Minimum Specs
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Programming/Minimum Specs
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| This may have been asked before, but I couldn't find any specific information. Basically, I would like to know what the minimum specification for BlitzMax is on both the PC and the Mac. I'm particularly interested in the Mac, as I plan to buy one in the future and need to know that what I buy will be suitable. If you could provide details of CPU, Graphics, iBook/PowerBook, etc, it would be most helpful. My current PC spec is in my sig, but would still be interested in a minimum for selling purposes in the future. Note that I do own BlitzMax so know that it works extremely well on my current PC setup, but would like some guidance for when I come to buy a Mac laptop. Thanks in advance. |
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| This depends on your application beside a graphic card that supports OpenGL. |
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| If you go for the mac mini that will be plenty powerful enough for good performance. You probably want to definitely get a 1GHz G4 or higher, and at least a GeForce 2 or higher gfx card (GeForce 4 is better). |
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| I know that the actual specification requirements for any program I write will depend on the program as well. What I want to avoid is buying a Mac only to find that BlitzMax won't run at all or is next to useless for any remotely demanding game that I may write in the future. Point is taken though. I did think of the Mac Mini, but I would prefer a laptop for mobility, as it would allow me to code on the move AND to test stuff on the Mac as well as the PC. Two birds with one stone and all that. Also, I don't have room for another monitor, keyboard, etc. I know I could use those with my PC, but I would need to use both at the same time (for transferring files, etc). Thanks for the info on the minimum processor speed and graphic card. I have been looking at 1.33 iBooks, but wasn't sure if they would be enough (also with 256MB RAM, which I'm also a bit doubtful about). Thank you both for your feedback. It would be helpful if I could hear of anyone's experience using a Mac with BlitzMax. Cheers. |
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| also with 256MB RAM, which I'm also a bit doubtful about It seems generally accepted that 512MB is the minimum you want for a pleasant experience* - all Apple's consumer machines could do with an immediate RAM upgrade (as could a great many WinXP laptops). *EDIT: In general, opening a few OSX applications at the same time (as you tend to during development), not specifically with Max. |
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| I have a 1ghz eMac w/ 384 MB RAM, and it runs most everything very nicely, and though it sometimes gets sluggish in games and RAM-intensive multitasking, it's more than sufficient for writing Blitz games. |
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| Any *current* Apple laptop (ibook or powerbook) will run bmax without a problem. Be careful if you buy an old one, some have issues. I would go for the ibook because of it's price. But no matter what, you want *AT LEAST* 512MB RAM |
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| Thanks for the advice guys. Pretty sure I need 512MB RAM, but I wasn't too sure if the iBook would be OK. |
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| I know that OS X doesn't have OpenGL drivers for the 8MB graphics cards in older macs, like my six-year-old powerbook:(, but does anyone know if OpenGL works under all of the 16MB cards, or just certain ones. |
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