Which iMac?

[Anonymous]

I want to run ArchiCAD on an iMac, preferably 21.5 inch. I'm at student/hobby level - not working professionally. I only need "adequate", not more.

Can I just buy off the shelf?
2012 (discounted) or just released 2013 model?
Or do I need to upgrade at purchase...fusion drive, different graphics card etc?
Anything else I need to know?

Dont need overkill, but neither want to be too frustrated with rendering times etc.

Apologies if this question has been asked before...thanks for any help

[Laszlo Nagy]

These pages should help you decide:

http://www.graphisoft.com/support/system_requirements/index.html

http://www.archicadwiki.com/RecommendedHardware

[Stephen Dolbee]

I would upgrade to the one with the dedicated graphics card. 8 GB of ram should be sufficient, but if I remember the 21.5 memory is not upgradable. If that is the case, go for the 16 GB (for the future).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help guys, great.

[Anonymous]

Just so I'm clear - the iMac 21.5 (2013 model) I am going to order will come with this graphics card:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 1GB video memory

I know AC 16 will run on this per the AC manual. But will it be ok practically - or only just adequate? (NB: home/student use only).

Thanks again for any advice

[Laszlo Nagy]

The 700 series of NVidia cards are the strongest you can get right now.
So it will be performing very well for several years, I believe.