Apple Silicon sings to me. But I discovered the gamer side of me, help.

Matteo Pignoli · September 9, 2022

Hi! I'm a graphic designer for a living, I am fairly deep into Apple's ecosystem (iPad, AirPods, couple of AirTags lying around my stuff, my next phone will most likely be an iPhone), and in my workspace many people do use Macs, which means that AirDrop and other features can and would come in handy.

The Apple Silicon computers just seem to be the best choice for me, yet... I just fell in love with fighting games. Guilty Gear, Melty Blood, you name it. I did my research, and it's just not really an option to try and find a way to play those titles on M1/2 Mac.

I'm starting to wonder and search around other laptop options that are fairly similar, but are Windows, and would provide the performance I seek (Mainly design, motion graphics, complex After Effects projects, and some degree of photo and video editing that I do from time to time, some video jobs do come in my design agency, we do all sorts of stuff.)

The games I look forward to play the most would be GG Strive, Melty Lumina, Final Fantasy XIV, -which are fairly light, true that-

Most of my gaming time is done on PS4 (Soon to be 5, I hope) and Switch, but some online communities do practically exist only on PC, especially the competitive side of the fighting game community.

My eyes are wondering around, Asus has their Zenbook line which looks tasty, MSI has their Creator line that interests me equally as much

Would you have any specific tip, or brands and computer linups I should give an eye on? Thank you all in advance

I do know that I didn't specify exactly a budget set in stone to further help you people, but I'm not exactly in the market for a computer in this exact moment, rather trying to figure out all the possible options, I'll probably end up spending around 1500 to 2000€ max.

M2 Pro MacBook Pros waiting room I guess?

DANK_AS_gay · September 9, 2022

2 minutes ago, Matteo Pignoli said:

I just fell in love with fighting games.

Emulation is an option, ps3, ps2, ps1, gamecube, wii, etc. All have fighting games. Also, major AAA titles are coming to MacOS natively, like No Mans Sky and Resident Evil Village. With some patience, you will probably get the games you mentioned as well. Worst case, use a streaming service like GeForce Now or Game Pass. That way, no compromises.

Matteo Pignoli · September 9, 2022

Just now, DANK_AS_gay said:

Emulation is an option, ps3, ps2, ps1, gamecube, wii, etc. All have fighting games. Also, major AAA titles are coming to MacOS natively, like No Mans Sky and Resident Evil Village. With some patience, you will probably get the games you mentioned as well. Worst case, use a streaming service like GeForce Now or Game Pass. That way, no compromises.

Streaming services doesn't seem reasonable with fighting games. if I have to punish a move that is -3, I have 3 frames to do that. Practically, no input lag has to be there in ANY way. Even wifi can be an issue, imagine streaming the game. No, it has to be local, native, and on something I can play with.
Plus, my favourite fg, Actress Again, has it's online made by the community, so... That won't ever come to Mac.
And I don't see either French Bread or ArcSystem Works ever porting their games to Mac in the reasonable future.

I guess it has to be Windows, after all.
Or I bit the bullet and get a MacBook and just play games at home, never on the go. (Rip dreams of traveling around with much of a gaming machine I have to guess)

DANK_AS_gay · September 9, 2022

3 minutes ago, Matteo Pignoli said:

Streaming services doesn't seem reasonable with fighting games. if I have to punish a move that is -3, I have 3 frames to do that. Practically, no input lag has to be there in ANY way. Even wifi can be an issue, imagine streaming the game. No, it has to be local, native, and on something I can play with.
Plus, my favourite fg, Actress Again, has it's online made by the community, so... That won't ever come to Mac.
And I don't see either French Bread or ArcSystem Works ever porting their games to Mac in the reasonable future.

I guess it has to be Windows, after all.
Or I bit the bullet and get a MacBook and just play games at home, never on the go. (Rip dreams of traveling around with much of a gaming machine I have to guess)

Crossover is an option, so is parallels

.Antho · September 9, 2022

38 minutes ago, Matteo Pignoli said:

Hi! I'm a graphic designer for a living, I am fairly deep into Apple's ecosystem (iPad, AirPods, couple of AirTags lying around my stuff, my next phone will most likely be an iPhone), and in my workspace many people do use Macs, which means that AirDrop and other features can and would come in handy.

The Apple Silicon computers just seem to be the best choice for me, yet... I just fell in love with fighting games. Guilty Gear, Melty Blood, you name it. I did my research, and it's just not really an option to try and find a way to play those titles on M1/2 Mac.

I'm starting to wonder and search around other laptop options that are fairly similar, but are Windows, and would provide the performance I seek (Mainly design, motion graphics, complex After Effects projects, and some degree of photo and video editing that I do from time to time, some video jobs do come in my design agency, we do all sorts of stuff.)

The games I look forward to play the most would be GG Strive, Melty Lumina, Final Fantasy XIV, -which are fairly light, true that-

Most of my gaming time is done on PS4 (Soon to be 5, I hope) and Switch, but some online communities do practically exist only on PC, especially the competitive side of the fighting game community.

My eyes are wondering around, Asus has their Zenbook line which looks tasty, MSI has their Creator line that interests me equally as much

Would you have any specific tip, or brands and computer linups I should give an eye on? Thank you all in advance

I do know that I didn't specify exactly a budget set in stone to further help you people, but I'm not exactly in the market for a computer in this exact moment, rather trying to figure out all the possible options, I'll probably end up spending around 1500 to 2000€ max.

M2 Pro MacBook Pros waiting room I guess?

A lot of these things can be played on Steam Deck, and you can dock that sucker for display, usb ports and more making a nice convertible solution at a fantastic price. I'd imagine that if you'd like to stick to the Apple Ecosystem, a Deck would be a cheap way to get entry into the games you want without breaking the bank. Aya Neo also has a new device coming out that also wouldn't break the bank of your budget but would still play the games you listed. Otherwise, something like the Asus G14 would be a good choice if you're looking for something that feels as good as what you're familiar with, but packs the punch that you want for your games. I know you didn't mention handhelds, but I do think there's something to be said for saving quite a bit of cash and getting something that can be a companion, not a replacement. Hope I was helpful!

EDIT: If you want to know what or how well the deck specifically does, check out Proton DB. I've been playing my own flavor of fighting game, JoJo's All Star Battle R on it and have been having a great time.