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I am contemplating a gift for my 12 year old son. He has a mac mini that he uses. His only complaint is that he wishes he could play terrarria (a steam game that run on Windows only platforms), and a few other issues. I am thinking of installing Windows with bootcamp, so he could boot into whatever.
So the thing I am contemplating, is do I buy him a lower end laptop (for about $300) so he could take it with us on trips and such and be able to play his windows games. Or do I buy him an iPad mini? If I get the mini, then I will definitely want to bootcamp his mac mini so he can boot into Windows 7 to play windows games.
A $300 laptop might not play some games, or at least not well. Be sure to double check the specs.
Also by "trips" do you mean in the car? Plane? Many games, including ones through Steam, require an internet connection to play them at all. It he's looking to play without an internet connection, the point is moot.
A $300 laptop might not play some games, or at least not well. Be sure to double check the specs.
Also by "trips" do you mean in the car? Plane? Many games, including ones through Steam, require an internet connection to play them at all. It he's looking to play without an internet connection, the point is moot.
Good points. The trips will be by both car and plane. I didn't know that some Steam games required an internet connection.
I am leaning towards just installing Windows 7 on the mac mini with bootcamp. Then he can boot into the Windows partition to play windows only games.
The thing that worried me about the $300 laptop is that (like you mentioned), the specs may not be there. At that price, we are just getting a low end laptop that is basically good for web surfing, documents, etc.
I believe all Steam game require an internet connection. Many out-of-the-box game do as wall; they say it's for copyright protection. It's particularly annoying for plane trips, which would be the perfect time to play a long strategy game.
Laptop. Forget the iFad. He should be typing reports or other school assignments either now or soon - not easy on a tablet. The world still revolves around Microsoft. For every Apple software application that is unavailable for Windows, there are 69 Windows software applications that are unavailable for Apple. You get more bang for the buck with a Windows machine because there is more competition. Memory upgrades and batteries are much cheaper. Universal hardware vs proprietary hardware with Apple. Syncing hassles with iTunes vs plug and play media transfers with every other platform in the world.
I honestly don't understand why anybody buys Apple unless they are victims of Apple marketing. Seriously.
I believe all Steam game require an internet connection. Many out-of-the-box game do as wall; they say it's for copyright protection. It's particularly annoying for plane trips, which would be the perfect time to play a long strategy game.
Most do, but there are some that don't.
You can also put steam into offline mode if you know that you are going to be unplugged for a while. Of course some games require a connection, but the ones that don't should work.
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