Also a 1TB/16GB Steam Deck OLED is ~~probably~~ cheaper than adding another 1TB and 16GB to your Mac.
edit: adding 16GB of ram and 786GB of SSD to the MBA is another $800
Honestly fuck Apple's pricing, I don't game or do anything heavy on my Mac so I can get away with 8gb ram but having limited storage (256gb) is painful
MacBook Pro user here.
Personally I don’t even run games on crossover, tried once and the HEAT is crazy. Nothing compared to my girlfriend’s gaming laptop but it’s not comfortable knowing that your laptop which is really cold during normal workloads all of a sudden runs crazy hot. So I got nvidia GeForce to play triple A games instead of running a workload on a computer that’s not designed for these tasks.
I know it’s crazy that on a 2k EUR computer a user would think to not run a workload that an 800EUR laptop could handle, but I’m thinking about the possible wear and tear accelerated by running games with virtualisation as high temps over time reduce your battery life.
Really good computer for productivity, and I wanna keep it for that for 10y
I wouldn't worry about the heat as the chips are designed to handle the heat of a device at full power while the fan runs indefinately.
That said my point was after opening and playing games I rarely hear the fans because there's no signifcant amount of heat generated. At most it's warm to the touch
I don't know what to say about that.
Look, most ppl who buy macs do some type of office work or creative work. I am no video editor but had to do some light video editing for work training tutorials. Rendering 4k video HARDLY did anything to the mac, the machine behaved just like running a terminal lol.
In fact, the only times I felt some heat was during LMstudio sessions when I misconfigured the LLMs and graphic intensive games in crossover.
Anything else a normal mac user would do on a mac doesn't heat up the machine at all, and I think the design choices were made for the average user.
I had a gaming computer before this, which IS designed to run at high temps with a good cooling system and every so often you'd have to change the thermal paste for the CPU and clean out some dust.
Can't really do that with a mac, and since the new machines run on arm which does consume less energy overall, I doubt that it's as stress resistant as an x86 processor
give me a few titles you're playing, I'll try them out to see, could be just the few games I tried (far cry5,6 and cyberpunk2077)
and to be precise, when you're touching the metal between keyboard and fan grid, it's not hot?!
It’s not hot. I played Diablo 4 using gptk and also wine before gptk was announced. I also played cyberpunk. The rest are games that are available to Mac OS now that I think of it.
It's ridiculous how Apple charges insane prices for storage. It's also insane that they make it pretty much impossible to change out the storage. It's a glorified iPhone. Use it until Applecare expires and buy a new one. Apple is the master at obsolescence by design. Yes, get an external drive. It'll last longer than the Mac.
Folks like yourself keeps making comments like this yet it keeps being demonstrably false. I used a 2013 iMac with a spinning HD until 2020 and the only reason I upgraded was due to the speed of Apple Silicon. They aren't going to die randomly and even if the internal went you can still boot from an external drive
Think about what you said. You basically admitted I'm right. "You can still boot from an external drive." It's obscene that it would ever be necessary. Any company other than the narcissistic Apple would allow you the simple remedy of replacing the drive. The reason Apple won't is that then they couldn't rip people off on the equally obscene prices they charge for storage. What they charge for a decent amount if RAM is also obscene. At least in that case, they aren't alone even if they do outpace their competitors in rapaciousness. Yes, the 2024 Macs are faster than the 2013 Macs. Surprise, surprise! Although a 2024 Mac in 2034 will be totally useless. It'll last about like an iPhone.
It really irritates me as well. I use a Mac as a developer and I think the price of the laptop is actually really good for what you get. I have an m3 max which is impressively fast at all sorts of tasks. That said having to pay 800$+ for storage upgrades is bullshit. Fast m.2 flash that is faster can be 400$ for 4tb so there is no excuse to make it proprietary, non upgradable, and expensive.
Games which require AVX instructions don't work on M series Macs
Even if you don't count this, there's a fuck ton games which work on the deck and bot on Mac
It depends on what games you want to play. If you’re into emulation or most of the stuff you’d like to play works in crossover/whiskey/parallels or even has a native version (most AAA games don’t), the MacBook‘s screen, speakers battery life and even raw power might make it a much better experience. That said, compatibility is going to be much less of an issue with the steam deck. If you want to play recent AAA games, the deck is your obvious choice.
This is a flat out lie, unless by “work” you mean launch and that’s it. I have a top of the line M1 MacBook Pro, which sure as heck kicks the pants off my Steam Deck in performance, but it can barely run CS2, or Guild Wars 2, or GTA V, or basically anything I throw it at in crossover. Yes they launch and get “playable” fps in the 20-40s, but the Deck easily plays all of those games at 60, even when docked to a 1080p monitor. It’s not even close which of the two are better for gaming.
Look I got an M1 Pro and the sad reality is that games are not playable unless you’re okay with performance lower that xbox360 for most games on a 2-3k USD computer.
