Can You Game On The M2 Mac mini? - 9 Games Tested

[@ILoveGrilledCheese]

If Apple gets serious with compatibility layering or enticing studios to make native Mac games, the M series chips are certainly powerful enough for gaming.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it's all about the money on both sides for sure.

[@Therealrecker]

Gptk? Crossover? Whiskey?

[@bobbyboyderecords]

Nice to see World of Warcraft getting ok stats, I mean it's such a new game. (20 years old!)

[@craigneidel]

Just reporting it. Macs are not for gaming.

[@bobbyboyderecords]

aue was just jokin @@craigneidel

[@craigneidel]

No problem, thanks for watching.

[@dotagamer5925]

20 yrs old game & still it has secured No.1 spot in Most Played Online Game 🎯 ......... Now thats what makes it worthy to check the stats

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

Exactly the info I needed. Thanks!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback on that.

[@bryans8656]

When I made the transition to M series Macs I was surprised how many titles I was able to play in my Steam Library. Not even close to a Windows PC experience of course, but as you showed there are still many options. BTW, this is where those inexpensive external SSDs you've been reviewing come in handy, since even a modest game library can suck up a lot of storage space.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, for sure. They can play quite a few games and that is all I was trying to show. In the end I'm not a huge gamer so I can get by with the M2 chips. I do have a PC with a 1070 which can also play quite a few games.

[@Goddot]

considering the gaming PC prices I think we're getting in the same performance to price range with the mini

[@Conteudoemescala]

Craig loved your video, just a suggestion, if possible try to add more b-roll playing while you are explaining that way folks can see in real time the FPS of each game and settings. Its more appealing and will connect much more people. I know it takes much more time to produce and edit, but probably will get you more views and engagement. Love your stuff!

[@craigneidel]

Yeah, slowly but surely I'm improving but I still work at a datacenter (for 25 years) and work about 9 hours per day. So in the end I have limited time and do this on lunch and at night etc. One day I will have the time to make them a bit more streamlined but right now it's what I can do. Thanks for the feedback and for watching. I hope you like the content.

[@Conteudoemescala]

@@craigneidel hi understand you 100%, with so limited time you are doing an excellent job. Keep doing it and stay highly motivated. Paulo

[@sivur]

@@craigneidelgreat video, Craig. To the point, and to the max!

[@craigneidel]

@@sivur thank you

[@xyo2434]

100% agreed, I clicked on the video to see live footage and FPS

[@Rocketman0407]

About the Tomb Raider performance I would cap the FPS at 30 and keep it at 1080p medium settings. Capping frame rates can do wonders at times.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, for sure. Thanks for watching.

[@Rr-j4x]

should i return legion go and buy this mac mini m2 8ram 256rom?

[@craigneidel]

That is a hard question for me to answer.

[@Joel11111]

One thing I've noticed is that on Minecraft, manual game resolution settings are not respected by MacOS on fullscreen. It will default to whatever the native resolution of the monitor is. e.g. if you're using a 4K monitor, but you set the in-game resolution to 1080p, it will stubbornly still render the game at 4k in fullscreen. What monitor was used for these tests?

[@craigneidel]

I used a 1080P monitor for a good number of the tests and I also have 1440P and 4K to test on.

[@jamessnapsphotographylowes2236]

What streaming service where you using to play games? Was it subscription based or free to play? I’m using a Mac mini m2 16GB

[@craigneidel]

That's from a while back so can't remember for all the games I tested.

[@jamessnapsphotographylowes2236]

But what’s the best service to use now would you say for Mac mini

[@craigneidel]

I don't game too much and made the video as I wanted to test it for gaming. I would maybe do a search on KZbin to see what the Mac gamers recommend as I was just testing for the video but not sure if they are the best.

[@uselesscraftys]

Are you using the base model or the pro?

[@craigneidel]

Base Model for those tests.

[@uselesscraftys]

Ok, thanks very much

[@craigneidel]

Thanks.

