Constant graphic problems on iMac

[Kent Garsdale]

I have an iMac (late 2006) and I can't get SL to work smoothly even on the lowest graphic settings.

iMac (late 2006) 20"

2,16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

3Gt RAM

ATI Radeon X1600 128MB

OS X Lion

Every destination I've tried lags like hell, it takes about 1 minute to download and show all the shapes (even though my internet speed is about 800KB/s). The textures take a long time to download, and movement is very glithcy. It's impossible to use SL at the moment.

I've tried to use SL with Bootcamp on XP, same problems there.

Does this mean that my hardware is just incompatible with SL, or is there something I could do?

Thanks in advance!

[valerie Inshan]

Kent, the fact is that a 2006 Mac is just out of date to run latest SL viewer properly. It' even suprising you can use Lion correctly on a 10 years old machine. You will have the same problems with third party viewers such as Firestorm or recent Phoenix. Your graphics card is way too old to handle SL's graphics considering the ressources they now demand. I'm sorry to say that if you want to use SL at the best conditions, it's about time to consider getting a new iMac. (Christmas is coming, I would add this on my Santa's list if I was you - and if it is financially possible). The new iMac is being released these days with high graphics performances and improved OS (Moutain Lion). 

http://www.apple.com/imac/

In the meantime, if you cannot afford it, you may give a try to a V1 based viewer such as Rainbow (Cool viewer). You won't be able to enable shadows, depth of field or mesh, but at least you will be able to login and use SL on lower performances. That's probaby not the answer you expected, but it's better than nothing at all... 

http://my.opera.com/boylane/blog/show.dml/2451452