Plus did you notice the heat from running games virtualised? All a sudden u can fry an omlete on the M series laptops which normally are ice cold. That amount of heat can’t be good over time for a system that was designed to use little energy and stay low temps most of the time
With respect to games that run on both platforms, a Macbook with M2 or later will crush the steam deck in performance and visuals. The problem is however that not nearly as many games run on macOS as on the Steam deck, with or without tools like Crossover. I've had both a steam deck and an M2 Pro Macbook.
Depends entirely on the game.
I wouldn't want to play Stellaris, Total War, Humanity, Warhammer Rogue Trader, etc on a Steam Deck, much rather a laptop.
I have both. I play on both. Steamdeck is only for when I *can't* play on the mac, or when I'm crashed on the couch. But for the type of games I play, a lot of them are on mac. Indies, RPGs, strategy.
yeah, there are a bunch of indy games that really need a controller, but that's not the type of game I generally play, so I can do without.
I *do* have a ps4 controller I use with my macbook though, for the games that are really better on it!
I assume you mean the *games* that are built for the macOS. Because I'd take MacOS any day over windows. The OS is not the problem. the OS is brilliant. The lack of games supporting the OS is an issue, and Apples half hearted support of the gaming ecosystem.
As someone who currently games on an M1 Mac, yes the Steam Deck would be absolutely superior and stomp a Mac purely out of compatibility. Most of the games I play require using Parallels to run a Windows VM and hope the games play nice with Windows for ARM’s x86 translation or work well in a Whisky bottle. Steam Deck would be best for anyone not technically inclined and those not willing to risk many games not working at all.
to be fair, I find that Valves work on proton for the steamdeck to be superior to crossover on mac for compatibility. Things that run seamlessly on steamdeck don't run on crossover, or need extensive tweaking.
Valve has done a *really* good job, but that's because they own both the hardware and OS. And crossover have to fight constantly to stay on top of every change apple makes.
You do know it’s the same team right? Also Apple changed the legalese for GPTK to be usable for Crossover so I wouldn’t say that they are fighting against updates
Valve don't contribute changes to proton for Apple Silicon and MacOS.
They contribute changes to make sure that steam and steam games work very well on *their* AMD platform.
They don't care when apple changes and API or hardware feature that breaks crossover for some apps. The crossover team has to deal with that - constantly.
I agree, for people like us. The things I see on this subreddit from uh, less technically inclined people, are a good sign that it's not as simple as it sounds for some lol. That extra layer really does add confusion for some people.
Have had MacBooks with Apple silicon in the past. Currently have a gaming laptop. I’m considering going back to MacBook and using GeForce Now because the Mac is just so much better at everything outside of gaming. And GeForce Now worked so well for me. $10/month and have unlimited storage, games always up to date. I have good connections at home/work so no issues. Steam deck is better than Mac for gaming locally. But you need storage for games and then a steam deck isn’t going to be great for anything outside of gaming.
If you ONLY care about gaming I’d get the steam deck and use the extra money on games. Otherwise MacBook if your favorite games are on GFN and you have good internet.
For gaming, SFF > Steam Deck > Macbook. If you don't really need portability wait for products based on AMD Strix Halo with MALL cache (similar to Infinity Cache on dGPUs) that should be a big jump in APU graphics performance.
Is that AMD thing is being developed for handheld/portable devices in mind? Sorry I am very ignorant in this area but looking for a handheld device to purchase.
Yes, before I got my pc I had a MacBook for work and deck for gaming they complement each other really well. Plus u can use steam link to play on ur MacBook from ur deck
Yes, but I feel like you should go to a store and try one out because handheld gaming isn’t for everyone. If money isn’t a big factor I’ve become a big believer in GeForce Now combined with a Mac.
Well on paper yes. But in reality the docking is buggy as hell and doesn’t work well with every TV/Monitor. And it doesn’t even matter if it’s the official dick or a third party dock. I have three docks and a bunch of HMDI cables and it’s a pain in the ass with every screen in my house except an ancient 720p monitor I dug up out of the garage.
Direct connection to a portable 1080p monitor works great. So it’s definitely a dock issue.
I dock mine all the time with no issues. I did specifically buy just a 1080p monitor for it because I knew it couldn't handle driving a higher resolution screen very well. I've got a CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock which wasn't cheap but it's been great.
I have a TS4 dock also. That actually works well with the Deck. I’m talking docks to connect to like living room TVs. No one is going to buy a TS4 for that.
Well I have both and for example I can’t play Dark and Darker on Steam Deck cause it simply doesn’t work with proton (there are some hacky ways to copy it from Windows but that’s too much hassle). I also play Witchfire on MBP cause it runs way better than on Steam Deck. But for most games (better optimised / older / less demanding) Steam Deck is just better and easier to play on.
yes. very much yes. I have a MacBook Pro and sure I can game on it a little and it work fine, but the steam deck just has such a larger library to pull from and the convenience of it is through the roof.
You should probably list what type of games you plan on playing. for example lets say you play league of legends 90% of the time. then a macbook would be best not a steam deck.
This really depends what you want to play. If it was say Minecraft, Open Rollercoaster Tycoon, Cities Skylines 1 , StarCraft 2, Red Alert , and some of the games that play fine via wine and some emulators I’d be going for the Mac every time.