[@digitalmarketinghumans]

I read somewhere that summed it up well for Mac Gaming. Somewhere along the line of 'It's not if the new Apple Silicon can push the performance(it can), it's more on compatibility.' I ended up using my iPad Pro M1 more on Genshin Impact and I use my 14" MBP M1 Pro for Dota 2 with max settings, and no problem. Also WoW looks amazing on the M1 Pro, barely any lag or heating. Sometimes the fan goes on once in a while on the highest setting but that was to be expected since my Intel i9 gaming PC with RTX 3080 does the same thing. My PC Gaming room is essentially a freaking sauna lol. I choose my mac more only because it's casual gaming with Dota 2.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, for sure and thanks for watching. If the games are made for the Apple Silicon chips they would be much faster for sure.

[@catluvr8875]

what spec was your mac mini

[@craigneidel]

I listed the model I tested on at start of video

[@b32xlost61]

Just wanna ask you this, can you play Eve online in this mac??

[@craigneidel]

I didn't test that. I'll let you know if I do but maybe do search on google

[@drzeissler]

what I think? read the engine, configure it yourself and you will get the best experience. I am gaming on M1 with high-textures and 40+fps.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, if will all come down to how you configure it for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[@davidferros4655]

Hi am upgrading my fire wire mini Mac to 32 Ram Vs my standard 16 Ram My question is I want to play The following on it. I use my Mac mainly for my online business and nothing more. I paid $3000 for my Mac buying the highest version of the mini. But l really want to game these 3 games and don’t feel like buying a $5k gaming PC just to play Scrum Mist survival BigFoot. Grounded by NEEBS gaming Please advise if my Mini is capable of gaming these titles Thank you

[@craigneidel]

I don't have those games to test but I would search KZbin as I'm sure somebody has posted that. You also need to list what Mac mini you have as fire wire doesn't mean anything except that it could be an older device as firewire has not been around for years.

[@szinkopane]

i thought about getting windows on the mac mini 2 via emulator, but i wonder how using windows + gaming affect performance? what do you think about that? thanks for the vid!

[@craigneidel]

It should work fine especially Windows if you want to use normal applications. For the gaming I would watch a few videos on that but it should perform fairly good. But if you are a serious gamer it's better to just get a Win PC with a good graphics card.

[@VellonWepa]

Help!! I have input lag (latency) when playing on my my mac with a switch pro controller, im using bluetooth

[@craigneidel]

I'm not sure what the problem could be. See if you can find info on Google.

[@leybra]

I'm currently playing Dragon Age Inquisition in Mac Mini M2 8GB RAM using VMWare Fusion 13 Player with Win 11. Still playable but need to set graphic to Low.

[@craigneidel]

Nice and thanks for the information on another game.

[@leybra]

@@craigneidel Welcome sir 😁

[@ΆρηςΝάγιας]

Hello Craig, whats that ipad stand? I searched your videos but coudn't find it. Thank you

[@craigneidel]

It looks bigger in the video as it's made for phones I think - amzn.to/3pXVbgt

[@ΆρηςΝάγιας]

@@craigneidel thank you, looks cool!

[@craigneidel]

Thanks.

[@coronelkittycannon]

Thank you so much, I desperately needed this info. Apple doesn't seem to give us all the features of these chips, and it's hard to see how they compare with Intel and AMD.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching

[@DismalWeariness]

can I ask a question I got mac mini m2 and when I am playing dying light and it got black screen

[@craigneidel]

I'm not sure what to say since it would be pretty hard to troubleshoot that. But, I would reload and try again to see if it happens again.

[@legionaire432]

I would love and there is a HUGE MARKET for people that would LOVE to switch from PC to MAC in a heart beat! if MAC is able to produce a product FOR GAMING. I am talking about not a mac being "PLAYABLE" (for god sake a $3-6k machine and im only getting 30fps for a triple A game at standard 2k settings? Are you kidding me?) but a MAC being COMPETITIVE to PC. I am talking about a mac being able to at least run at above standard getting 120fps consistent in COMPETITIVE games like valorant, league of legends, CSGO, COD, APEX, PUBG, DOTA, WoW, Diablo, Games that people play by the millions in a competitive scene. If apple can release a version of a mac that can play these games at a competitive level instead of it being "PLAYABLE" a lot of people me included would love to make the switch! Till then apple still is a meme to gamers "NOBODY GAMES ON A MAC!"

