MAC for CAD ?

I'm just wondering if anyone uses Macbooks to do CAD work on a regular basis? eg. Solidworks. If so, how does it stand? Does it perform just like any other Windows laptops running off of integrated graphics?

 

simple DO NOT TRY. and even if it is a windows laptop Solidworks is not consumer GPU friendly, go for a portable workstation with a FirePro or Quadro GPU, if budget is a concern a newer GCN radeon will do in a pinch. Gforce 6xxm - 8xxm and intel IGP are dead last.

if it is light work on an IGP then you will find that the MBP/rMBP will throttle it very quickly, it is just due to how CPU intensive CAD applications are comparatively.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought, but I've seen people run Solidworks on things like the Thinkpad X230, which makes me think that to some degree, IGP can do the job?

 

I run it on an x230 actually ( I still dabble in architecture etc ), it is doable but NOT for anything large or fast. it is a very CPU+GPU dependent software and useless on IGP and Gforce GPU's. for any real work look at a thinkpad W, Dell Precision M, HP Elitebook W, or HP Zbook. if you want a Macbooks looks the m3800 is your best choice.

 

To some degree. It all depends on if you are willing to compromise on available features, features you can use without slow downs, etc. It also depends on how intensive your work is. As an example, realview graphics will not be available unless you have a card that is certified (firepro or quadro). Is it necessary? No! Is it nice to have? Damn right it is, I could never say no to eye candy and a better idea of what a given part might look like!

 

I use Solidworks daily on my rMBP in a production environment. I work in large assemblies of over 2,000 parts and have absolutely zero problems.

Do not waste your money on the "workstation" graphics cards. They only real advantage they have over the consumer cards is the ability to use the "real view" option. There is a registry hack that will allow you to enable this feature on a standard GeForce card.

I also use Pro/E (Creo 2), Catia and NX9.0.

The rMBP is more than adequate to handle all of these programs through Bootcamp with 16MB of RAM instead of lugging around a 9lb workstation laptop that is overpriced because of the video card.

 

Registry Edit that allows RealView on a standard GeForce card

1. Launch regedit and go to key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SolidWorks2014\Performance\Graphics\Hardware\Gl2Shaders\NV40
2. Under the NV40key create a new key called GeForce
3. Under this new "GeForce" key create a new DWORD(32-bit) Value called "Workarounds"
4. Double click the"Workarounds" and enter a hex value"40008" (without "")
5. LaunchSolidWorks...(Should see the RealView gold ball now)

Enjoy!

 

Just chiming in the conversation, but my workstation laptop is under 6 lbs. Not sure where you're getting 9 lbs from.