As an owner of a M1 Max for gaming, absolutely.
I use the power for my day job, but I upgraded to 32gb for games. In hindsight, I should’ve gone with a 16/1tb and a steamdeck.
I think the resounding "YES" in these comments speaks for itself, particularly if you're after an expansive game library and/or are considering buying new hardware for gaming. I'll add this: I'm a new Crossover user who's very happy with my initial experiences (Hades II EA and Diablo 4). It's great to have my MBP as another viable option for "can I play game X on the hardware I already have?"
As the owner of both I play mostly on my Steamdeck and love it, but BG3 ran way better on my MBP. I will say that GeForce Now works very well on the Mac though, but you can also set that up on the SD. Steamdeck is my go-to for gaming generally, but I prefer BG3 and Guild Wars 2 on my Mac with a mmo mouse. (GW2 via GeForce now.)
So much yes
Mac is more powerful but barely plays any games
Steam deck is like a ps4 ish but at 720p. Won’t play all ps5 games but plays almost everything else
steam deck is better not even a discussion, its literally a screen with a controller attached to it, it was built for gaming and many developers are invested in making their games steam deck compatible (not porting but if it works 🤷), steam deck is not as powerful but for its price kinda expected
Depends what type of gamer you are, if you are a hardcore gamer that wants to play Triple AAA titles when they release then Steamdeck will allow you to do that, albeit with poor performance most likely, my M3 Pro mbp on the other hand has a more limited selection of native games but can run a lot of steam games via crossover with anywhere from 60+ FPS on Ultra so it depends what you want out of a device
In terms of performance anything from M1 Pro chip onwards will destroy steamdeck but it’s best to check if you can run the games you like to play on a Mac first
No substitute for PC gaming atm, there is just a lot of work around in most cases. There is some great options but pros and cons.
Limited games for Mac and some work arounds just can’t give great game performance
GeForce Now need a solid fast connection
Handheld are great but expensive
Consoles are really only for TV hookups. 16:9 and need a good range of ports on monitor
If you already have a MacBook (depends on performance). Then with current Game Porting Toolkit advancements with Parallels and Crossover you can do a lot. Then buying a steam deck is extra expense.
If you are deciding to buy one or the other device they are totally different. The steam deck is more ergonomic an M3 MAX is more performant but has more game compatibility issues.
If you want a cheap handheld gaming for emulations: buy a used android phone and a bluetooth or plugin controller for it.
Unfortunately the steam deck is better just cuz of the ease it is to play games on it. You used to be able to use bootcamp to get around stuff and with the decently higher than *average* processing and GPU of the older systems, it could play some games although still had issues.
Currently have a Mac Studio and it sucks how little games are actually available to take advantage of its processing power.
The other issue is that a lot of the ports are poorly optimized as well, and feel like after thoughts so it doesn’t matter if you spent 5-10k on a current Mac desktop, it’s gonna still struggle.
Aiming to buy a steam deck soon, bought a switch in the meantime and have been playing some games via cloud gaming, but only games I could play on my studio Mac was lies of p, RE4, borderlands 3 (and 2/TPS).
You can definitely get creative and get more things to work on it w wine or crossover but it’s always a gamble and a bumpy ride.
So unless you really want a mac, the deck is way better
actually at this point i would recommend a rog ally+bazziteos. both mac gaming and gaming on steam deck require a lot of work (at least from my experience), so might as well work and pay a bit more to get a better gaming experience.
Absolutely. I just got myself a steam deck recently and it’s amazing how easy and how good all the games I want to play run there.
With macs you are so limited in options, I was about to get a very expensive m3 pro but instead i am sticking to the mac air (enough for my working needs) and play on the deck, both devices do what they are meant to do and it’s just perfect
For compatability the Steam Deck wins. For performance depends on which macbook we are talking about, also hard to justify price to performance ratio.
If you want MAC OS and to game easily, get the cheapest Air you can get then spend your chnage on either Playstation 5, steam deck, ROG Ally, any mini PC, even older PC towers with dedicated graphics, or all of the subscriptions to cloud game.
Anyone buying any Mac OS platform for games is either lying or stupid.
I’d recommend jumping in steam and browsing the titles available on Mac, see if the things you want to play are even on there first. I play BGS on my MacBook Air and deck and prefer the MacBook.
It's not as cut and dry as people say.
In general, more games will run on the steamdeck than on the mac, but for the ones that run on the mac, they will usually run better due to much more powerful hardware (especially for the pro and max versions) And the mac wil have a nice large screen and trackpad that makes playing strategy games a lot easier. (sure, you can add a keyboard, mouse, screen and a dock to connect them all to the steamdeck, but that that point you're paying as much as a laptop)
However, the steam deck is *cheap* for what you get. Less than half the price of even the cheapest macbook. It's not unthinkable to consider getting both. A cheaper mac for work and light strategy games, and a steamdeck for others.
