Mac mini 2012 i7 and WebGL

[al404]

I'll develop a project with three.js and WebGL, looking around for same sample i noticed that some project are unusable on my macmini because are too slow and sluggish

My Mac mini is an i7 with 16Gb RAM and Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

so it should not be a really basic or average PC but testing on surface pro 3 with core i5 and 4Gb ram - as graphic card i see an intel HD Graphic not sure exactly witch kind under IE website seems to render better than on my mac

I also have a small PC with an asrock motherboard and a bay trail J1900 and 4Gb of ram that doesn't seem too bad on same websites

is my mac mini graphic card issue?
i also have 2 monitors

 

[D.T.]

Fun stuff, we were using three.js for some viz for a social engine a while back. I've got the same setup, Mini '12 i7 2.3GHz, 16GB RAM, using two 24" displays. While the integrated HD4000 isn't all that fast, you should be getting decent performance unless your project is really taxing. I was even using this machine for 3D/VR with Unity and some super complex scenes, and it wasn't too bad.

Are you running the project in Safari? Confirmed WebGL is enabled? Have you tried Chrome?

 

[al404]

not sure yet how complex it would be the object but for example, looking around, this
http://www.littleworkshop.fr/renaultespace/

on safari is a real pain
on chrome is much better

i'm running os x latest and i can't see any more "enable webgl" option in developer menu
as far ad i know is enabled by default

my project would not be that complex but i need to understand the limit before the graphic and 3D designer will do something too difficult to handle by the browser :-D

 

[D.T.]

Yeah, the UX from that link is not good on Safari (and I'm definitely using WebGL), but very good in Chrome. Looking at the WebGL implementation on both browsers, it looks like the Chrome has several features that aren't present in Safari (and the underling GL engine is different). It's like integrated vs. discrete, really a major different on that Renault site.

FWIW, I actually loaded it in Chrome, in a Windows VM on my Mac, so that's two layers of OS overhead and it still ran extremely good.

I guess you have a few options:

- Make Chrome the recommended browser for the user
- Require a minimum hardware specification
- Assume the Safari implementation will improve

Sometimes you just have to make a call on who you can exclude from an optimum experience. OS X + Safari on older machines with mediocre graphic subsystems is the limiter.

Obviously, I don't know the specifics of your project, but you could also consider going with a non-web solution, but that gets into complex runtime distribution, version control hassles, etc. Personally, I think requiring Chrome, and assuming faster GPU setups with Safari will be adequate might be the option you have to take.

Good luck!