Question / Help Question before new computer purchase...

[JoJo]

I'd like to get an iMac soon to game/stream from. When I do it on my rMBP for short periods of time, it only gives me an option of 1800p as a base resolution to scale down from. Would it be better to get an iMac from this generation that's 1080p, instead of maybe having to get a new retina version if they come out end of year? Would gaming at 1080p or higher while streaming a compressed 2160p resolution be a pretty big strain for a top end 21 inch iMac? (compared to playing at 1080p and compressing down a 1080p resolution)

 

[dodgepong]

Downscaling from a high resolution to a low resolution is not very resource-intensive, and it will make it easier on your CPU. What is hard is encoding a high-resolution image. Definitely make sure your downscaled resolution isn't above 1080p.