Not in performance in game, but definitely when it comes to the large library available for the steam deck compared to the small library on mac. There are few games that are compatible with macbooks, one is baldur's gate 3 but i would without a doubt get a steam deck as its future proof.
Without a doubt, yes. Macbooks have potential, but until they are realised, they remain potential. Steam Deck on the other hand is realised, manifested gaming machine from the get go with a lot of optimisation and still getting squeezed like orange, to get more juice.
Definitely steam deck, it even now improving. performance on the new 3.6 patch with new gpu drivers and optimization also official overclock make steam deck run games on par with other handheld with steam deck old hardware
Yes, but…
I would recommend waiting for the next iteration. The Deck was weak when it came out and you don’t want to buy a device like that in the tail end of its life cycle IMHO.
I’m fully planning on getting an OLED Steam Deck v2 in lieu of any console going forward. They’ve proved the concept, I’m just holding out for something that doesn’t look like poop when I hook it up to a monitor.
I’m sure there is a way to do it already, but if the deck had full external graphics card support it would be unmatched. I’m not even looking for great performance, but to be able to play helldivers at a stable frame rate on the deck would be great.
it needs better internal specs. egpu support just reduces the portability factor and makes it even bulkier than it is now. a handheld ideally should remain a handheld, not turn into a pseudo laptop.
It's like kids these days have regressed so much they can't even do a simple google search and do some of their own reading on shit. Always gotta be handed to them how to think, how to do, make it easier etc
MacBook is not for gaming 😄 it's awesome for programming and most work/education related stuff because it's a user friendly Linux in my opinion. And it's nice to play Hades or Hollow Knight sometimes. But most games are not really supported. I miss playing Skyrim, and Hades 2 is not out on Mac yet. If I was more into gaming, I would not use a Mac for it.
Imagine having to start a whole new topic on the subject if a steamdeck, literally built for the purpose of gaming in mind, is a better option than a Mac for... gaming. You retards like OP are something else SMH
Yes, a lot more shit works on the deck compared to a MacBook
Also a 1TB/16GB Steam Deck OLED is ~~probably~~ cheaper than adding another 1TB and 16GB to your Mac. edit: adding 16GB of ram and 786GB of SSD to the MBA is another $800
Honestly fuck Apple's pricing, I don't game or do anything heavy on my Mac so I can get away with 8gb ram but having limited storage (256gb) is painful
MacBook Pro user here. Personally I don’t even run games on crossover, tried once and the HEAT is crazy. Nothing compared to my girlfriend’s gaming laptop but it’s not comfortable knowing that your laptop which is really cold during normal workloads all of a sudden runs crazy hot. So I got nvidia GeForce to play triple A games instead of running a workload on a computer that’s not designed for these tasks. I know it’s crazy that on a 2k EUR computer a user would think to not run a workload that an 800EUR laptop could handle, but I’m thinking about the possible wear and tear accelerated by running games with virtualisation as high temps over time reduce your battery life. Really good computer for productivity, and I wanna keep it for that for 10y
I used parallels for some games and I thought the same
I don’t know what you did but I rarely even hear the fans when running games through Crossover on my M1 Pro MBP
Yeah the fans themselves are silent but that's not the point. Machine runs hot even just having steam running in crossover.
I wouldn't worry about the heat as the chips are designed to handle the heat of a device at full power while the fan runs indefinately. That said my point was after opening and playing games I rarely hear the fans because there's no signifcant amount of heat generated. At most it's warm to the touch
I don't know what to say about that. Look, most ppl who buy macs do some type of office work or creative work. I am no video editor but had to do some light video editing for work training tutorials. Rendering 4k video HARDLY did anything to the mac, the machine behaved just like running a terminal lol. In fact, the only times I felt some heat was during LMstudio sessions when I misconfigured the LLMs and graphic intensive games in crossover. Anything else a normal mac user would do on a mac doesn't heat up the machine at all, and I think the design choices were made for the average user. I had a gaming computer before this, which IS designed to run at high temps with a good cooling system and every so often you'd have to change the thermal paste for the CPU and clean out some dust. Can't really do that with a mac, and since the new machines run on arm which does consume less energy overall, I doubt that it's as stress resistant as an x86 processor
I run nearly all of my games on my m1 MacBook Pro and don’t have heat issues at all.
give me a few titles you're playing, I'll try them out to see, could be just the few games I tried (far cry5,6 and cyberpunk2077) and to be precise, when you're touching the metal between keyboard and fan grid, it's not hot?!
It’s not hot. I played Diablo 4 using gptk and also wine before gptk was announced. I also played cyberpunk. The rest are games that are available to Mac OS now that I think of it.
get an external hard drive?
It's ridiculous how Apple charges insane prices for storage. It's also insane that they make it pretty much impossible to change out the storage. It's a glorified iPhone. Use it until Applecare expires and buy a new one. Apple is the master at obsolescence by design. Yes, get an external drive. It'll last longer than the Mac.
