Questions About Playing KSP on an iMac

[Lucasb413]

Hey everyone! I've been playing KSP on my 2011 MacBook Pro for a while now, and in general I am impressed by the way this Apple laptop can handle mid-range KSP graphics so far. I know gaming on a Mac is not incredibly traditional but it's what I'm doing so I have a few questions about performance on other Apple computers and I would love some input. I still receive a good amount of lag, and I'd love to be able to have an additional few mods, but of course that can be stretching it a bit even for Windows computers with this game. Not only that, but it is sometimes uncomfortable to play on a laptop and I've been contemplating getting a new desktop for a long while now, so here are my questions:

What types of specs should I look for specifically for better a KSP experience? (RAM, GPU, CPU, GHz, etc?)

Do Intel Iris Pro Graphics on the new iMacs work well compared to the Intel HD Graphics 3000 384 MB on my laptop?

The lower end iMacs have fairly low GHz. What is an acceptable range for GHz if I wanted KSP to run well?

Does anyone have experience with KSP on the new iMacs, and if so, could you detail a bit of your pros and cons?

In general, will KSP run noticeably better on any of the new iMacs compared to my 2011 MacBook Pro, and what specs should I look for most?

Reference: http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

*Note: These are merely theoretical computer/spec questions, and of course I don't intend on buying an entire iMac just to play KSP. I don't have money to burn lol*

[Dispatcher]

I don't know how well KSP will run on a new iMac, but my 7 year old iMac does well.

[Weegee]

If you want KSP to run well, make your own PC. Ask the guys in the Computer Building Megathread (stickied in this subforum).

But, before telling you what to get, what will this computer be used for besides KSP? If you're accustomed to the Mac platform and do the type of things those are good for, go ahead with the iMac if you really want. But, for good performance I'd get the highest end one you can afford. But, in practice, prioritize what the computer needs to do for you. Are you doing more light stuff and the type of apps Macs run, or is it for gaming? If gaming is a primary consideration, by all means built your own PC.

[steve_v]

The one overriding factor for KSP performance ATM (Come on Unity 5...) is single-threaded CPU performance, as such, go for the fastest Intel CPU you can find.

Intel integrated graphics should be OK, but a mid-range discrete GPU will be better.

And, yeah, Macs are shiny and all but you'll get better specs per $ building a PC... you can even run is as a hackintosh if you can't part with OSX

Edited January 9, 2015 by steve_v

[Jouni]

I've played KSP mostly on my old iMac (i7-870, Radeon 5750). The game runs reasonably well in a 1920x1080 window, but the GPU isn't powerful enough for 2560x1440 fullscreen. I don't know about the graphics details, as they're for bigger geeks than me. My old Macbook Pro (i7-2720QM, Radeon 6750M) is a bit slower than the iMac in 1680x1050 fullscreen.

In general, Macs are a more expensive than Windows systems with similar hardware. However, there are several things to consider:

• The base models are only marginally more expensive, unless they're old. Sometimes they can even be good deals, if Apple is offering something that hasn't made it into mainstream yet.
  
• Paying Apple to add memory or disk space to a base model is a bad idea. If you can do it yourself, the price isn't too bad, but Apple prices are ridiculously high.
  
• Apple believes that desktop computers are obsolete. It sells lightweight stuff and professional workstations, but no cost-effective desktops in big cases.
  
• Apple always uses weak GPUs compared to the rest of the hardware, because GPUs are thick and power-hungry.
  

Buying an iMac is a good idea, if you want a Mac desktop, but don't like the idea of having a big unwieldy case and a bunch of wires on your desktop. You can use them for gaming (except for the cheapest models without a discrete GPU), but the performance is going to be worse than with a similarly priced Windows desktop.

[segaprophet]

I play KSP on a Mid-2011 iMac, specs -

2.8GHz Core i7, Sandy Bridge

16GB 1333mhz DDR3 RAM

Radeon HD 6770M 512MB @ 1080p

It runs fine, even with larger crafts, as long as I keep anti-aliasing on low. It runs better on my Windows PC, but not better enough to warrant not playing on the Mac most of the time (Mac is my main work PC, so it's the one that's used most of the time).