[@craigneidel]

Yes, I agree but Apple sells so many products based on design and function combined and it's hard to create a nice looking gaming laptop etc.. Plus they just make so much on their iPhones an the Macs are like 20% of business if that so they are not as focused on the Macs for gaming. But, it keeps getting better with M-chip graphics cores, and hopefully in the near future we can see a Mac that can compete in the gaming space.

[@chaz200711]

Do u think the pro version of the m2 would improve this? If so, how much ?

[@craigneidel]

I haven't tested that but it would get better for sure. Maybe 12 to 20 percent better.

[@chaz200711]

@@craigneidel that’s good

[@craigneidel]

@@chaz200711 thanks

[@ronaldkinder3498]

Craig, I am commenting on your latest video post so I hopefully can get a response from you on a different subject. I just discovered your site this weekend and LOVE your videos. I have a Late 2013 Imac with Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0, not gen 2. I want to be able to boot up with a SDD utilizing the Thunderbolt 2 port since it is the fastest hub on my computer. Which enclosure would you recommend to accomplish this and drive for this older Imac? If not using the Thunderbolt and having to resort to the USB 3.0, which enclosure and drive would you use. I have already purchases the UGREEN M.2 NVMe SATA SSD Enclosure Aluminum 10Gbps USB C External Portable NVMe M.2 Enclosure USB 3.2 Gen2 Thunderbolt 3 Support UASP Trim for PCIe M and the LEVEN JM600 M.2 SSD 2TB 3D NAND SATA III 6 Gb/s, M.2 (22 * 80mm) Internal Solid State Drive that you used in another video of yours, but I am concerned about the speeds I would be getting from the USB3.0 connection/limitation. Additionally, I have looked into the Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 USB-C adaptor to be able to use this port for faster transport speed. It costs like $45 and not sure that would work. Any thoughts?

[@craigneidel]

I would need to research this but in the end all you really need is like 400 MB/s on that older system and it will seem like it's super fast. So I would not worry about the speed. In the past the difference between 400 MB/s and 700 MB/s on the older Macs was hard to notice for me. Have you tried the UGREEN M.2 NVMe drive yet with the Levin and what speeds are you getting. To be honest I boot off a 2.5" Samsung SSD with this enclosure - eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEMDC2KIT/ on my 2017 27" iMac and it's been fast enough to create 515 4K videos. I would just test the setup first on your Mac to see what the speed will be and if 400 MB/s or faster then you should see a massive difference in the speed from the standard spinning drives in the 2013 iMacs.

[@cheeffou209]

The Mac over heat or not ??

[@craigneidel]

No issues with heat.

[@danielemacciantelli1788]

My problem with apple is that i like the design, i like the Os but i hate their policy. its not possible to still not lower the price of their mac devices. they rock on the phone market , just let go the ridicoulous prices on macs..

[@craigneidel]

They are a bit pricey but I just don't have issues with them. Every time I use my Windows PC I realize it's worth the cost for me. Thanks for watching and posting the comment.

[@VadimSemjonov]

Was it teste wit new apple technology convert games to Mac in beta? Stable ver will be in 2 months. But for now it’s makes awesome ports with new roseta /wise I think/ Al most same graphic looks much bette then on it.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and posting the comment.

[@arvycorocotchia6976]

how about 8gb ram m2 it will run smooth the games?

[@craigneidel]

8 GB is not optimal but they still work great for basic and some light video editing. Games aren't great on the M2s except light titles and arcade games since the M2's are not really made for gaming. I guess it would depend on the games you are trying to play.