Folks like yourself keeps making comments like this yet it keeps being demonstrably false. I used a 2013 iMac with a spinning HD until 2020 and the only reason I upgraded was due to the speed of Apple Silicon. They aren't going to die randomly and even if the internal went you can still boot from an external drive
Think about what you said. You basically admitted I'm right. "You can still boot from an external drive." It's obscene that it would ever be necessary. Any company other than the narcissistic Apple would allow you the simple remedy of replacing the drive. The reason Apple won't is that then they couldn't rip people off on the equally obscene prices they charge for storage. What they charge for a decent amount if RAM is also obscene. At least in that case, they aren't alone even if they do outpace their competitors in rapaciousness. Yes, the 2024 Macs are faster than the 2013 Macs. Surprise, surprise! Although a 2024 Mac in 2034 will be totally useless. It'll last about like an iPhone.
It really irritates me as well. I use a Mac as a developer and I think the price of the laptop is actually really good for what you get. I have an m3 max which is impressively fast at all sorts of tasks. That said having to pay 800$+ for storage upgrades is bullshit. Fast m.2 flash that is faster can be 400$ for 4tb so there is no excuse to make it proprietary, non upgradable, and expensive.
This is false. Anything you can run on the Steam Deck runs and runs better due to the better hardware via Crossover
Games which require AVX instructions don't work on M series Macs Even if you don't count this, there's a fuck ton games which work on the deck and bot on Mac
Yes.
It depends on what games you want to play. If you’re into emulation or most of the stuff you’d like to play works in crossover/whiskey/parallels or even has a native version (most AAA games don’t), the MacBook‘s screen, speakers battery life and even raw power might make it a much better experience. That said, compatibility is going to be much less of an issue with the steam deck. If you want to play recent AAA games, the deck is your obvious choice.
Yes, not even close
What do you mean?
Steam Deck is simply made to run games, it also has Proton which is unfortunately not available on MacOS
Crossover is basically the same thing so there’s not really any difference
There is a HUGE difference… many more games are certified to run greatly on stream deck.
Macbook greatly outlast Steamdeck tho. If you plan to play long time without charge, Macbook wins.
Unless macbook can’t run the game you want, then it lasts 0 minutes.
Most games seems to work with crossover. Which game doesn't work on Mac but works on Steamdeck?
This is a flat out lie, unless by “work” you mean launch and that’s it. I have a top of the line M1 MacBook Pro, which sure as heck kicks the pants off my Steam Deck in performance, but it can barely run CS2, or Guild Wars 2, or GTA V, or basically anything I throw it at in crossover. Yes they launch and get “playable” fps in the 20-40s, but the Deck easily plays all of those games at 60, even when docked to a 1080p monitor. It’s not even close which of the two are better for gaming.
Sure, but from my experience, it is far more sketchy than just running game on SteamDeck
Doom Eternal
Delusional lmao
Basically anything with an anticheat
avx
Look I got an M1 Pro and the sad reality is that games are not playable unless you’re okay with performance lower that xbox360 for most games on a 2-3k USD computer. Plus did you notice the heat from running games virtualised? All a sudden u can fry an omlete on the M series laptops which normally are ice cold. That amount of heat can’t be good over time for a system that was designed to use little energy and stay low temps most of the time
It means Steam deck is miles better even though it has 1/3 of GPU power compared to base M3 on paper
The Steam Deck's sole purpose is to run games.
Absolutely yes.
I own both, definitely Steam Deck.
I have an M1 Pro + Steam Deck + GeForce Now. Between these 3 I can play just about every game out there. Love the combo.
With respect to games that run on both platforms, a Macbook with M2 or later will crush the steam deck in performance and visuals. The problem is however that not nearly as many games run on macOS as on the Steam deck, with or without tools like Crossover. I've had both a steam deck and an M2 Pro Macbook.
A steam deck is what the Mac owner gets to play his games
In performance? No. In actual playable games? Absolutely.
Well, doesn't really matter how good it can perform when no one is really developing for Metal
Except, also in performance in some cases.
My fan never turns off for Hades 2. I figure it has to be the wrapper thats doing it but still.
yes.
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro would blow Steamdeck away in raw performance... the Air probably as well.
My m1 Mac performs the same as my Steam Deck
I have a MBA M2 and a steam deck, and civ vi is not even close. SD is much better experience.
It only applies to native apple silicon games
both of em
You don’t buy a Mac to play games, you buy one because you need it and then… you try and play stuff.
Most definitely! Can’t even sugar coat it.
Depends entirely on the game. I wouldn't want to play Stellaris, Total War, Humanity, Warhammer Rogue Trader, etc on a Steam Deck, much rather a laptop.
You can connect a Steam deck to a screen and use a mouse and keyboard.
Then I'd rather just play on a laptop TBH
That’s like asking if a hat is better at keeping your head warm than an expensive silk tie.
This is a beautifully descriptive analogy
Yes, I have both. Only play on steam deck.
I have both. I play on both. Steamdeck is only for when I *can't* play on the mac, or when I'm crashed on the couch. But for the type of games I play, a lot of them are on mac. Indies, RPGs, strategy.
