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Retrogaming with a Mac Mini?

Hi,

 

first of all, let's hope I'm posting this in the right forum.

 

So the day finally happened : my very old early 2009 24inch iMac died yesterday.

Obviously, the computer was way too old for advanced stuff, but it was still very handy for multimedia, music, and most of all retro gaming with my daughter (using Retroarch and OpenEmu).

The computer could handle any old system relatively well (Megadrive/Genesis, SNES etc.), more or less well slightly more demanding systems such as Saturn, PS1 and N64.

Anything above this was asking way too much from its Core2Duo processor.

 

I'm planning on replacing it with an entry level i3 Mac Mini (base model, no option).

 

To your opinion, what can I hope from this computer on the retrogaming front? Are PS2, Dreamcast, GameCube etc. out of reach?

 

Thanks

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I am guessing that if an iMac from 2009 could do it, even the base model from this year should have no problem running the games.

I am far from an expert in this so please correct me if I’m wrong.

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5 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

I am guessing that if an iMac from 2009 could do it, even the base model from this year should have no problem running the games.

This.

 

Retro stuff can be emulated really smoothly with modern tech, even a Raspberry Pi can run retro games very nicely.

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PS2 is gonna be out of reach for sure, but Dreamcast and GameCube might be doable, least on Windows. Anything your old Mac could do, though, this one could no question.

EDIT: Just realized you meant a modern Mac Mini. Those shits will blaze through most PS2 games with ease at, at least, native resolution.

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9 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

This.

 

Retro stuff can be emulated really smoothly with modern tech, even a Raspberry Pi can run retro games very nicely.

Well, the 2009 imac CANNOT run advanced systems, obviously. It was really asking way too much from it.

Older systems, of course, no problem. After all, I can play Genesis, SNES and some MAME arcade games with my very under powered Acer Spin 11 Chromebook.

 

I'm really more worried about stuff that needs more horsepower.

Being an avid follower on ETAPrime on YouTube, I've seen many SBC fail hard with PSP or N64. And the iMac isn't that powerful -- but more than enough for other uses, such as GarageBand, editing photos etc.

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42 minutes ago, Uji Ninja said:

Well, the 2009 imac CANNOT run advanced systems, obviously. It was really asking way too much from it.

Older systems, of course, no problem. After all, I can play Genesis, SNES and some MAME arcade games with my very under powered Acer Spin 11 Chromebook.

 

I'm really more worried about stuff that needs more horsepower.

Being an avid follower on ETAPrime on YouTube, I've seen many SBC fail hard with PSP or N64. And the iMac isn't that powerful -- but more than enough for other uses, such as GarageBand, editing photos etc.

Definitely.

 

I've got a 2010 iMac that I upgraded a bit to breathe some life into, I'd envision it being pretty capable, but anything more modern will obviously do better. Although I'm not sure about the performance difference between the 8th/9th gen Core i3s and my i7-860.

Quote or tag me( @Crunchy Dragon) if you want me to see your reply

If a post solved your problem/answered your question, please consider marking it as "solved"

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