14 DAY TRIAL // Maxis’ upcoming SimCity 5 is headed to Macs this spring, and Electronic Arts has confirmed that any Snow Leopard user would be able to play it. But that’s not a concern. What gamers really want to know is how much CPU / RAM / video they’ll need to pack.
According to Electronic Arts, “Any user with Snow Leopard and a Core 2 processor will be able to enjoy SimCity for Mac.”
The hardware requirements, however, are a bit of a mystery. Since the game is still not officially out, EA is probably still deciding what to call “minimum” requirements and “recommended” requirements.
The game will be Mac-native, which allows us to compare the system requirements of the PC version of SimCity 5 and see where we can fit them in the Macintosh world.
PC gamers will need to have a 2Ghz Intel Core2Duo processor or equivalent AMD processor, 2 gigs of RAM, 10GB of storage, and a 512MB graphics solution (Intel HD Graphics 4000).
This means that only the more expensive Macs from 2011 (including portable systems) will be given a green light for Maxis’ open-ended city-building video game. Most 2012 models will be supported as well, including Mac minis, and the newest breed of iMacs.