Although the MacBook Air M1 and Mac mini M1 have managed to impress us with their impressive performance and incredible efficiency, some are still afraid to stop using Intel-based machines. There is a good reason for this: Apple is quite transparent that the new architecture is not compatible with all software and, although this gap will close over time, if the software of your choice is not there, it is difficult to justify the update.
And while few buy a Mac exclusively for gaming options, those with a new MacBook M1 or Mac mini have a lot more options. With GeForce Now 2.0.27, Nvidia added compatibility for Macs M1 in the official macOS application. This, along with games that can be played with an Apple Arcade subscription, makes the new hardware much easier to sell to those who like to play occasionally.
It’s not just the owners of the new Macs who will benefit. At the same time, Nvidia added support for the Google Chrome browser, opening the door to millions of basic laptops for streaming games remotely. As long as they can run a Chrome window, they will suddenly have access to more than 2,000 games.
Nvidia says the support added to Chrome is for Windows and macOS machines (ChromeOS was already added last August). “Other platforms may work, but they are not supported”, explain the notes.
For those unfamiliar, GeForce Now allows even simple hardware to run AAA games by connecting it to a high-powered gaming PC in the cloud that does the heavy lifting for you, before streaming the video output back to the your device.
It is not a streaming service in the same way as, say, Netflix. You must own the games you wish to stream on Steam, the Epic Games Store or similar, and while you can pay for a subscription (currently $ 24.95 for six months), it does not include games – it just adds features like priority access, removes the duration of hour session of the free level and adds support for ray tracing.
In theory, any game can run on GeForce Now – and the service includes titles that require a lot of hardware, like Cyberpunk 2077, as well as free games like Apex Legends. But it does require game publishers to choose, which some initially were reluctant to do, feeling that they were theoretically funding Nvidia’s paid subscriptions with no financial incentive to do so.
Things seem to have calmed down a bit now, but you can read the full list of games here to make sure your favorite title is in the mix before you sign up.