Anyone running SolidWorks on a Mac? 15

[cmm]

Anyone running SW via Boot Camp or Parallels? I notice someone posted this question mid last year. Currently only Mac Pro has a SW-certified graphics card (Quadro FX 4500) as an option, but I'd rather use the cleaner iMac or a Macbook Pro if I could get away with it. The thought of specifying another piecemeal Wintel box at work makes me cringe now that I've experienced Apple. If on SW ran natively on OSX...


Chris Montgomery
Mechanical Engineer

 

[ElTico]

I just loaded SW2008 a few days into my all-in-one iMAC.
I didn't like to partition the hard drive since I was not prepared to do all the back ups it recommended. Initial partition set at 20GB for both Windows Vista and SW. I decided that I needed more space for the future but found out that I could not increase the size of the Windows side easily. So, I reinstalled Windows with a 40GB partition size.
The SW dealer came to my house where he loaded the SW himself. I had to reboot Windows since it could not access the Internet. Once I rebooted, the SW codes went in and SW was running.
I've gone through one tutorial plus imported STEP and SW documents.
Probably spent around 12 hours on it.
So far, it appears to running ok.
I initially contacted the local Apple retailer since Apple warned that the I/O ports, ie, USB, fIrewire, may not work correctly. Apple showed me external hard drives that are universal for both Windows and MAC operating systems.

 

[trsbrown]

Vincearlia,

I have a very similar setup to what you're talking about. I can run 800+ part assemblies no prob in lightweight mode. The only limitation I've had is when I have those huge assemblies open with multiple (detailed) automotive engines throughout different configurations of the main assembly, my computer doesn't really know how to handle that too well. After running Anna Wood's benchmark part, I had a rebuild time of 120 secs. It's not great compared to better PCs...but not that bad either...there are other way worse systems out there. Overall, I would give it a "C" for solidworks use...but an "A" for doing what I ask from it because solidworks is not what I originally bought it for.

Also, if you have a 3DConnexion device, it translates, rotates, and zooms smoothly within those large assemblies...which blows away some of the guys I work with

Earlier this year, I ran out of space on my Windows partition (originally 30 or 40GB) because of the solidworks stuff. There's a new (FREE!!!) program out called CampTune which allows you to re-size your windows partition pretty easily. It just takes a while to complete. The amount of space required for your partition is up to you. Now I have 100GB of the hard drive dedicated for my windows partition....and whenever I finish an assembly, I store the files on a Linksys NAS200, transfer files over using Beyond Compare, then delete the assembly from my Apple. Overall, I've been pretty happy with the set-up.

Only run solidworks through Bootcamp. Parallels and the other one are terrible to use with solidworks...I've tried them both. When you install the Bootcamp partition, you're Apple becomes a PC, which freaks people out. So really any application/document you can see/install on a PC, you can install it on that side of the partition. In order to switch back to OS, you'd have to restart your computer and select OS X from the start-up screen...which takes maybe 2 minutes to do.

Be careful though, your Windows partition is vulnerable to viruses like any other PC....it would only affect the Windows partition, but void the warranty on your Apple.

 

[reenmachine]

So I'm about to order a new iMac and I'm going to run SolidWorks 2006 on it, probably under XP SP2. The video cards currently offered, presumably in increasing order of performance, are as follows:

- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 with 512MB memory

Is there a clear advantage to any of these? This will be my home machine for small-ish side projects so maybe 50-part assemblies if that.

 

[ElTico]

I have an iMac partitioned with both Mac OS & Windows Vista Home OS.
The 2009 SW runs on the Windows Vista through Bootcamp.
I run most of my applications as Apple with only SW & SW Doctor on the Windows side.
I don't do full production so the SW may only get one day per week running.
So far, it does everything I need it to do.
Primarily I receive SW files from my customer plus STEP files from other systems.
There's suppose to be a problem using the Ports, ie, printer, etc, but I only run those using MAC OS. My DSL modem/ phone line sometimes needs to be restarted in order to access the Internet. Primarily it's to get on the SW sever to download updates.

The only issue I had was that SW distributor CFO wanted to make sure they got their money while I was evaluating the system. Once I buy it, there's no returns. I have not seen any documentation from SW on how instal/ run it in the MAC.

I had to specify that I'm running an Intel-based MAC with Windows. This is not believed in the PC world since common knowledge is that MAC and Windows are incompatible.
The local technical sales person helped quite a bit.

The SW tech service still does not know that I'm doing this.
They can't perceive of what I'm doing.

 

[GoWithTheFlo]

When you run bootcamp on a Mac, you have a PC, end of story. The only possible source of problem with a mac is the graphics card. Since they are not supported (they are gaming cards) SW tech support might tell you any graphical problem you have is... just too bad.... But they should be able to help you with anything else.

Personally I have no problem on my macbook pro with bootcamp. Not even a single graphical glitch. (I have heard, but don’t quote me on this, that Apple actually makes the graphic drivers for their cards and do not use drivers made by ATI or Nvidia. Maybe it’s the same for the bootcamp/windows version?)

 

[kellnerp]

A few years ago I ran into a bloke at SWW whose company was running SW on Macs for all compute intensive applications. They were doing a lot of FEA. Bootcamp rings a bell.

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BSSE

http://www.engtran.com

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"Node news is good news."

 

[G1DESIGN]

Yo can run quadro cards in the mac

My latest i picked up for 1300 its last years twin harpetown model but i installed a 1700 quadro (again cheap) with no problems

some on here might know but solidsmack are fans of the mac and a great resource if your new to solidworks on the mac

 

[Pearllite]

Hi Guys,

I'm reading through the majority of this post looking for some information on enabling real view to work on SW 2009 running Nvidia Geforce 120's...

I like many others commenting here am running a Mac Pro with bootcamp to run Inventor 2010, SW 2009 and NX5.. I have recently upgraded from a HP8800 station with Vista 64 - 16GB RAM and dual Quadro FX 3700 which worked quite well but on trialling the Mac Pro (16GB RAM Dual Quad Core 2.93GHZ Intel Xeons and 4 Nvidia Geforce 120's)I have found it to be substantially more robust for negligible cost difference.

I have had little dramas with running the Mac to support the 3D cad packages and have found my computations to be significantly better. I would highly recommend using a Mac to support 3D cad packages. Like many I now hope to see these programs native on OSX given Snow Leopard was just released given 1 year ago I wouldn't have touched a Mac to surf safari let alone allow it into a cad environment...

We are running full assembly FEA on max 200 part assemblies. We are also managing max 4000 part assemblies for both Inventor and SW... hence the ridiculous amount of RAM.... Draglines have a lot of parts.... We have 1 Mac Pro and 8 other high end HP's and to date the Mac far out performs the PC's both in computations and performance...

My only downfall is I can't use real view... not a big loss but I would like to know how I can potentially enable it if it is at all possible..

If anyone has any information regarding enabling real view on the Geforce 120's that would be appreciated..

Cheers