run SolidWorks 2010 on a brand new powerbook??

Question

Level 1

0 points

run SolidWorks 2010 on a brand new powerbook??

I'm thinking about buying a new stock 13" macbook pro for school. I am a mechanical engineering freshman and I have free access to SolidWorks 2010 (or whatever becomes the latest) for as long as I'm in school. I can't run it on my 2007 Powerbook and have been thinking of an upgrade anyway. I absolutely do not want to get a PC, but need to be able to run SolidWorks. Any advice? I don't know much other than that the new Macs come with Bootcamp and then you install Windows and then theoretically run whatever Windows programs you want. As a beginning MEEN student, will the stock options run this program sufficiently or do I need to worry about a graphics card upgrade or anything? Any other issues that I wouldn't be thinking of? Thanks.

Macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6), running SolidWorks?

Posted on Jan 13, 2011 1:20 PM

Reply

Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Jan 13, 2011 1:48 PM in response to stef_nc

You are willing to turn and run Windows 7 64-bit on Mac, but no way would you go with a PC? even though Windows on Mac is not as reliable or run as well, and thermal sensor / fan control is somewhat lacking....

The ideal would be a sytem with Quadro 4000 for one, something like a Mac Pro workstation rather than laptop. MacBook Pro w/ Nvidia 330M or wait for (next fall?) when systems with Sandy Bridge processors and graphics are out in full would be nice, whether Apple or others.

Google. SolidWorks system requirements; threads here over the years listing SolidWorks. Also, a number of reviews take the MacBook line to task and review it to see if it would be a suitable Windows laptop (Ars, Anandtech, nuber of others).

The Quadro 4000 ($1200 / Mac Pro only) would kick butt.

But Yes you can do it. Just not stock 13" MacBook.
Don't know what price you get but this is price / performance I would go for:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC846LL/A

what Google would tell you about "Solidworks MacBook Pro" -
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-773631.html

And an old thread from here.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1264059

Reply

Answer 2

stef_nc Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2011 2:00 PM in response to The hatter

Thank you so much for spending your time to answer me. I have some good directions to go in while continuing to research 🙂

I guess since I've always just done everything on a mac, and that's what I know how to use, I am stubborn about the idea of changing. This is the first time I've HAD to get a program that would be infinitely better/easy to deal with on a PC. Maybe it's my ignorance, but they just all seem so big and clunky and i'm used to shoving my mac in my backpack between some books and going- i ride my bicycle most places. I guess I'm going to have to think about it more.

Reply

Answer 3

spchsr

Level 1

0 points

Feb 25, 2011 7:17 PM in response to stef_nc

For what it's worth, I run Bentley Microstation V8XM on my basic macbook 4.1 (about 3 years old) with 2 g of ram, and it runs great on Windows XP sp3 via Bootcamp. Microstation is very similar to Solidworks, perhaps even a couple steps above Solidworks. However, soon as I installed Microstation V8i ( the latest 2011 version) I started having Blue Screen of Death while manipulating even simple drawings. BSOD happened so fast followed by almost instant shutdown that I can't even read the error messages produced, nor is an exception log apparently created. Same exact drawing opens fine with V8XM.

I believe that the Macbook Pro would handle the situation much better since it has a better graphics card. I'm still working on figuring out the issue. Perhaps when/if I figure it out I'll post my findings to the group. Hmm, my wife has a newer Macbook Pro, perhaps I should try it on hers:) if I can pry it out of her hands!

I agree that it's not fun rebooting back and forth between Widnoze and Snow Leopard but for now I can live with it. And I love the looks of amazement on people's faces when they see I can run both OS's on the macbook!

Reply

Answer 4

Feb 27, 2011 6:57 PM in response to stef_nc

I have a 2009 Macbook Pro 13". I have ran Solidworks on both Bootcamp and with VmWare Fusion. For full power bootcamp ran great but I had problems with a second monitor. This may have been fixable but I did work on the job anymore so I didn't try. Under VmWare graphics are slower but for smaller projects it works good. I plan to stay with Mac and would love to go with a Mac Pro box but I need to stay mobile for now so the Macbook Pro is my solution.

Reply

Answer 5

spchsr

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2011 10:19 PM in response to spchsr

Ok, so I spent some time last night doing some updates- not the usual type that are pretty much automatic, but rather, went to Windoze, and found Bootcamp was still version 2 something, so downloaded Bootcamp 3.2, and then found out I have to do sequential updates, so got out Snow Leopard disk for BC3.0, then downloaded BC3.1, then 3.2. Still had Blue Screen of Death while running Microstation V8i, but not as often, so after more research, went to Intel's website and downloaded the non-customized version video driver for the GMA xX3100 Intel chip and installed it. So far, after several hours running V8i, it seems to be running good! And, the newer Bootcamp also fixed the function buttons in Windoze- volume control, brightness and eject buttons now work! Finally! So, it IS possible to run V8i in Bootcamp! Next up, I want to try running it in Oracle VirtualBox / WinXP.

Reply