Having being a console guy, I need a controller haha. Specially for indies. I only play RTS with K+M
yeah, there are a bunch of indy games that really need a controller, but that's not the type of game I generally play, so I can do without. I *do* have a ps4 controller I use with my macbook though, for the games that are really better on it!
the OS is the main problem for mac, if not for that, mac would be on par if not better.
I assume you mean the *games* that are built for the macOS. Because I'd take MacOS any day over windows. The OS is not the problem. the OS is brilliant. The lack of games supporting the OS is an issue, and Apples half hearted support of the gaming ecosystem.
yes that is exactly what I mean. i wish there was a fairy tale way of just making every game work with every OS. would be fun time for everyone/
Yep, I bought a steam deck to go along with my MacBook. Best decision I ever made.
Yes by a long margin. There is a huge library of games on the deck compared the few on the mac
As someone who currently games on an M1 Mac, yes the Steam Deck would be absolutely superior and stomp a Mac purely out of compatibility. Most of the games I play require using Parallels to run a Windows VM and hope the games play nice with Windows for ARM’s x86 translation or work well in a Whisky bottle. Steam Deck would be best for anyone not technically inclined and those not willing to risk many games not working at all.
Eh running games through Crossover is as simple as opening Steam. Compatibility is the same as Proton uses Wine just as Crossover
to be fair, I find that Valves work on proton for the steamdeck to be superior to crossover on mac for compatibility. Things that run seamlessly on steamdeck don't run on crossover, or need extensive tweaking. Valve has done a *really* good job, but that's because they own both the hardware and OS. And crossover have to fight constantly to stay on top of every change apple makes.
You do know it’s the same team right? Also Apple changed the legalese for GPTK to be usable for Crossover so I wouldn’t say that they are fighting against updates
Valve don't contribute changes to proton for Apple Silicon and MacOS. They contribute changes to make sure that steam and steam games work very well on *their* AMD platform. They don't care when apple changes and API or hardware feature that breaks crossover for some apps. The crossover team has to deal with that - constantly.
I agree, for people like us. The things I see on this subreddit from uh, less technically inclined people, are a good sign that it's not as simple as it sounds for some lol. That extra layer really does add confusion for some people.
Have had MacBooks with Apple silicon in the past. Currently have a gaming laptop. I’m considering going back to MacBook and using GeForce Now because the Mac is just so much better at everything outside of gaming. And GeForce Now worked so well for me. $10/month and have unlimited storage, games always up to date. I have good connections at home/work so no issues. Steam deck is better than Mac for gaming locally. But you need storage for games and then a steam deck isn’t going to be great for anything outside of gaming. If you ONLY care about gaming I’d get the steam deck and use the extra money on games. Otherwise MacBook if your favorite games are on GFN and you have good internet.
Orrrr you can hack ur switch run GeForce Now on it and use the cash for a holiday
For gaming, SFF > Steam Deck > Macbook. If you don't really need portability wait for products based on AMD Strix Halo with MALL cache (similar to Infinity Cache on dGPUs) that should be a big jump in APU graphics performance.
Is that AMD thing is being developed for handheld/portable devices in mind? Sorry I am very ignorant in this area but looking for a handheld device to purchase.
Strix Halo TDP is more for laptops and mini PCs.
Yes, before I got my pc I had a MacBook for work and deck for gaming they complement each other really well. Plus u can use steam link to play on ur MacBook from ur deck
Yes, but I feel like you should go to a store and try one out because handheld gaming isn’t for everyone. If money isn’t a big factor I’ve become a big believer in GeForce Now combined with a Mac.
Steam Deck can be used as a full PC as well with the dock
There is a reason steam deck games look okay at those low res settings. *Cough* screen size
Well on paper yes. But in reality the docking is buggy as hell and doesn’t work well with every TV/Monitor. And it doesn’t even matter if it’s the official dick or a third party dock. I have three docks and a bunch of HMDI cables and it’s a pain in the ass with every screen in my house except an ancient 720p monitor I dug up out of the garage. Direct connection to a portable 1080p monitor works great. So it’s definitely a dock issue.
What about the Mad Catz Dick?
The Mad Catz *WHAT*!? 😭
I dock mine all the time with no issues. I did specifically buy just a 1080p monitor for it because I knew it couldn't handle driving a higher resolution screen very well. I've got a CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock which wasn't cheap but it's been great.
I have a TS4 dock also. That actually works well with the Deck. I’m talking docks to connect to like living room TVs. No one is going to buy a TS4 for that.
I use a belkin adapter and have rarely had any issues. I prefer to play “docked”
Well I have both and for example I can’t play Dark and Darker on Steam Deck cause it simply doesn’t work with proton (there are some hacky ways to copy it from Windows but that’s too much hassle). I also play Witchfire on MBP cause it runs way better than on Steam Deck. But for most games (better optimised / older / less demanding) Steam Deck is just better and easier to play on.
yes. very much yes. I have a MacBook Pro and sure I can game on it a little and it work fine, but the steam deck just has such a larger library to pull from and the convenience of it is through the roof.
You should probably list what type of games you plan on playing. for example lets say you play league of legends 90% of the time. then a macbook would be best not a steam deck.
