SolidWorks 2011 on an iMac

[BanduraMaker]

itle kind of says it all. I'm probably going to bite the bullet and pick up a brand-stinkin'-new copy of SW 2011 but I'm now a Mac guy and have no desire to return to windoze unless I absolutely have to. I've searched the archives here but couldn't find anything.

I figure that a windows box with a decent graphics card and a 21" monitor will set me back about $1k, maybe as little as $750 but, It will only be used for Solidworks and whatever CAM package I settle on. On the other hand, I could spend 1.5 to 2x that and get a smokin' hot new iMac with a 24" monitor that I could use for all my music stuff etc.

I'm wondering if anyone here's had any success running SW 2011 on an iMac using bootcamp (the one where Windows runs pretty much natively). I've gotten SW99 and 2009 sp0 running on VMware Fusion (the one where windows runs in a window in OSX) but the later versions don't run or perform really badly..

I'm not looking for a debate on the superiority of Windows over OSX - I don't care, I like Macs now and I'd like to stick with them. I'm looking specifically for someone who's managed to get SW2011 running with full graphics support using bootcamp to share their experience and let me know how it went or at least to point me to someone who has. If it won't work, I'll just have to cave in and get a windows box.

The two machines I'm looking at are:

3.2GHz Intel Core i3 with ATI Radeon HD 5670 graphics processor with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, 4G RAM

or:

2.8GHz Intel Core i5 with ATI Radeon HD 5750 graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 4G RAM

TIA

[giz]

It's possible, but not recommended. You have many things going against you.

1. The OS is unsupported, even from Boot Camp. This doesn't mean it won't install or work, but it does mean if you run into trouble installing (or activating) your software SolidWorks will not be able to help you.

2. The two machines that you have listed are not running supported graphics cards. Supported cards are cards from the ATI FirePro, FireGL series or the Nvidia Quadro, Quadro FX series. ATI Radeon and Nvidia Geforce cards are not supported. I couldn't find a package on the apple site that included a supported card.

3. If you do happen to find an apple with a supported gpu, you have to make sure that your VM software supports OpenGL Hardware Acceleration. If it does not, you might as well not have a supported card.

Running an unsupported card is a big deal. It can cause graphics issues ranging from small annoyances such as a random fillet feature jumping out into space, to more serious issues such as your part geometry being completely invisible the inability to select edges, faces, etc.

If it were my money, I would steer very clear.

[spiggo89]

It's possible, but not recommended. You have many things going against you.

1. The OS is unsupported, even from Boot Camp. This doesn't mean it won't install or work, but it does mean if you run into trouble installing (or activating) your software SolidWorks will not be able to help you.

2. The two machines that you have listed are not running supported graphics cards. Supported cards are cards from the ATI FirePro, FireGL series or the Nvidia Quadro, Quadro FX series. ATI Radeon and Nvidia Geforce cards are not supported. I couldn't find a package on the apple site that included a supported card.

3. If you do happen to find an apple with a supported gpu, you have to make sure that your VM software supports OpenGL Hardware Acceleration. If it does not, you might as well not have a supported card.

Running an unsupported card is a big deal. It can cause graphics issues ranging from small annoyances such as a random fillet feature jumping out into space, to more serious issues such as your part geometry being completely invisible the inability to select edges, faces, etc.

If it were my money, I would steer very clear.

I also use Macs exclusively, and this kind of thing is something you will just have to deal with ('unsupported' blablablablabla)

Nowadays, EVERYTHING that works on a run of the mill windows pc will work under bootcamp, since it is literally Windows running on very common hardware. You're better bet, and the option I use, is to use Parallels (~$60) instead of VMWare Fusion. Solidworks works perfectly in Parallels by the way, none of this opengl/directx/radeon/whatever nonsense.

Both of those machines will run it, although I would highly recommend the i5 with 1GB of graphics ram. The clock speed differences are largely meaningless nowadays.

[FantomMfg]

I am running a current student version 2010-2011 Solidworks version on my Mac mini using bootcamp with windows Xp. The software works fine for me. 1.8 ghz Intel processor, 2 gigs of ram and stock video card. I use it for solid modeling mostly, for College requirements and have not really pushed the software. Hope this helps.

[BanduraMaker]

Thanks for the info guys. I got a similar response from the local SW guys about unsupported HW etc...

