Can Apple’s M4 Mac Mini Compete With PlayStation And Xbox For Gamers?
Apple may not the be the first company that comes to mind when it talking about video games, but it's not necessarily for lack of trying, or even interest—some stats suggest the video games market is approaching $300 billion, and that number will only continue to grow. Apple's presence is limited, but can its newly minted Mac mini with its mighty M4 silicon inside prove itself to be a game changer?
It's an interesting question, and according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the latest Mac mini "could become Apple's long-awaited answer to the PlayStation and Xbox." From his vantage point, Apple's M4 and M4 Pro chips pave a path for the newest Mac mini to "become a respectable gaming machine." And at least on that point, he's not wrong. The new M4 Max, meanwhile, is reserved for Apple's newest MacBook Pro laptops.
The M4 Pro in particular looks stout on paper, offering up to 14 CPU cores, including 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, to go along with up to 20 GPU cores that Apple claims is up to twice as powerful as the regular M4's GPU. It also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
"Play thrilling games like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Or enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing in titles like Myst, Control Ultimate Edition, and Layers of Fear 2023 — for incredibly vibrant and realistic light, shadows, and reflections," Apple states in its marketing pitch.
One thing to keep in mind is that it's not always about winning the specs war. Evidence of this can be found in Nintendo's wildly popular Switch lineup. None of the Switch consoles, including the flagship OLED model, come close to the power and features on tap from the PlayStation 5 (and PlayStation 5 Pro) and Xbox Series X|S. Yet it sells like hotcakes because of the form factor and Nintendo's robust IP, like Super Mario and Donkey Kong.
Even so, we have a hard time envisioning the Mac mini being the living room system that puts Apple in the conversation with gaming heavyweights (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo). From our own vantage point, what Gurman posits in his latest PowerOn newsletter is a bit of a stretch, though he does bring some up interesting and valid points.
For one, gaming is a market Apple most definitely is interested in. Just look at Apple Arcade for a modern example on mobile, and if going back in time—way back—you may recall Pippin, a home console it co-developed in the 1990s. For various reasons, it never took off.
He also points to the fact that the Apple TV box supports third-party game controllers, albeit support is limited. And then there's the Vision Pro with Apple Arcade integration. Now with the Mac mini, Gurman argues that Apple is in good shape on the hardware side, and on the software side, Apple recently upgraded its Metal graphics.
"The combination of the Mac’s small size and formidable processing power — plus the ability to easily connect it to a living room TV setup—makes it the ideal starting point for a fresh push into the field [of gaming]," Gurman writes.
A major hurdle exists, though, and that's getting games onto the macOS (i.e., developer interest and support). And to that end, Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac to put Apple's silicon to the test, which is a good start. Still, we don't see the Mac mini being embraced as a living room game console, though it could at least prove that Apple's hardware and software APIs have the capability to make a run at gamers, should Apple take a spirited shot at the market (beyond mobile).
