Machine requirments

Getting Started
1

Hi there, I’am very new to unity dev scene.
I just have a question for which machine is recommended for devlopiing unity on comfortably.

I have a macbook 2.16Ghz and I dont think its gonna be powerfull to run unity at a decent rate. I haven’t tried it properly yet.

Thanks.

Lloyd Hooson

2

hi mate
i’m new to the scene also
i asked a tech working for my retailer if a macbook pro could handle Unity, he told me that it requires 2Ghz processor would handle the job fine. Bastard wouldn’t give me hp tho so I’m back to square one :frowning:
let us know the outcome :smile:

3

If you do a normal casual game or a game for the same sector (-> large userbase) then the regular MacBook will be more than enough.
There are users here with first gen intel macmini and the like :slight_smile:

4

Some people here are still using G4 and G5s. However I’d recommend getting at least a macbook for development.

5

I develop on a dual core G5. Unity runs absolutly smooth.

And if you look at games like doom3 or prey, they run at a decent framerate here either. So unless you are up to making a game with higher requirements than those two candidates, any G5 or up will do.
Our coder even uses an mac mini Intel 2Ghz.

An actual MacBook or iMac will serve all your needs.

6

A G5 actually runs most games faster and better than a Macbook because of the graphics situation (although possibly not the earlier iMac G5s with the 5200FX). So it depends on what you plan on developing; if you’re doing lots of eye-candy, a Macbook won’t be appropriate. You’d still want to make sure a Macbook could at least run your game on low settings, of course. Unity doesn’t require a 2GHz processor; the tech was misinformed…

–Eric

7

The CPU of any new Mac is more than adequate, it’s the GPU that’ll be the limitting factor.
The MB Pro’s are fine, but Intel-based Macs are going to have it a bit rough.

I’ve gotten scenes to move decent enough to play on a 1.2ghz P3 Windows notebook with a worse integrated GPU, so all’s not lost. May even be good to have a lower common denominator machine as the test bed.

So Unity will run great, complex scenes may not turn out so pretty.
You shouldn’t be held back as far as design goes.

8

thanks everyone this is a useful thread.
yes after looking at the Cheetah 3D and Unity websites again,
I realised the tech wasn’t interested in making a sale. its their loss,
I just got a second-hand 1.67Ghz processor macbook pro for a snap,
spent last night puzzling over whether I should ebay it and get a bigger processor…
its a start. as they say; from tiny acorns do mighty forests grow!

9

Thanks for all the replies, I have got the pro trial from unity (very kind of you unity) and I must say that It’s running all the demos and tutorials absolutely fine. However I don’t run it on full fantastic settings.

But there’s not much point of developing in full glory as long as end product is sweet.

Thanks again.

Lloyd.

10

It already shows how good Unity is that it runs on higher end settings given you have a CPU to DVI adapter in there which Intel claims to be a graphic chip :slight_smile: (a GeForce 4 would most likely outperform it)