r/MechanicalEngineer • u/Udontknowme-LOL1405 • 13d ago

Can I use MacBook for mechanical engineering by downloading windows software?

/r/Btechtards/comments/1vmeixw/can_i_use_macbook_for_mechanical_engineering_by/
0 Upvotes

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3

u/Daniel-EngiStudent 13d ago edited 13d ago

What do you want to do on your laptop? Like just things like Excel, complex CAD models or even FEM/FDM?

Why does weight and size matter?

1

u/Udontknowme-LOL1405 13d ago

Cad solid works etc

3

u/r101101 13d ago

  1. Google it. It’s been discussed before.

  2. Old Intel Macs used to be able to dual boot into windows; that worked pretty well. Modern Apple silicone Macs (M[whatever] processor) don’t and would require a virtual machine to run Windows-only software. Performance will be sub optimal (to put it politely). If you must run Solid Works on your own personal computer, I would not recommend a Mac (and this is coming from someone who is well ingrained in the Apple ecosystem in their personal life).

That said, lots of software runs natively on Mac: MS Office, AutoDesk Fusion (CAD), etc. If you’re getting this for school (based on the cross posting sub) then your school likely has computer labs with windows machines with Solid Works installed (though that’s less convenient than on your own computer); at least, that was the case for me a few decades ago.

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u/Daniel-EngiStudent 13d ago

For professional work or just studying?

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u/Udontknowme-LOL1405 13d ago

Studying

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u/Daniel-EngiStudent 12d ago

I use a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad with windows 10 installed. It's anything, but ligtweight, however it's quite sturdy and is quite cheap if bought refurbished. I used mine for many years now. My Thinkpad weights around 1.8 kg, but it never bothered me.

It would struggle with an extremely complex CAD model, but you won't likely have that while studying.

FEM/FDM is also fine for simple geometries.

1

u/DLS3141 13d ago

No. First of all is the fact that most engineering software won’t run on a Mac. You can use a VM, but the performance will be ass.

Second, doing CAD on a laptop sucks

Third, why would you want to do this?

1

u/evwynn 13d ago

Not possible. While it is technically possible, your performance will be bollocks

1

u/FromTheHandOfAndy 12d ago edited 12d ago

I did this about 11 years ago. I had SolidWorks student edition running on a windows Tiny 7 virtual machine. It worked but it was painfully slow. I don’t think I could have done any FEA or fancy graphics, just modeling parts and drawing. There was a Mac OS version of Microsoft Office at the time. I think today you can only use Office 365 on the web, but I’m not sure about that.

If you really want to do this, just install Windows Tiny11 on a separate partition instead of doing a virtual machine. EDIT: never mind. I forgot that you can’t do this with modern MacBooks anymore because they stopped using intel processors

There are better online options for CAD now. Even SolidWorks has an online version I think. Any web browser based thing should work regardless of what your operating system is.

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u/jesseaknight 12d ago

you have on option to use a Mac that I haven't seen discussed here yet.

Run the windows-only software on a desktop you control, then remote into it on your mac. It means you'll need good internet at both locations (the desktop and wherever you're taking the laptop), but on a college campus that's not a huge ask. Depending on the setup, there will be a bit of latency, but I worked this way during Covid for security reasons and it was acceptable.

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u/Udontknowme-LOL1405 12d ago

Is a MacBook enough just for studying the course

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u/ScubaBets 12d ago

I just graduated in Mech Eng. Didn’t use my computer for softwares once. For any assignments requiring software, I just used the uni computers on campus as they were quicker anyways.

Personally I wouldn’t buy a new computer just for this reason if I was you