Straight into the thick of things, my old XPC gaming rig finally dropped itself over the weekend - I actually think it's got a dead PSU - and I am looking for a new one.
There are some unusual caveats (for me) in that I'm doing this on a budget of around $1,100AU, which can make it hard. So I started looking at some Apple kit, and the new mac mini looks pretty nice.
Thus I am asking you of the escapist, do you think that this is a viable option? Obviously the main points here are that it is a 2.66 Core 2 (at best) with 4GB of RAM (or 8GB if I can swing it) and holding a NVIDIA GeForce 320M. Try to ignore the fact that it's a Mac, I don't care what you think about the company. Some research seems to indicate that the nVidia/driver support is going to be an issue as Apples "bootcamp" drivers aren't quite up to scratch, but apart from some SC2 and maybe a bit of C&C4, I'm not going to be doing much in the way of latest gaming any more.
Has anyone tried one? Or perhaps an iMac? Or am I going to be stuck building a custom one from Alienware and trying to get it under? I don't want to re-use hardware I have, as it was all on the way out anyway, so I'm pretty well stuck with what I've got (that is, screen keyboard and mouse). I'm relatively ok with not having upgradeable options, so a small form factor machine isn't out (as long as it has the grunt).
Side note: I get some nice discounts for being employed by a reseller, don't think I miscalculated the costs on the Mac Mini - I am doing asking this purely for the pro's and con's of using the aforementioned harware in a gaming environment.
Thoughts? Arguments for and against? Recommendations?
Edit: I can run windows on the Mini, and probably will, I have a license of 7 free, which negates the software argument. It's really the hardware I am interested in.
There are some unusual caveats (for me) in that I'm doing this on a budget of around $1,100AU, which can make it hard. So I started looking at some Apple kit, and the new mac mini looks pretty nice.
Thus I am asking you of the escapist, do you think that this is a viable option? Obviously the main points here are that it is a 2.66 Core 2 (at best) with 4GB of RAM (or 8GB if I can swing it) and holding a NVIDIA GeForce 320M. Try to ignore the fact that it's a Mac, I don't care what you think about the company. Some research seems to indicate that the nVidia/driver support is going to be an issue as Apples "bootcamp" drivers aren't quite up to scratch, but apart from some SC2 and maybe a bit of C&C4, I'm not going to be doing much in the way of latest gaming any more.
Has anyone tried one? Or perhaps an iMac? Or am I going to be stuck building a custom one from Alienware and trying to get it under? I don't want to re-use hardware I have, as it was all on the way out anyway, so I'm pretty well stuck with what I've got (that is, screen keyboard and mouse). I'm relatively ok with not having upgradeable options, so a small form factor machine isn't out (as long as it has the grunt).
Side note: I get some nice discounts for being employed by a reseller, don't think I miscalculated the costs on the Mac Mini - I am doing asking this purely for the pro's and con's of using the aforementioned harware in a gaming environment.
Thoughts? Arguments for and against? Recommendations?
Edit: I can run windows on the Mini, and probably will, I have a license of 7 free, which negates the software argument. It's really the hardware I am interested in.
