Best IMAC for SL?

[Celestria Niosaki]

I plan to shop for another MAC very soon and kind of worried about SL and this new IMAC.  I keep reading about AMD/ATI not a good graphics card.  This is the one I may be considering:

 

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC309LL/A?select=select&product=MC309LL%2FA

 

Can anyone tell me if it will work well for SL or a waste of money?  If so any ideas on the best desktops for running SL would be greatly appreciated.  I don't build alot but I do so enjoy being able to have things rez nicely in SL without lagging like crazy.  

 

Thank you!

Celestria 

[Orca Flotta]

Any Mac is a waste of money.

Okay, now with that out of the way I'd suggest you opt for the 8GB RAM. The GPU should run SL just fine. nVidia is better, of course, but the AMD Radeon HD 6750M 512MB GDDR5 should do the job ok.

Apart from that 500 GB isn't a very huge HD. You won't need a huge HD for SL but if you use it for data storage go for 1 or even 1.5 TB.

As a PC you should get a better system for much less money. It won't look as fancy but give you much more options and versatility.

[Ayesha Askham]

ATi GPUs do have issues with some of the functions of SL.  Why I do not fully understand but I belive it is due to Open GL support issues.  Basically to run an ATI card in SL you need to turn off support for Vertex Buffered Objects in preferences, then all is well ( I believe...don't take that as Gospel!)  For my money don't go with ATi.  AMD processors..*shrugs*.

My experience with nVidia GPUs is much better, but that may not be true for everyone.  500GB HD?  A bit puny frankly.

 

The MaC vs PC war will rage and IMHO it is up to the buyer.  MaCs are damned expensive for what you get, but I have to admit that MaCs have fewer warts than Windoze PCs.

From a personal viewpoint I've been a PC operator for a long time now and I wouldn't swap, but it's to a large extent what you are used to.  If you've run a MaC you know it's idiosyncrasies by now so you probably would be best sticking with one.

[Wesley Huntsman]

When it comes to SL the iMac top of the line is going to be your choice, if you need more options then go for the base line MacPro ether way you are looking at 2499.99 price tag, but with the iMac you can get a powerful 3.1 quad core, 8gb of ram and ati GPU with a 1gb of video memory. With those options you will actually be able to run the graphics in SL at their max.

The Processor on the Mac will not be deciding factor it will be the 8gb of ram and at 1gb of video memory

I will not go into the Mac VS PC war cause it is stupid, I use both.