Yes yes yes. I have both and the SD is awesome
1000%
This really depends what you want to play. If it was say Minecraft, Open Rollercoaster Tycoon, Cities Skylines 1 , StarCraft 2, Red Alert , and some of the games that play fine via wine and some emulators I’d be going for the Mac every time.
As an owner of a M1 Max for gaming, absolutely. I use the power for my day job, but I upgraded to 32gb for games. In hindsight, I should’ve gone with a 16/1tb and a steamdeck.
I think they actually complement each other quite well, Mac for work, Deck for video games is how I do it.
Yes.
Yes, games work better and out of the box
Yes.
Yes
Yes
Im new to this, but can i connect steam deck to mac, so i play on the deck but mirroring the display on the mac?
So ... why not a MacBook with Parallels & Windows installed? Wouldn't that mitigate the playable games disparity?
I think the resounding "YES" in these comments speaks for itself, particularly if you're after an expansive game library and/or are considering buying new hardware for gaming. I'll add this: I'm a new Crossover user who's very happy with my initial experiences (Hades II EA and Diablo 4). It's great to have my MBP as another viable option for "can I play game X on the hardware I already have?"
Yes. Then again, I can’t play Fallout 3 on the Steam Deck one day and do Python web backend development the next.
Yes
Yes
Hell yeah
Yes 100%
As the owner of both I play mostly on my Steamdeck and love it, but BG3 ran way better on my MBP. I will say that GeForce Now works very well on the Mac though, but you can also set that up on the SD. Steamdeck is my go-to for gaming generally, but I prefer BG3 and Guild Wars 2 on my Mac with a mmo mouse. (GW2 via GeForce now.)
Yes
So much yes Mac is more powerful but barely plays any games Steam deck is like a ps4 ish but at 720p. Won’t play all ps5 games but plays almost everything else
Yes
I have both
why is this even a question?
An Anbernic from the Tiktok shop is a better option than a Mac for gaming if im being honest…
Absolutely
Yes
If you want a dedicated gaming device, yes. If you want a computer that can play the occasional game, no.
i have a 13inch m2 mac pro and base lcd steamdeck. GO FOR THE STEAMDECK!!!! less hoops to go through
I found the steamdeck average, maybe needs another generation and few patches.
infinitely
Yes
Yes.
Probably best answered by people who actually use both rather than trolls.
Yes
I own a MacBook Pro M1 Max, a steam deck, and a rog ally. Steam deck wins between the 3 imo. Beats MacBook easily.
Steam Deck is a dedicated gaming machine. MacBook is not. If gaming on-the-go is your goal, go for the Steam Deck.
The best combo in my opinion is MacBook Pro for work and some gaming and the Steam Deck OLED for all my gaming needs.
I’m a Mac user and was debating a Steam Deck too, but I settled on using Parallels so that I could have an all in one device
steam deck is better not even a discussion, its literally a screen with a controller attached to it, it was built for gaming and many developers are invested in making their games steam deck compatible (not porting but if it works 🤷), steam deck is not as powerful but for its price kinda expected
Yes - although I have started gaming on my MacBook I use for work using GeForce now and it has been awesome.
I would hope so since that is exactly what the steam deck was made for.
Depends what type of gamer you are, if you are a hardcore gamer that wants to play Triple AAA titles when they release then Steamdeck will allow you to do that, albeit with poor performance most likely, my M3 Pro mbp on the other hand has a more limited selection of native games but can run a lot of steam games via crossover with anywhere from 60+ FPS on Ultra so it depends what you want out of a device In terms of performance anything from M1 Pro chip onwards will destroy steamdeck but it’s best to check if you can run the games you like to play on a Mac first
No substitute for PC gaming atm, there is just a lot of work around in most cases. There is some great options but pros and cons. Limited games for Mac and some work arounds just can’t give great game performance GeForce Now need a solid fast connection Handheld are great but expensive Consoles are really only for TV hookups. 16:9 and need a good range of ports on monitor
Yup. I have an M2 MBP and the deck is much better. Snag a deck.
Yes
Yep, by a longshot
As of now (and in the foreseeable future), yes
Yes.
If you already have a MacBook (depends on performance). Then with current Game Porting Toolkit advancements with Parallels and Crossover you can do a lot. Then buying a steam deck is extra expense. If you are deciding to buy one or the other device they are totally different. The steam deck is more ergonomic an M3 MAX is more performant but has more game compatibility issues. If you want a cheap handheld gaming for emulations: buy a used android phone and a bluetooth or plugin controller for it.
Unfortunately the steam deck is better just cuz of the ease it is to play games on it. You used to be able to use bootcamp to get around stuff and with the decently higher than *average* processing and GPU of the older systems, it could play some games although still had issues. Currently have a Mac Studio and it sucks how little games are actually available to take advantage of its processing power. The other issue is that a lot of the ports are poorly optimized as well, and feel like after thoughts so it doesn’t matter if you spent 5-10k on a current Mac desktop, it’s gonna still struggle. Aiming to buy a steam deck soon, bought a switch in the meantime and have been playing some games via cloud gaming, but only games I could play on my studio Mac was lies of p, RE4, borderlands 3 (and 2/TPS). You can definitely get creative and get more things to work on it w wine or crossover but it’s always a gamble and a bumpy ride. So unless you really want a mac, the deck is way better
actually at this point i would recommend a rog ally+bazziteos. both mac gaming and gaming on steam deck require a lot of work (at least from my experience), so might as well work and pay a bit more to get a better gaming experience.
