Back in the day, Apple marketed the integrated graphics of the Mac mini with some big claims. They said that the Intel GMA 950 graphics processor was "no slouch" and could handle the "latest 3D games". As we've seen today, the GMA 950 wasn't all that great when it came to gaming. If you've got one of these Mac minis and are looking for games to play on it, it's best to focus on titles that prioritize CPU speed over GPU performance. Mainly indie games and emulation. 👍
On the other hand, the model immediately prior to this one (the 1.5ghz G4 Mini) is one of the best options for classic Mac gaming. Multi-boot Leopard, Tiger, and OS 9.2.2 on one of those, and you can run just about everything that isn't broken under 32-bit addressing.
Would be really interesting with a direct comparison to 1,5Ghz MacMIni PPC 64MB/VRAM 9200 and as well to the 1,66 C2D MacMini. That would be interesting!
Even at the time these were recognized as "road apples" and just a stopgap until Apple could get the new Core microarchitecture 64 bit machines out the door. Core Solo is based on older Intel "Yonah" P6 microarchitecture and is 32 bit. This is a great showcase of some of the Mac software available at the time though - the last hurrah of classic OS X imho, just before the App Store and just before they started locking out kexts and making customization and theming much more restricted.
Can anyone tell me how to get a controller work with snow leopard? I have tried a xbox 360 wired controller, nothing happend and a bluetooth version of a sega saturn controller i managed to connect but every time a push a button my mouse moves to the upper right corner -_-
Good video, enjoy when I see some new upload of yours in my inbox! Question tho, you had an old mac gaming episode on Bungie's mac days, I think you focused on their game bag collection...but I can't find it, neither here nor on your old channel. Can you reupload that? Thanks.
More brilliant stuff. I'd love to see a little Boot Camp set up and gaming. Performance notwithstanding I'm guessing I could play my 32 bit Steam games on this little fellow?
I was hooked on Reckless Driving and Burning Rubber for a while when I was a kid! If I recall correctly there's a cheat code that let you drive as any of the sprites in the game and it would get pretty wild.
I am a bit puzzled. I got a 2006 Mac mini running snow leopard it let me install and played Diablo two no problem but then I tried to playing install Civilization three complete and it wouldn’t let me is that too old ? I hated the regular civilization three for the Mac, and could never figure out for five and six
The og g4 model, it's kinda pricey but it's the only power pc Mac mini. If it's on 10.4 it can some classic os 9 games. There's also a hacked os 9 for it
A wonderful CRT gaming option, though, honestly, not one I'd ever bother with... I love PPC towers... So early Intel is not my fondest memory (I do have a 1st gen iMac now, and a Mac Pro 1,1 - I couldn't pass those up!). It is however really beautiful to see this, um, ahem, dog of a Mac, get its day in the sun. Edit: I did some major mods on the PPC version of Baldur's Gate, and my G4 MDD could barely handle it - but Intel Macs, under Rosetta in 10.6, just utterly failed. There was this little window of time, between 1999-2003 when PPC was really a contender.
Makes me want to boot up my old MDD 867mhz G4. Got a cool 768mb ram and a 17" studio display. Most taxing stuff I played was UT and Deus Ex. Max Payne too. Halo ran eh, America's Army too.
The Christmas level on this game was the BEST! I still am able to play it on my PC, but I can't get it full screen size. How did you do that with yours?
I used to play a lot of Halo multiplayer on my G4 mini and when upgrading to the intel mini it played worse. In fact those first gen budget intel macs were objectively worse than the PPCs they replaced. Weird times.
Were did you get unreal and unreal torunament for mac? i had a very hard time finding them, i would love to play them on my ppc macs, those are some of my favorite fps games
Hey Gruz this was a great video, I have the next Mini up the 1.66Ghz Duo model. I have tinkered with it a bit and but am yet to go the whole hog and upgrade the CPU but love how that is an option, but think I will try that soon. I have had similar performance issues with it also having the same GMA integrated graphics. I wonder how much better it gets with the newer CPU.
Typically you wouldn't but back in the late 90s / early 00s you'd find Macs to be very family oriented with home office software, educational software, etc. Naturally a kid would eventually want to find out how to game on it and so we did with what we had. There was actually a pretty neat underground sub-culture of game developers for Mac and therefor a lot of games that only came out for Mac because of this. But yes, if you wanted to play AAA titles like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament at that time then you were certainly better off with a PC.
Back in the day, Apple marketed the integrated graphics of the Mac mini with some big claims. They said that the Intel GMA 950 graphics processor was "no slouch" and could handle the "latest 3D games". As we've seen today, the GMA 950 wasn't all that great when it came to gaming. If you've got one of these Mac minis and are looking for games to play on it, it's best to focus on titles that prioritize CPU speed over GPU performance. Mainly indie games and emulation. 👍
On the other hand, the model immediately prior to this one (the 1.5ghz G4 Mini) is one of the best options for classic Mac gaming. Multi-boot Leopard, Tiger, and OS 9.2.2 on one of those, and you can run just about everything that isn't broken under 32-bit addressing.
From the first second of the video I knew this is a channel I want to see. Subbed onto your way to 5000. I'm 3 subs away from 4000. Greetings.
