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2011 Mac Mini OpenGL support

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xxmarkc

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 17, 2011
65
13
My Google searches can't find an answer. Do any of the 3 configs support Open GL?

I was in a Mac Store last night exchanging my faulty power supply and spent 30 minutes playing with a base spec 2011 Mac mini. I downloaded Blender3d (www.blender.org), and it ran ok - the front end was very responsive. I was not sure how to simulate a 3 button mouse with the track pad so could only do limited testing. I download the blender regression files and did a test render of an animation. It worked but the character (a dolphin) was rendered as a black blob rather than a nice shaded model.

I assume this is due to the OpenGL support on the base model not being adequate. My guess it that the Dual core with the AMD Radeon HD 6630M is the only spec with any hope of running blender. The specs I have found for that card mention openGL 4.1 - but will Lion on a Mac Mini include/allow the drivers?

Anyone got a view?
 
I cannot tell you about the strange issue you encountered, but all configs support OpenGL. OpenGL has been around for over a decade.
 
theSeb said:
I cannot tell you about the strange issue you encountered, but all configs support OpenGL. OpenGL has been around for over a decade.
Click to expand...

I should have copied the following from the blender site:

Mac Mini and Intel gfx problems

Unfortunately Apple has released a series of cheap Macs and Macbooks with only bare OpenGL support. Especially Mac Minis and Macbooks with intel graphics card lack the support to use a 3D application like Blender.

This is what prompted me to believe that I could not assume everything would be fine.
 
From Intel:

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 3000/2000 support hardware acceleration for OpenGL* applications in 16-bit and 32-bit color depths. The latest Intel® graphics drivers provide support for the OpenGL version 3.0.

The only question mark here is the openGL driver for mac os and this should not even be a question - I would be genuinely surprised if there was an issue with the hd3000 openGL drivers for mac OSX
 
Thanks.

I think I need to go back to the Apple store and try some more experiments - I was in a bit of a rush last night - so could have been doing something silly.

I am trying to build a business case for getting a new Mac Mini - and being able to do 3d work would be a big plus.

I am finding it very hard to choose between the 3 configs though!
 
xxmarkc said:
Thanks.

I think I need to go back to the Apple store and try some more experiments - I was in a bit of a rush last night - so could have been doing something silly.

I am trying to build a business case for getting a new Mac Mini - and being able to do 3d work would be a big plus.

I am finding it very hard to choose between the 3 configs though!
Click to expand...

I would go with the dual i5 or i7 with the amd graphics.
 
Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs support Open GL

Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs support Open GL, according to the information at this URL:
http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-processor-graphics/

Scroll down about 80% to the bottom for the reference.

Intel HD Graphics 3000, on 2nd generation Intel Core chips (i3, i5, i7), supports Open GL 3.0.

Open GL 3.0 is not the latest version, but it should mean that applications that require Open GL support can be run on all of the latest Mac minis.

I'm assuming this means that Final Cut Pro X will run on a new Mac Mini w/ Lion. If not, someone give me a correction please.
 
hardware has supported OpenGL for awhile now. Apple's problem is that they're running an old version - 2.1 in 10.6, 3.2 in 10.7, while the current version is 4.1.

honestly, you don't want to do any 3D work on an integrated GPU, OpenGL or no...and if you can afford something better, you don't want a Mini – 256MB of VRAM isn't gonna get very far, unless your work is relatively simple.
 
Open GL vs. Open CL

Two very similarly named protocols that it appears I have been confused about. Apple is most concerned with Open CL.

Regardless, my point of concern is being able to run the new FCP X and I accept that I'll need to update from my 2GHZ Core2Duo MacBook to do that.

I'm going to pick up a 21" i5 quad-core iMac this week. Compared to a tricked-out Mini capable of running FCP X with some snap, it's a great bargain.
 
Blender worked just fine on my 2010 Mini sever with 320M. the rendering uses more CPU than GPU.
 
toxic said:
hardware has supported OpenGL for awhile now. Apple's problem is that they're running an old version - 2.1 in 10.6, 3.2 in 10.7, while the current version is 4.1.
Click to expand...

None of the intel GPUs support anything over 3.1 at the moment. So the 'current' version doesn't apply here. It's not backwards compatible.
 
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