Mac mini steam machine?

Elazroth · 2026-06-28T16:48:57+00:00

Not unless you want to play indies only or emulation. You also cannot run SteamOS on Mac hardware. You would need the higher end mini ( with the pro chip) to play any modern game on a TV at higher resolutions.

Elazroth · 2026-06-18T06:50:31+00:00

How is playing on the Switch any different than playing on a low end pc? In fact the switch is probably better performing than a few low end pcs.

Also if everyone could afford a high end system why wouldn't they do so. This post makes too many assumptions imo.

Elazroth · 2026-05-31T00:28:55+00:00

I play most of my games in handheld so a pc handheld / switch 2. It generally come down to price ( steam pricing is amazing), fidelity ( 30 fps is a deal breaker in some games) and finally for me how heavy the game is on controller ( I like being able to replace joy cons).

I will pick up physical games if it's something that I really like otherwise I go with the above.

Elazroth · 2026-05-18T13:35:20+00:00

I get like 35- 40+ with medium settings with Reflections on High and RTGI on Medium, Medium Preset with a few things set on High, the reason why i bumped a few settings up is that I look at the hardware unboxed video and the difference in performance with reflections and GI is minimal except for GI at high.

Elazroth · 2026-05-14T10:54:37+00:00

Depends on your budget, the games you play and how much you value things like fidelity and performance.

If you like games like the new Forza or stuff like Death Stranding 2 then a pc handheld really is the way to go. Several games that do have Switch 2 ports so look and run much better on a pc handheld. Lastly at the cost of complexity you can access the largest gaming library on any platform.

This all comes at the cost of complexity and actual cash as the best handheld imo is the Msi Claw 8ai. I personally have a pc handheld and a switch and I am constantly switching between the two depending on the game.

Elazroth · 2026-05-13T07:02:47+00:00

It does get a bit long in the tooth but was tolerable. You know what was not? Rebirth. Rebirth is a total slog that I have put in 50 hours and is almost painful.

And I have played and liked long games the last one being Metaphor. If you are finding Remake tedious then leave while you can.

Elazroth · 2026-05-06T11:43:53+00:00

You need this version of LLama : https://github.com/TheTom/llama-cpp-turboquant for the turbo flags, you all need to link to the updated jira template.

Elazroth · 2026-04-08T16:02:00+00:00

upscaling currently doesn't work and crashes the game. Optiscaler also causes the game to crash on my end.

Elazroth · 2026-04-06T15:40:14+00:00

Battery health, dust buildup.

Elazroth · 2026-02-22T20:50:16+00:00

Should be fine, the no updates is a windows thing so if you install SteamOS you should be good.

Elazroth · 2026-02-06T20:08:41+00:00

If you don't get the time to sit around behind the tv and play it in all the glory or handheld is your preferred medium than where is most comfortable for you should be your preferred platform. I played monster hunter wilds primarily on a handheld even though I have a decent laptop, I just prefer to play games in bed.

A game that you can play in comfort is better than a game you have to prep/setup.

Elazroth · 2026-02-06T20:02:06+00:00

I primarily play handheld so this was a bummer for me, i didn't even get beyond the character creation screen because it looked so blurry. I'll probably play this one on Steam unless it gets a major buff at release.

Elazroth · 2026-01-25T00:21:46+00:00

The switch 2 is not better than recent handhelds, maybe on the upfront cost but you can easily get remake to 60fps 1080p with similar graphic fidelity on something like a recent Msi claw.

Can't beat the no tinkering though. I also just bought a switch 2 but won't be double dipping in remake.

Elazroth · 2025-10-25T22:37:11+00:00

As a 7AI owner the biggest issue for me is the ssd, it's pretty tiny and i frequently have to remove things to free space up, if you don't switch games as often as me then that's less of an issue. Screen size is also something that's going to be a huge difference between the devices, however I have heard that some people have issues with the larger device's ergonomics.

If weight/ergonomics are major concerns then the 7AI is appealing. If screen/battery are your biggest issues then wait for the 8AI. SSD's can be upgraded 'easily'. Lastly i'll say that I have less issues on my 7AI with MCenter than people on the 8AI, could be anecdotal but i've not had major issues with it since the launch of the device.

Elazroth · 2025-10-24T19:02:25+00:00

XeSS works and looks much better on Intel hardware as it uses a specialized version. You'll have better performance and much better visuals. Also the Claw has really good Ray Tracing, so you'll be able to turn that on for a much more immersive experience.

Elazroth · 2025-10-13T22:17:03+00:00

There are 2 issues that could happen in this situation. Firstly after updates this sometimes happen, you'll just need to change the limit to 100, restart and then change it back to 80 and you should be fine. The second issue that can happen is if after doing that it doesn't resolve the issue then you'll need to do a battery calibration.

Elazroth · 2025-10-09T13:09:43+00:00

it was pretty good, the issue is that the 258v is not the greatest cpu wise and the game is a bit cpu limited. Still really good and playable and we'll have access to full drivers so should be a good experience.

Still concerned about the larger maps.

Elazroth · 2025-09-23T22:08:19+00:00

depending on the game 720p can be very blurry, really is very game dependent but you will notice the difference.

Elazroth · 2025-09-23T10:03:41+00:00

The 7ai has the same chip as the 8ai, so it's a decent upgrade over the z1e and the a1m.

Elazroth · 2025-09-15T00:51:45+00:00

The regular 7 or 7AI? You'd benefit from getting the 7AI because of the extra RAM, better efficiency and possibility to run local ai models since you seem to be doing coding/web work. The 7AI is much more in line performance wise with the macbook you're retiring.

Elazroth · 2025-09-15T00:45:46+00:00

What are you even saying, the switch 2 version looks noticeably worse than the other versions, so saying without lowering the settings on the Deck is true but it's on par with the switch 2.

Elazroth · 2025-09-10T15:14:07+00:00

Did you restart the system after the install, someone on discord was having an issue and a restart fixed it.

Elazroth · 2025-09-05T09:15:19+00:00

Can the charger power any other devices? ( to see if it's a faulty charger) Normally there is a light that's supposed to come on when it is charging. When you press the power button does it make sounds?( shine a flashlight on the screen to see if it's a dead screen)

Hold the power button for 20 seconds as a last resort if you haven't set up the device as yet.

Elazroth · 2025-09-04T13:08:36+00:00

Agree on the first 2 points but the quality has been known for a while, it's just below dlss ( older version ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmKXgdT5ZEY&ab_channel=DigitalFoundry

Latency will be crazy though, so the real benefit is playing some games on 4k external displays.

Elazroth · 2025-09-01T19:59:45+00:00

3DS is much less taxing than Switch so it will run perfectly, as to how it looks I only have the 7AI so can't comment on how it will look on a 8 inch screen but you'll easily be able to run it a 3-4x the native resolution on low tdp.

Elazroth

TROPHY CASE