I also found this video while looking around: Solidworks @ iMac 27" Bootcamp / Win7 x64 / Realview enabled on Vimeo

Seems the imac can run it just fine under bootcamp.

Parallels sounds kind of intriguing now. I started using Virtual Box (free) which would run 99, but no modern software (I was evaluating Alibre and some CAM packages as well). I then picked up VMware but didn't really research the differences between Parallels and it. Does Parallels actually use the video card to render? Do the Video Card hacks work with Parallels (or VMware for that matter).

Finally, according to this site here: Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy Your Mac, iPod or iPhone I'm going to hold off on a computer purchase for a few months until the new ones are out so I'll probably put Bootcamp or Parallels on my current machine (2.4GHz Core2Duo 4G Radeon 2600 256MB).

Thanks for the info - please keep it coming! Perhaps a subforum?

[Normsthename]

Old thread, but I thought I would say something.....
I have an Imac 27" and it runs Solidworks perfectly well in Parallels
No need to go into Boot camp but I do run a 3 button mouse

Andy

[giz]

I also use Macs exclusively, and this kind of thing is something you will just have to deal with ('unsupported' blablablablabla)

Considering I encounter users with unsupported GPUs running into problems on a daily basis, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the importance.

Just yesterday I had a user who's Property Manager was loading transparent, which means he could not use any tool menu at all. He literally could do no work and I could not help him because he was using unsupported graphics - I don't expect it to work.

Just the day before, it was working fine for him. Today, he is treading water. If your work and time are important to you, I can't imagine you'd open yourself up to that kind of risk.

[BanduraMaker]

Just the day before, it was working fine for him. Today, he is treading water. If your work and time are important to you, I can't imagine you'd open yourself up to that kind of risk.

As a follow up, I did end up purchasing SW and running it on my ancient iMac using VMware Fusion. It runs great (especially since I've upgraded to VMware Fusion 4) and when windows 7 got a virus the first time I ran it, it was a simple task to exterminate that install and re-install a virus free version.

I know I started this thread stating that I didn't want to argue over win and os-x but, the reason I'm a convert to os-x is exactly that my work and time are important to me.

It's sub-optimal that I have to run a virtualized windows 7 install to use SW but, being 4 months in to the process now, using a virtualized machine over a dedicated install has proven to be more valuable than the improved performance I'd get running a native install. I'd even go as far as recommending that native windows users use some sort of virtualization to run SW as when something goes nuclear with the O.S., a virtualized OS will allow you to be back in business in no time flat compared to a native install.

p.s. I'm totally going for the iMac 27 when it's re-freshed with whatever the best processor they have.

[SandyB]

Hi everybody this is my 1st post.
I have just bought the 27" imac with the lower spec.
I would like to install parallels with XP and reinstall solidworks 2009.
I have nothing installed at the moment on the mac. I am using a standard pc.
at the moment Have been using sw since 1998 and am considering a SW upgrade but cannot see any immediate benefit for me.
Has anybody recent updates and their experience using the mac in what I am wanting to do.
SandyB

[BanduraMaker]

It should probably work just fine. I haven't tested it with parallels but it will work fine with VMware.

[cncNewGuy]

This thread is getting a little old but i'm a Apple Certified Tech Coordinator so i gotta add my opinion. Spiggo89 is spot on in that with software companies the Mac platform is still catching on. Rumors have been flying around about a possible mac version of SW but still nothing definite. As far as your 27" goes i'm running SW 2011 on three different machines (27" iMac similar to yours, new 13" high end MacBook Pro, and a 13" MacBook Air. All of them are on OSX 10.7.2 running SW via Bootcamp AND Parallels version 7. All of these machines have been running SW fantastically with the exception of the Air and some open GL issues that i got resolved with a parallels update. Performance wise bootcamp running windows 7 seems to perform better with only a minor hit when running with parallels.

[isgkm]

@CNCnewguy, hi! I just had SW2011-12 Student Edition running very well on a 2010 era 13in Macbook pro with windows 7 installed in bootcamp.

That computer was stolen yesterday I am looking to replace immediately. Thinking of a new macbook air... which seem to have similar specs to my older pro. I would also like to run in parrallels rather than bootcamp. Can you comment more details on compatibility? Greatly appreciated...