And it is great. I literally just drop off broken crap and most of the time it's fixed for free. Not sure if it's that good anymore (haven't had breaks in a while) but it has been.
today though, the decision to purchase a new mac is a careful one. they obsolete their machines too quickly now. the change from 32 to 64 was painful too, support was dropped more quickly for 32 hardware than I would have liked.
buy another mac, maybe. the price difference between mac/pc is getting bigger.
to be honest, the transition to 64 dates back from the last Power Mac, they where the first to have 64 bit capable machines, so that's what 12plus years ago.
also the price difference you need to compare apples to apples, and not to applesauce ;-)
if you spec a comparable Dell workstation, you end up very close. but yes PC have better hardware options available, and when you go consumer side the buy in price of Apple products is steeper.
When i hear my colleagues having BSOD's a lot with their Dell laptops that are just a smidge cheaper than mine, i'm happy i went the Apple route.
Big yes! Not just for WoW but I use them so much in general. I know thereās PC alternatives like puush or whatever but I like that the MacOS one just neatly sticks the capture on my desktop. Convenient and easy.
Itās because I have a Mac and I donāt have a PC. I donāt know that WoW is any better on a Macā¦in fact I suspect itās prolly a lil worse, but this is the machine I have so this is what I use.
yeah, Iām old. they do the same sort of thing with their machines too. they bring them along with all the OS updates then then sometimes, somewhat arbitrarily at times, just declare that for some hardware no more OS updates, effectively killing it. donāt like that, at all.
I can put together a small pc for $1000-1500 that would crush any mac, yeah the prices difference is still there. Itās not going to look pretty but it will go. Now I havenāt done that for a while, a very long time and I donāt know if Iāll do that again, but yeah, still true. I used to find it fun, but itās kind of a hassle imho now.
maybe when they have a go at updating the imacs Iāll think about it
I like the new minis but wooooooo, expensive, and the external graphics card option is not so good atm. (I play on a mini now, at the time I bought it, it was fairly price competitive)
Thatās the reason a lot of forum regulars here have gone hackintosh. We love macOS but hate overpriced non upgradable apple hardware.
I build a PC 5 years ago and it was starting to feel obsolete. I didnāt even need to throw it out. New motherboard, cpu, ram, itās now 2018 specs. The power of a custom build.
I am tech savvy but having never actually done a custom built PC, the idea still daunts me. Add that with the Hackintosh process and itās enough to keep me using Apple hardware for the foreseeable future.
Beyond that, I use my Mac for work, and need the safety net of just being able to take it to an Apple store if something goes wrong.
WoW is the only computer game I play; for everything else, I have an Xbox/PS4/Switch and a couch where I can lay barely conscious mashing a controller.
arenāt there finicky bits when doing that? like video card support? or other hardware support? do you have to do anything funky to install the OS? how do you get OS updates?
You do need to be a bit particular about what hardware you buy, and even then things donāt always work exactly right. When I was running a hackintosh system several years ago, I bought one of the motherboards recommended on tonymacx86, and even then I was always having issues with audio. And trying to play any copy protected movies from the iTunes movie store would instantly crash the machine. There were several weird little things like that going on.
Installation requires jumping through some extra hoops. I wound up creating a custom installer on a memory stick & using that to install on the hackintosh system. OS updates would be installed just like on an Apple machine but Iād typically have to go back & fiddle with things afterward because the update would screw up something done by the hackintosh setup.
After about a year of that, I decided it wasnāt worth it when faced with having to do it all over from scratch for the next Mac OS X release. I was also leaning towards switching to a laptop for my main machine, so went ahead & bought a MacBook Pro. If I had wanted to stay with a desktop machine at that time (4 years ago), I probably would have bailed on the Mac & switched to Windows rather than put up with the extra overhead of maintaining a hackintosh.
Nowadays, itās moderately painless once you get a build you like. Not gonna lie, it can be a headache, but if you pick your hardware well you can do well.
For me, I love the mac environment for creative work ā audio, video, etc ā but I simply cannot afford to buy Apple kit and still feed myself. I have an apple laptop that I paid for, which I love, but I work and play on my Hackintosh.
Itās changed a LOT in last year. Everything is mindlessly easy once setup. To point where you actually install macOS updates like normal macs do. Clover automates much more than in past. Audio persists through updates. ACPI/DSDT patching is automated now once you get it setup and persists through updates. about only thing you have to deal with is same thing real macs do. Waiting for nvidia driver updates.
even audio, can be a one and done patch method via clover, or the alternate road of lilu and ALC injector (but that maybe less one and done and require updates for new macOS updates)
There are optional things you can do to enable even more stuff like Whatever green to enable DRM/shiki decoding and other things. At end of day though once you are up and running itās SUPER easy to stay that way. More so than in the past. However, initial setup and building still requires enough technical savvy to get ball running.
This^
Tried to make a Hackintosh previously a few years ago and had no luck, ended up giving up. Had another crack late last year and it worked first go. I found the website āHackintosherā to be an awesome resource, theyāve got a general guide including all links youāll need, but also they have various different builds showing all the parts youāll need if you want to build exactly what they have. On top of that they have full alternative guides for the exact hardware in their builds showing near every single step for that hardware.
Omegall & Milendella, itās good to know that theyāve made it easier to keep a hackintosh system running. Iām pretty happy with my laptop still, so Iām not looking to switch back to a desktop system, but if I ever do decide to switch I wonāt hesitate to try setting up another hackintosh.
Iāve been using one for about 3 years. Aside from a few quirks, the systems runs fine.
I hope to be updating soon but Iām waiting to see what the Mac Pro offering looks like in the near future.
In the meantime, I have priced out a new system and compared it to a new iMac. I was really floored. The Hack came in around $1800, the iMac, $2900. I really expected it be much closer. $1100 is hard to swallow just because it says āAppleā.
Like I said, Iām waiting to see what the āmodularā Mac Pro looks like. Hopefully it will be an affordable option for many of us.
The mac pro doesnāt even have to be affordable, if itās powerful and an actual LONG TERM investment. The old mac pro towers were upgradable and that made them a good value buy because like any good tower work station, you can maintain it for many years before needing to replace it.
Throw away machines is apples current business model. you replace your phone every 2 years give or take and you replace your mac every 2-3.
Iām weary this will change with the mac pro refresh. It certainly didnāt with the trashcan
Iām seriously considering getting a mac pro with my next computer refresh. Is the trashcan worth it for the price? I do mainly art and audio on my computers. Of course I would also want one that can play WoW and some other Blizzard games.