Would be really interesting with a direct comparison to 1,5Ghz MacMIni PPC 64MB/VRAM 9200 and as well to the 1,66 C2D MacMini. That would be interesting!
@06:28 - The "unofficial os9" G4 Mini is much, much, better for playing Unreal Tournament, Quake, etc. Solid 60 FPS+
Even at the time these were recognized as "road apples" and just a stopgap until Apple could get the new Core microarchitecture 64 bit machines out the door. Core Solo is based on older Intel "Yonah" P6 microarchitecture and is 32 bit.
This is a great showcase of some of the Mac software available at the time though - the last hurrah of classic OS X imho, just before the App Store and just before they started locking out kexts and making customization and theming much more restricted.
Can anyone tell me how to get a controller work with snow leopard? I have tried a xbox 360 wired controller, nothing happend and a bluetooth version of a sega saturn controller i managed to connect but every time a push a button my mouse moves to the upper right corner -_-
Good video, enjoy when I see some new upload of yours in my inbox!
Question tho, you had an old mac gaming episode on Bungie's mac days, I think you focused on their game bag collection...but I can't find it, neither here nor on your old channel. Can you reupload that? Thanks.
Halo has no shaders on GMA so it will run very good with a fast 1,5ghz CoreSolo.
More brilliant stuff. I'd love to see a little Boot Camp set up and gaming. Performance notwithstanding I'm guessing I could play my 32 bit Steam games on this little fellow?
Darn, I didn't even try to install Steam! Wonder if it's still compatible...
I was hooked on Reckless Driving and Burning Rubber for a while when I was a kid! If I recall correctly there's a cheat code that let you drive as any of the sprites in the game and it would get pretty wild.
I am a bit puzzled. I got a 2006 Mac mini running snow leopard it let me install and played Diablo two no problem but then I tried to playing install Civilization three complete and it wouldn’t let me is that too old ?
I hated the regular civilization three for the Mac, and could never figure out for five and six
Great video. Thank you.
I would like to get a Mac Mini for classic gaming. Which model would you recommend for price/performance?
The og g4 model, it's kinda pricey but it's the only power pc Mac mini. If it's on 10.4 it can some classic os 9 games. There's also a hacked os 9 for it
Wowie! I had no idea you were the same guy that made those Gamegenie NES vids I watched as a kid.
YEAAAA
A wonderful CRT gaming option, though, honestly, not one I'd ever bother with... I love PPC towers... So early Intel is not my fondest memory (I do have a 1st gen iMac now, and a Mac Pro 1,1 - I couldn't pass those up!).
It is however really beautiful to see this, um, ahem, dog of a Mac, get its day in the sun.
Edit: I did some major mods on the PPC version of Baldur's Gate, and my G4 MDD could barely handle it - but Intel Macs, under Rosetta in 10.6, just utterly failed. There was this little window of time, between 1999-2003 when PPC was really a contender.
the fact you can downgrade these already weak mac mini to a 1.4ghz celeron is really funny
Makes me want to boot up my old MDD 867mhz G4. Got a cool 768mb ram and a 17" studio display. Most taxing stuff I played was UT and Deus Ex. Max Payne too. Halo ran eh, America's Army too.
The Christmas level on this game was the BEST! I still am able to play it on my PC, but I can't get it full screen size. How did you do that with yours?
Very thorough. Thanks.
Here's a game. Take a drink every time you hear, 'screen tearing'
I used to play a lot of Halo multiplayer on my G4 mini and when upgrading to the intel mini it played worse. In fact those first gen budget intel macs were objectively worse than the PPCs they replaced. Weird times.
RF = Q2 engine and Q2 engine is superbe on intel gma!
Great video! I forgot about Marble Blast.
Have you beaten RtDC on Advanced?
Yep! When it came out I took off work and played through it on easy and advanced! Been too long since tho!
Unreal and UT have no music in OSX ?
"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Were did you get unreal and unreal torunament for mac? i had a very hard time finding them, i would love to play them on my ppc macs, those are some of my favorite fps games
You can find it on the Macintosh Garden
There's a worst Mac? 😉
Fair analysis👍
Hey Gruz this was a great video, I have the next Mini up the 1.66Ghz Duo model. I have tinkered with it a bit and but am yet to go the whole hog and upgrade the CPU but love how that is an option, but think I will try that soon.
I have had similar performance issues with it also having the same GMA integrated graphics. I wonder how much better it gets with the newer CPU.
Marble Blast Gold! Gruz showing his great taste in video games once again.
Great video on this old Mac Mini! What did you use for video and sound out on this Mac Mini?
Why would anyone game on a Mac? lol
Typically you wouldn't but back in the late 90s / early 00s you'd find Macs to be very family oriented with home office software, educational software, etc. Naturally a kid would eventually want to find out how to game on it and so we did with what we had. There was actually a pretty neat underground sub-culture of game developers for Mac and therefor a lot of games that only came out for Mac because of this. But yes, if you wanted to play AAA titles like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament at that time then you were certainly better off with a PC.
Not much point for modern games but classic games were awesome on Mac!
Apple IIe master race!!!!!!