New iMac now out

Apparently there is a new iMac out. From a SU perspective, much depends on the graphics card. Here are the options:

I think we know that Intel cards don’t tend to play nicely with SU. But what do we think about the Radeon options?

Radeon is problematic under Windows only because for macOS the drivers are developed and provided by Apple itself whereas under Windows the drivers are developed and provided by the makers of the hardware and therefore might be optimized for speed in gaming instead of quality in modeling as e.g. the AMD Crimson drivers are known for.

Not sure if that is relevant to an iMac running a Mac version of SU. Or are you saying it could be?

I have an older iMac, with Radeon R9 395 graphics. I haven’t had any problems in SU related to the graphics card that I’m aware of.

I’d expect the Trimble team work with Apple to make sure their software works with the Apple factory-fitted Radeon graphics and its OpenGL drivers.

Are you sure the specs are not a joke?

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A bit more punctuation in @SketchUp3D_de post would make it clearer.

But he is saying The radeon problem is generally windows only.
Mac build better drivers for the radeon so it isn’t currently an issue.

April fools day…

So are we saying avoid the base model with an Intel GPU but have no worries about the others with Radeon GPUs?

I know nothing about Mac, but I have an Intel Iris and have no issues with it.

Interesting. But I am sure I have seen a lot of posts suggesting SU users avoid Intel GPUs. We even had this post when SU2017 was released: Important Update on a few Potential SketchUp 2017 issues on Windows

But if we are effectively saying that Macs and SU will work in joyous harmony whatever the spec, that would do for me!

I’m not saying that.
I am only saying that I have an Intel Iris, which is not the old intel family and it works. I was also just helping to punctuate the post you had trouble following.
Once again, I have no experience with Mac so my opinion on anything to do with that is useless.

you are citing me wrong.

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Apologies for that but I wasn’t sure of the point you were making. Hopefully @Box has clarified that now.

Re Intel GPUs, this is what the great @DaveR wrote a while back: Sketchup pro compatibility with Intel HD Graphics card - #2 by DaveR. If he tells me to beware Intel, I listen.

I was referring to the infinite number of reports of problems on Windows with Intel graphics. There are so many of them that I personally wouldn’t buy a computer that has only the integrated Intel graphics.

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The Intel Iris isn’t the Intel HD, chips are not set in stone. SU doesn’t recommend Intel cards due to the many issues, but the newer ones are different.

I guess the answer here is not to be an early adopter. Wait for others to test the water first.

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There is only one iMac that doesn’t have a dedicated GPU on top of the integrated Intel graphics chipset. From my extensive experience, SketchUp plays nicely with AMD cards and every Mac we’ve tested on.

That being said, I don’t see why anyone would buy the lowest-level iMac when, for only $200 more, they get a machine with 4x resolution screen, a dedicated GPU, and a much faster CPU.

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In what sense? Apple has used AMDs in their iMacs for years now. Nothing early going on :slight_smile:

An early adopter of the new iMac.

You could be an early adopter of a puppy. That would be safer and much more fun. :smiley: