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noobinator

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
7,226
6,791
Los Angeles, CA
I want it mainly for editing photos in LightRoom and some very light gaming. The main game I'm interested in is the New Sim City that comes out in March. Will the base iMac work for me or will it blow up due to the 5400rpm hard drive and 640 gpu?
 

Kashsystems

macrumors 6502
Jul 23, 2012
358
1
I want it mainly for editing photos in LightRoom and some very light gaming. The main game I'm interested in is the New Sim City that comes out in March. Will the base iMac work for me or will it blow up due to the 5400rpm hard drive and 640 gpu?

I am not sure on that game, the only thing I would say on the base model is since you cannot upgrade the ram yourself, I would make sure to get 16 gigabytes of it.
 

kensic

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2013
362
28
i would get the previous gen. imac so you can upgrade the hardware.

but no it wouldn't blow up, just make sure you configure with alot of RAM memory
 

Alterin

macrumors newbie
Jan 24, 2013
12
0
I think the most important thing is to NEVER ever look at a 27 inch iMac. You don't need the screen, and you may not have a clue why you could ever need it. But it's hard to go back.

As far as Sim City...

What system specs are you targeting with the Mac version?
Like the PC version, we are aiming to make the game as accessible as possible. Any user with Snow Leopard and a Core 2 processor will be able to enjoy SimCity for Mac.

The base iMac should be plenty. :p (Just don't think about how much more of your city you can enjoy on the bigger screen)
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
I am not sure on that game, the only thing I would say on the base model is since you cannot upgrade the ram yourself, I would make sure to get 16 gigabytes of it.

They charge quite a lot for it as a percentage of the system cost. I'm in debate on that one. The last versions of OSX have been extremely memory hungry, so 8 might be painful if you're loading up huge folders. I'm not entirely sure though.
 

Kashsystems

macrumors 6502
Jul 23, 2012
358
1
They charge quite a lot for it as a percentage of the system cost. I'm in debate on that one. The last versions of OSX have been extremely memory hungry, so 8 might be painful if you're loading up huge folders. I'm not entirely sure though.

That is correct, the price is very high. That is the one thing I hate about this new generation of 21 inches. Its why I feel people should at least go with the ram because they can add to disk space with usb 3.0 drives.
 

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
what the hell guys....i have a macbook air with i5 1.8 ivy bridge and 4 Gram and its very fast...so forget about the RAM if you really need something it will be fusion drive. There is a video for the 640M(vRam 512) with beta sim city and goes on everything high 1080p 40fps
 

xkmxkmxlmx

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2011
885
113
No. 16GB is absurd. 8GB will cover everything you plan to do with it. Don't waste your money.
 

whizpup

macrumors newbie
Mar 4, 2010
27
0
I'd go with the previous model 21" as well. The 2013 will cost you more and give you zero expansion. RAM fails and drives crash. What do you do 1 year out and have a failure? I don't like the idea of $1000+ disposable devices, sorry.
 

tom vilsack

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,880
63
ladner cdn
It will more then meet your needs...I'm still using my 2006 with 2 gigs ram,ati x1600 128mb,osx lion,(upgraded hd to ssd) and it does everything from internet (browser,utube even 1080p),to itunes,to gimp photo edit, ect ect...i would suspect a base 2013 Imac is probably more computer then most users will ever need!
 

Yebubbleman

macrumors 603
May 20, 2010
5,716
2,308
Los Angeles, CA
I want it mainly for editing photos in LightRoom and some very light gaming. The main game I'm interested in is the New Sim City that comes out in March. Will the base iMac work for me or will it blow up due to the 5400rpm hard drive and 640 gpu?

The 5400RPM drive won't cause your iMac to blow up. It'll be a bit slower than a 7200RPM drive, but that's about it. If you want to offset the drive slowness, I'd upgrade to the Fusion Drive. Either way, as the other poster(s) said, spec it out with 16GB of RAM as you can't make that change later on.

As for the GeForce GT 640, it's no gaming Goliath, but most current games that are out now for OS X (either via Steam or the Mac App Store) will run just fine on it.
 

Kashsystems

macrumors 6502
Jul 23, 2012
358
1
So you really think I need 16gb RAM to run Lightroom and Sim City?

What if you start using photoshop or a new lightroom update becomes memory hungry. Or some other photo editing program that is heavy duty.

You never know or can plan for the future.

At least with 16 gigabyte of rams, you become a little bit more future proof.

It just stinks that you can not upgrade it yourself.
 

noobinator

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 19, 2009
7,226
6,791
Los Angeles, CA
What if you start using photoshop or a new lightroom update becomes memory hungry. Or some other photo editing program that is heavy duty.

You never know or can plan for the future.

At least with 16 gigabyte of rams, you become a little bit more future proof.

It just stinks that you can not upgrade it yourself.

By the time LR required 16 gigs of ram I'll be 2 or 3 computers down the line. I have no desire for photoshop. I can handle if it's a bit slow as long as it gets the job done.
 
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