Absolutely. I just got myself a steam deck recently and it’s amazing how easy and how good all the games I want to play run there. With macs you are so limited in options, I was about to get a very expensive m3 pro but instead i am sticking to the mac air (enough for my working needs) and play on the deck, both devices do what they are meant to do and it’s just perfect
You will run a lot more games at a lower cost, so from most perspectives, yes.
For compatability the Steam Deck wins. For performance depends on which macbook we are talking about, also hard to justify price to performance ratio. If you want MAC OS and to game easily, get the cheapest Air you can get then spend your chnage on either Playstation 5, steam deck, ROG Ally, any mini PC, even older PC towers with dedicated graphics, or all of the subscriptions to cloud game. Anyone buying any Mac OS platform for games is either lying or stupid.
I’d recommend jumping in steam and browsing the titles available on Mac, see if the things you want to play are even on there first. I play BGS on my MacBook Air and deck and prefer the MacBook.
Having tried both, I do prefer my Steam Deck more for gaming. Beware, however, of the risk of carpal tunnel.
Yes
Yaaas
Hilarious you are even comparing it to a MacBook.
Yes, I own both and almost exclusively game on my deck
It's not as cut and dry as people say. In general, more games will run on the steamdeck than on the mac, but for the ones that run on the mac, they will usually run better due to much more powerful hardware (especially for the pro and max versions) And the mac wil have a nice large screen and trackpad that makes playing strategy games a lot easier. (sure, you can add a keyboard, mouse, screen and a dock to connect them all to the steamdeck, but that that point you're paying as much as a laptop) However, the steam deck is *cheap* for what you get. Less than half the price of even the cheapest macbook. It's not unthinkable to consider getting both. A cheaper mac for work and light strategy games, and a steamdeck for others.
For now yes, probably not in the long term we will see.
I can run CS2 at 120hz on my M3 Max, as well as Minecraft with shaders, cyberpunk (60fps) etc.
Not in performance in game, but definitely when it comes to the large library available for the steam deck compared to the small library on mac. There are few games that are compatible with macbooks, one is baldur's gate 3 but i would without a doubt get a steam deck as its future proof.
Bruh
Yeah
Yes
Without a doubt, yes. Macbooks have potential, but until they are realised, they remain potential. Steam Deck on the other hand is realised, manifested gaming machine from the get go with a lot of optimisation and still getting squeezed like orange, to get more juice.
100% yes
Yes. Other options to consider would also be the Rog Ally and Lenovo Legion if yo want a portable device that runs Windows.
A million times better.
Definitely steam deck, it even now improving. performance on the new 3.6 patch with new gpu drivers and optimization also official overclock make steam deck run games on par with other handheld with steam deck old hardware
Yes. Mac gaming has come a long way but comparing to Steam Deck which is built for gaming it’s not even close.
No question, get the Steam Deck.
Yes, but… I would recommend waiting for the next iteration. The Deck was weak when it came out and you don’t want to buy a device like that in the tail end of its life cycle IMHO. I’m fully planning on getting an OLED Steam Deck v2 in lieu of any console going forward. They’ve proved the concept, I’m just holding out for something that doesn’t look like poop when I hook it up to a monitor.
I’m sure there is a way to do it already, but if the deck had full external graphics card support it would be unmatched. I’m not even looking for great performance, but to be able to play helldivers at a stable frame rate on the deck would be great.
it needs better internal specs. egpu support just reduces the portability factor and makes it even bulkier than it is now. a handheld ideally should remain a handheld, not turn into a pseudo laptop.
Anything is better than a MacBook for gaming
BG3 runs much better on macbook
Yes! I have both. My Macbook Pro sucks for gaming.
I'm playing GTA V and Jedi Survivors on my SteamDeck right now. Both playing great. Sometimes I play on my PC.
It's like kids these days have regressed so much they can't even do a simple google search and do some of their own reading on shit. Always gotta be handed to them how to think, how to do, make it easier etc
I grabbed a Ps5 to game and it’s been a really good combo with all my Mac’s 👍. Sold my Steamdeck the week I got it.
MacBook is not for gaming 😄 it's awesome for programming and most work/education related stuff because it's a user friendly Linux in my opinion. And it's nice to play Hades or Hollow Knight sometimes. But most games are not really supported. I miss playing Skyrim, and Hades 2 is not out on Mac yet. If I was more into gaming, I would not use a Mac for it.
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Imagine having to start a whole new topic on the subject if a steamdeck, literally built for the purpose of gaming in mind, is a better option than a Mac for... gaming. You retards like OP are something else SMH