[@Rr-j4x]

​@@craigneidelthought m2 is great for gaming😂

[@realist915able]

Can it run Crysis

[@craigneidel]

Who knows although I get the joke

[@LordAlucar01]

i was shocked to learn dying light is playable on macOS i own the game on epic game but it tells me windows only, i do have few games that i'd love to play on macOS but i guess that will have to wait, great content though some of games aren't my type but i guess everyone has their game style, and yes mac mini is a great device for the price, issue with it is you need monitor keyboard and mouse which is duable, but compared to all in one package such as Imac its slighly more expensive still best performance value since it can use any monitor any setup and it can also use best specs to run, personally i prefer macbook in that regard, same price but more performance and all in one package, mac setups take time and im uncertain how dolby and spacial audio functions on it.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching and for the information. Yes, you can play quite a few games on the Mac but not always perfect. I'm not a huge gamer and do have a Win PC when I do but if you want to get by they still work pretty good for sure. Thank you.

[@foothilltkd]

Final Fantasy War On Eos, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, thye are supported on Android, I ahve installed on Bluetacks,last time I checked M2 doesnt support Bluestacks, buy Blue stacks has a bluetacks app for download...I';m hoping to see the m2 support for the M2

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the info.

[@AmanOU2be]

What about D3 at 1440p or 4k?

[@craigneidel]

I didn't test that. Thanks for watching the video.

[@THEG12EG]

I predict next year a fully fledged gaming version will be out

[@craigneidel]

Maybe... But not likely.

[@THEG12EG]

@@craigneidel let’s see see you in a year

[@craigneidel]

@@THEG12EG they are moving more toward gaming but we'll see. Apple moves slow.

[@THEG12EG]

@@craigneidel true maybe rumours by next year

[@craigneidel]

We will see but with Apple you never do know for sure. Thanks again.

[@vongtommy628]

Man,this video just talk only no gameplay

[@craigneidel]

I was covering benchmarks for the various games.

[@MarvinConnell]

Alright - AWESOME - Thank You... My question is somewhat different, but your video has helped me with answering it somewhat... See my intention is to use a M2 Mac Mini to video game via Nvidia's GeForceNOW app & service - & my goal is to achieve 120FPS with my 2560x1080p monitor - so what I want to be certain of, is weather or not the GPU of the M2 can produce 120FPS in general, & in the end, with the GeForceNOW App\Service... Can M2 Mac Mini's(base model's what I'm looking at)do a true 120FPS to monitors which support it? & have you tried GeForceNOW? With GFN, you'd potentially be able to get 120FPS gaming, MAXED out settings, @1080p, &(most importantly)WITH Ray Tracing... =] #MyGoal

[@craigneidel]

I have not tried this yet (GeForceNow) but will let you know if I did. I would do a search as I'm sure there could be a video on this somebody already made. Thanks for watching and the info and sorry I can't answer this one.

[@Weaztek]

Sounds comparable to my Xbox Series S.

[@craigneidel]

Maybe but the Xbox might be a bit better at it.

[@amitmajhi5893]

I better go for windows 😂

[@craigneidel]

Yes, if you are buying a computer for gaming then for sure Windows.

[@alaskanmalamute101]

Or just get a pc for half the price and double your FPS

[@craigneidel]

Yes but that's not what video is about. It's for people that want some light gaming and have a Mac. Why watch a Mac video if you have a PC for gaming.

[@SmolBean32]

Yea but pcs are like 1.5k right???

[@arsenijhohlov]

Pc for 300$? Bc new m2 mac mini is only 600$.

[@craigneidel]

@@arsenijhohlov Why watch a Mac video when you like PCs. That's not what this is about.

[@chriswebbtech]

clown, this isn't true anymore. These M series chips are game changes for cheaper computers and still being able to game. You can't build a PC with a legal windows license for even the same 600 dollars that can compete with this thing. It's actually insane value.

[@SmolBean32]

Can it play Roblox?

[@npcp3651]

Almost every computer can run Roblox Mac mini included

[@craigneidel]

I don't play that game but looks like other viewer said yes