SC2 on the new iMac 27"

[seerex]

Hey all,

I am so close to buying this machine. I currently have a 5 month's old MBP, and i love it. However, i also tend to play games on a regular basis. i pretty much only play Blizzard games, so i don't need to run bootcamp, nor do i want to.

So i was wondering, how will SC2 run on a brand new 27" iMac (the bigger model to around 2900$ with 3.1 GHz Quad-Core intel i5, 4gb (two gb memory) ram, AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 1 GB).

I was hoping to be able to run it on at least high settings, and a smooth (no-lag) experience.

You might wonder why i would want a mac if i play games regulary, but i also develop applications for the iPhone a lot, and use mac for studies as it is just so nicer to work with. But like many others i'd like to have some good gaming experiences, especially on that lovely monitor

I was also wondering if i should spend 1000 dollars more upgrading it? i would love to avoid this, as the cost will then get near the insane

On a side-note, is it possible to upgrade it in maybe 6 month times? send it in and get some more Ram, maybe even more processor / graphics? or you gotta get a new imac for this?

Lastly (i promise) is it ok to go and buy one now, or is it best to wait? I see the site says you should only buy if you NEED it, as it is nearing the end of it's cycle, but the last rumours i heard were a new imac at around may next year. There's still almost half a year till that, and i feel thats a long time to wait. On the other hand, spending so much on a machine that gets upgraded soon also feels stupid. But then on the other, other hand, apple tends to create new hardware all the time and it is impossible to keep track and stay up-to-date on all sides

Thanks for reading my long post!

Best Regards
/JBJ

 

[miles01110]

It will run fine, but lag will also depend on your internet connection. You won't be able to upgrade it like you would a PC desktop.

 

[Danno21]

I have an early 2011 15 MBP with 2.3ghz i7, 8GB Ram and Radeon HD 6750M and I can set it to high, but it starts to get a lot of lag with a lot of stuff on screen. I then tried it on medium, but in 3v3 matches, it still lags. So I had to do a mixture of low and medium to get it not to lag. And this is in Bootcamp btw.

The iMac you're thinking of would for sure be able to do more though.

 

[nilka]

You will not have any problem with the graphics if high is your goal. You can even run it on Ultra if you are just a casual gamer. For ladder ranking in masters I set specs down to high just to have a bit of headroom.

The biggest issue is mouse movement and acceleration. I had big issues my Razer Naga reset profile whenever I entered a new battle. The new drivers seem to have ended these problems though.

And yeah StarCraft looks absolutely fantastic on the 27" iMac

 

[gdeputy]

Beyond well.

I play on a 5750 on high everything with 60fps at 2560x1440 res

 

[Hastings101]

Should run perfect on ultra/extreme settings, as long as you bump the resolution down to 1920x1080 instead of native. If you don't want to do that, it should work well on high.

 

[lewdvig]

Faced with the choice of an iMac, I would get the refurb 27 with 6970m. That GPU is about the same as a desktop 6850 which is quite fast.

But I would also be tempted to get a used Mac Pro and stick a better video card in it. A desktop 5870 will be faster. And non-apple 27" displays are quite reasonable now.

But I am crazy.