Whos using what and how well is it working?

Im going to move to Sydney within the next year and am starting to sell all my stuff...I would be happy to have a windows and a mac, both in Laptop style (who wouldnt) And Im just trying to figure out what would run Unity...Does anyone run Unity on a G3? An older imac? Is it even possible? I dont really know what operating systems ship with what computers so if anyone feels like saying what specs they run especially low end, that would be great.
AC

 

I'd say any comp/laptop with less than a 64mb GFX card is going to seriously show it's age these days. G3 for this stuff... forget about it (although I still use 2 OS9 G3s for audio creation). I'd grab a mildly ancient G4 or G5 tower if you want something budget that will still do the job. You're buying obsolete tech with anything PPC based, but it will still do what you need for a couple of years. Heck, I'm stuck on a 1.25 G4 laptop for the foreseeable future and I haven't really run into any serious limitations using this 2 year old PB yet.

 

So what do you reckon about an imac, the older type, with a upgraded videocard? Does osx run on such a computer? An any advice either way on graphics cards?Bigger the better\not so the case?
Cheers man

 

The older type iMac as in the blueberry blob, the lamp base with a screen, or the latest flat screen? Hmmm, I'd guess even the lampMac would have a hard time with contemporary graphics requirements. I think they topped out at 32 mb for the GFX memory? But I think you could find a decent PPC G5 now for under $1000 if you looked around.

 

Looks like I might be able to afford a g4, and I notice on the Unity sytem requirements page that a g3 ppc is an option -So if anyone is using a g3 Id be keen to hear how well it runs.
AC

 

Hi, I'm currently trying to get rid off both a Powerbook 17 and an Acer Travelmate 800. The Apple has 1g of ram, and the Acer has 512mb of ram.

If anyone is interested in both feel free to make me an offer. :wink:

Cheers.

 

I would suggest looking for a used/refurbished G4 Mac Mini or G4 iBook. They're similar in power to my 1.25 Ghz G4 that I do my Unity work on, and they have a GPU (low-end). They should be cheap now that the new Mac Minis and MacBooks are (mostly) so much better.

My limited testing of Unity on a GPU-less Intel Mac Mini Core Duo AND on a 700 Mhz G4 eMac, suggest that it's perfectly usable, especially if you turn off pixel lights. But lower than that? I would have grave doubts. A G3 would be limited at best: it has no SIMD, aside from the low MHz. I would deploy a simple game for G3, but I'd hesitate to try anything complex. This is assumption, not personal experience, but do find out for sure before buying a G3.

Now, if you need a Windows machine too, then get an Intel Mac--they can boot Windows (but you must buy your own copy of Windows to install). Maybe a refurb Mac Mini (I saw some on store.apple.com under Special Deals the other day). No GPU, but the processors are fast.

The cheapest Intel Mac with a GPU is an iMac for $1299 (less for students/educators) in the US--a great buy if you can afford it. Refurbished models at Apple cost $1099. Dual fast processors, a real GPU, flat screen.

They also have G5 iMacs for $799--not bad, but won't run Windows.

 

If you don't mind selling your soul, Macbook Pro is SO worth it.

I'll be paying for it until I die... still totally worth it.

 

I am in the same boat, its such a deal considering that its all in a laptop case. It also has a sick gfx card.

Bill

 

Well yes the mac/windows dual boot thing sounds awesome, doesnt it? Has anyone actually tried it? Th emac mini certainly raises its head, but I just cant figure how they work with no graphics gpu.
Heres a specs list:

Mac mini 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo/512MB/60GB/Combo/AP/BT


• 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo
• 512MB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• Intel GMA950 with 64MB
• One Firewire Port and 4 USB2 Ports
• 60GB Ultra ATA hard drive
• Combo Drive
• DVI or VGA video output
• AirPort Extreme
• Bluetooth

Anyone know what "Intel GMA950 with 64MB" Means?
AC

 

A lot of people have used the new Macs for dual-booting--it works well and gets good reviews. The usual complaint is that certain special hardware--like the remote control--has no Windows driver. But I'm sure Apple (or someone) will get around to those extras. But the basics like optical drives and wireless are fine as I understand it. Google for Boot Camp.

You can also run Windows and Mac OS X at the SAME time ("virtualization"), with a small performance penalty (and no GPU support--yet). VMWare is coming, and a company called Parallels offers something now. Virtualization on an Intel Mac is much faster than the old VirtualPC.

(Be warned: if you run Windows, you can get Windows viruses. But your Mac side is unlikely to be affected by them.)

 

The big issues w.r.t. using Windows via Bootcamp or Parallels is that Macs aren't designed for Windows, so some of the modifier keys are inconveniently positioned and the built-in trackpad doesn't handle right-clicks, and so on. Aside from that they work just fine.

The best low-cost Mac option is probably the bottom-of-the-line iMac. It's about 90% as fast as any other option and cheap for what you get. (A baseline MacBook, by comparison, has integrated video and a small screen.)

Given your budget is limited, I would shop around for a G4 or G5 with at minimum at Radeon 9000 or an nVidia GeForce3/4 or 5000+. I'm using Unity on a dual G4 1GHz with a Radeon 9000 and it works very nicely. I could try it out on my old Cube and get back to you ... in a couple of weeks when I've unpacked my house.

 

Thanks everybody.