Over the years, Apple has successfully created and led several product lineups, including computers, laptops, wearables, and more. Despite all the success, Apple hasn’t really cracked the gaming market, at least when it comes to computers or consoles. Interestingly, this could change with the new M4-powered Mac Mini. According to the latest report from Mark Gurman, the M4 Mac Mini could be Apple’s long-awaited answer to PlayStation and Xbox.
Apple launched its latest Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro chips. With a smaller size, insane processing power, ray tracking, and streamlined connections for a living room setup, the M4 Mac Mini could become the Apple gaming machine we’ve been waiting for. Honestly, this marks Apple’s boldest and most convincing step into the market where it has previously struggled.
Apple’s Gaming Journey from Pippin to Mac Mini M4
Back in the 1990s, before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company made its first meaningful attempt at gaming consoles with the introduction of Pippin, a home-based console. Unfortunately, it was a straight flop and Apple discontinued it after a year. Over subsequent years, Apple took a different approach to entering the gaming market, making it a big part of the App Store, iPhone and iPad. That said, these attempts were confined to the small screens and Apple hasn’t swayed over the living rooms with its game-centric offerings.
Back in 2015, Apple tried to make a disruption with its revamped Apple TV set-top box, adding a new App Store with games and software. Due to limited processing powers and limited controller capabilities, Apple TV never became a rival to PlayStation or Xbox.
With the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, Apple made another push to attract gamers. The Cupertino tech giant touted the Vision Pro’s seamless integration with Apple Arcade, advanced processing capabilities of the M2 processor, and support for third-party controllers. However, it failed to impress the audience. The Vision Pro lacks hand controllers for virtual reality games, which could otherwise be its biggest strength.
Now, with the M4 Mac Mini, Apple has another shot at which could change its gaming trajectory and set a new standard.
M4 Mac Mini as a Gaming Console
With the latest M4 and M4 Pro chipsets, the new Mac Mini can become a solid competitor in both performance and price. Starting at $599, the M4 Mac Mini boasts a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, which can rival the power and price of a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. If you’re willing to splurge, the $1,399 Mac Mini with M4 Pro outperforms the highest-end Mac Pro and Mac Studio from a past few years. Not to forget, the 16GB RAM and ray tracing for graphics add to the Mini’s prowess. So, in terms of hardware, Apple is in really good shape.
Talking about the software, Apple recently upgraded its Metal graphics software too. When combined with other macOS graphics technologies, a well-integrated App Store, and support for third-party controllers, the M4 Mac Mini makes a near-ideal system.
That said, there are a few challenges that Apple has to face, the biggest remains the lack of gaming titles. Apple has made some changes to strengthen its gaming area. It brought over Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding and also promised Cyberpunk 2077. That said, we can’t escape the fact that Mac’s gaming library isn’t even close to those of Sony and Microsoft. Apple still has a long way to go before the Mac Mini can truly compete with the PlayStation and Xbox. Given the potential, this shouldn’t be impossible.
It would be interesting to see how Apple plays with its latest hardware to attract game developers so they can bring the best of their work to Macs.
Anshuman Jain
Sagnik Das Gupta
