Can anyone recommend decent gaming headsets and keyboards that fully work on a Mac? Seems everything I look at , mostly Logitech , don't fully work. My son mostly plays Steam games in his Mac. His wireless gaming mouse works. Wired headset work, but he wants wireless. Logitech doesn't supoprt 7.1 sound on a Mac , etc.. Not all functions on a gaming keyboard work on a Mac, from what I've been reading.
Gaming Headsets / Keyboards for Mac?
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Unfortunately most games and gaming peripherals are designed for Windows. I have a friend who used to game on a Mac before finally building a PC. He installed Windows as a second boot option so he could play any game instead of just the small fraction that have Mac versions.
If he doesn't want to run Windows when he games and insists on a surround sound headset instead of stereo his options are pretty limited. I will say this though, I greatly prefer my HyperX Cloud stereo wired headset over my old Turtle Beach wireless 5.1 headset. It sounds better, it's much more comfortable, and the directional sound is just as good to my ears.
I wouldn't go through too many hoops to make a "surround sound" headset work and this is coming from someone who loves their surround sound setup in the living room. The reasoning is that the headsets aren't actually surround sound, or at least they weren't last time I bought a headset. They are still just stereo headphones with two speakers. The difference is that they come with software that has to be running in the background to simulate 5.1 or 7.1 audio. Companies like Razer make free versions of this software that will do the same thing on any stereo headset. I don't even bother with that because directional sound is already pretty good in most games.
This required software is the reason you are having trouble finding a headset that supports surround sound on Mac. These headset companies don't make a version of their software for Mac users because their aren't very many hardcore gamers on Mac.
I am a big fan of my Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard but again, the Chroma software that lets you customize the LED colors probably isn't available on Mac. They do sell a couple cheaper versions. One has all green LEDs that can't be changed and another doesn't have backlit keys at all. Since you can't change the colors on the Chroma version on Mac anyways I would probably recommend one of those.
The only other gaming feature you would be missing out on with this keyboard are the 5 macro keys along the left side. Since you won't be able to run the software you won't be able to select functions for those macro keys. I don't use macros anyways. This may or may not be a big deal to your son depending on what kinds of games he likes to play.
One thing I really like about the Blackwidow keyboards are the headphone, mic, and USB ports built into the side. This is the reason I didn't need a wireless headset anymore. I just plug my headset into my keyboard and I didn't even need to take the bread tie off the cables to make it reach my head. It's much more convenient and less cluttered than having to run the headset cable to the back of my PC.
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Ah, I just realized you probably wanted a wireless keyboard. I can't be much help there, except to say that I have had good luck with Logitech wireless keyboards in the past. The main reason I bought my Razer Blackwidow Chroma keyboard is because I wanted a mechanical keyboard for gaming.
The really are nice and I liked my enough that I bought a second one without backlighting for my work PC. After getting used to a mechanical keyboard at home, going back to the mushy Dell keyboard every day at work was jarring. Unfortunately I don't see any wireless mechanical keyboards available on Amazon.
The really are nice and I liked my enough that I bought a second one without backlighting for my work PC. After getting used to a mechanical keyboard at home, going back to the mushy Dell keyboard every day at work was jarring. Unfortunately I don't see any wireless mechanical keyboards available on Amazon.
I just looked and their Razer Synapse software does support Mac. I assumed it didn't just like the Turtle Beach and Logitech software. This means Razer products might be your best option. The Synapse software isn't required to use the Blackwidow keyboard (I don't have it installed on my office PC) but it is if you want to customize the backlight color of each individual key on the keyboard or setup the 5 macro keys.
Since we know the Synapse software is compatible with Mac that means that Razer's 7.1 headsets should also be compatible with Mac. The same software will allow your son to customize the lighting on the headset too. I have a Razer Chroma mouse in addition to my keyboard and the software allows you to put all kinds of cool color effects on each individual device or have them all sync together.
Looks like they have a wireless option for $140 or wired 7.1 options ranging from $65 to $120.
After talking to my son and what games he wants to play, the more I realized he needs a gaming pc. Bought him a pre built Asus i5-6400 , GTX 1060 , 16GB , 512 ssd +1tb hdd. Should be plenty for the steam games he stated he wants to play. Or play with more eye candy than he can on his current 2013 iMac. Should be in it for ~$500 , after I sell is iMac.
Yeah. I haven't spec'd a PC since 2005 , so I had to get some advice from a couple of pc gaming co-workers. Ended up with this one
Wow.. that's a really good deal. It's not much cheaper to build your own, not to mention you have to go through the hassle of actually building the thing. The SSD is a bit small (needs at least 256 GB nowadays) but that can easily be upgraded.
Exactly my thoughts. No time to build my own and the SSD *is on the small side. From what I'd read, really no need for an i7 , if he'll be mainly gaming , surfing , etc.. ? 512 SSD will be plenty to last for yrs in the one I bought. Can always upgrade the GPU a few yrs down the road.
Yeah, the 1070 is really nice (that's what I have in my machine) but the 6GB 1060 is more than enough for 1080p 60Hz gaming. He should be able to max out any current game with that PC. The reason I went for a 1070 is because my monitor is 1440p. Also, you are right about an i5 being enough for gaming. That's what I use in my PC too.
Just for a comparison of what it would cost to build a PC with similar specs yourself, I put this together. I went with budget friendly components for the most part too so that price is very good for a pre-built machine. Usually they charge a pretty big premium and do things that don't make a lot of sense like pairing a high end i7 with a terribly cheap GPU.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($191.91 @ Jet)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Jet)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.78 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($249.99 @ Jet)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($87.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $981.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-07 10:42 EST-0500
Just for a comparison of what it would cost to build a PC with similar specs yourself, I put this together. I went with budget friendly components for the most part too so that price is very good for a pre-built machine. Usually they charge a pretty big premium and do things that don't make a lot of sense like pairing a high end i7 with a terribly cheap GPU.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($191.91 @ Jet)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($62.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Jet)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.78 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($249.99 @ Jet)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($87.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $981.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-07 10:42 EST-0500
Yeah due to financial issues my new rig is on indefinite hold. Even though I could technically afford it due to my "hidden" account, it still won't look good for me to preach saving money and penny pinching to my wife and then have a bunch of parts come in and build a brand new computer. Also my current rig is still doing a decent job at getting 60FPS at 1080P.
Very nice. So only a few bucks more , since I caught the system on sale. I have a Dell u2412m kicking around, so it'll be 1080p gaming for him.
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