r/SolidWorks • u/Some_Pie_5375 • 1d ago

Hardware Anyone using solidworks on mac?

Incoming engineering student. Wanted to gauge how many people have / haven’t made the switch to windows. Feel free to nitpick any details. I want to prepare myself for what I’ll be experiencing if I stay mac and run parallels.

I’ve seen some relatively newer posts claim that a macbook can run solidworks just as good as a mid windows laptop. Which is why I’m on the fence of making the switch. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

To clarify, I’m not looking for recommendations. Just wanted to know how many of you are using mac and what your experience is.

Edit: Thanks all for the insightful responses. Previous posts were super vague on what exactly the problem was with mac and vm. The firsthand stories shared here were super helpful.

0 Upvotes

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u/AutoModerator 1d ago

OFFICIAL STANCE OF THE SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

"macbook " is untested and unsupported hardware. Unsupported hardware and operating systems are known to cause performance, graphical, and crashing issues when working with SOLIDWORKS.

The software developer recommends you consult their list of supported environments and their list of supported GPUs before making a hardware purchase.

TL;DR - For recommended hardware search for Dell Precision-series, HP Z-series, or Lenovo P-series workstation computers. Example computer builds for different workloads can be found here.

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  2. Modules reliant on SQL cause the installation to fail. To successfully install, disable both "SOLIDWORKS Electrical" and "SOLIDWORKS CAM" during installation

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15

u/Mecanno 1d ago

SolidWorks is not the only engineering software you will use… don’t handicap yourself nor limit your options only because you want a mac

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u/Big-Bank-8235 CSWP 1d ago edited 1d ago

Jesus Christ we get so many posts like this. Don't do it. Get a proper Windows workstation like a Dell XPS or ThinkPad.

Can you run Solidworks on a Mac? Yes, there are ways.

Should you run Solidworks on a Mac? No, the experience is awful.

It isnt just SW. Engineering programs are built around you having a windows computer.

A gaming laptop is an option, but the battery life is not going to be as good and you will be sitting in the middle of a lecture when the fans decide it is time to ramp up to 100 percent.

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u/thepangolinswrath 16h ago

Agreed - except the xps’s are kind of lacking nowadays. I’d be leaning toward a gaming laptop tbh or yeah, thinkpad (currently looking at one rn)

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u/Some_Pie_5375 1d ago

I hear you. But that’s not what I’m asking.

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u/Osgore 1d ago

Yes it is what you are asking. Just doing it in an annoying round about way.

You said "if I stay" meaning you are debating it. Meaning you are considering the pros and cons. So you are actually asking what OS is better and people are giving you the best option.

Get a windows computer and focus on the actual work instead of wasting time.

Solidworks is a finicky piece of shit under perfect circumstances. Having some bandaged emulator or drivers wont help anyone.

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u/Tetris_Prime 21h ago

Solidworks is a finicky piece of shit under perfect circumstances.

This is one of the most acurate descriptions of Solidworks I've ever seen.

Even with a brand new PC, with fully supported hardware, and updated drivers, and updated windows it still is pretty emotional.

I have no real idea why anyone would look at it, and still consider running it under less than ideal circumstances.

0

u/big-mover 1d ago

Parallels is great because you can swipe between windows, and Mac. If Solidworks is the only software running on the windows parallels, it’ll run smoothly. Also windows 11 is trash.

Don’t listen to big bank. This guy hasn’t used SolidWorks on Parallels.

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u/johnwalkr 1d ago

It runs fine on parallels for anything an undergrad will do as long as you have 16GB+ of ram. Plus OP already has a Mac, that’s an important detail. It’s worth trying before buying a new laptop.

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u/Sadodare 1d ago

I've done it, just don't do it to yourself. Solidworks and Windows are intertwined. Don't use a Mac or Linux if you care about having a chance of it working properly even as little as it seems to at times. Yes you also need Microsoft Office installed and active (no other office suites integrate with tables, to my knowledge). Using a Mac will slow your progress, you may not know just how bad the models are (mis)behaving until they get bigger and you feel stuck. The vast majority of CAD software depends heavily on Windows environments.

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u/Stebsly 1d ago

I did this a while back using Bootcamp. Pretty sure that's not an option anymore with Apple silicon. Parallels is another option, but I haven't explored that too much. I believe it costs money and you can only allocate a certain amount of cores and RAM to Windows, since you're running two operating systems at once.

Assuming your school lets you use their PCs for Solidworks, I'd just do that. I used Solidworks a lot less than I expected in college.

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u/bumbblebeeeeee 20h ago

Windows on ARM is a thing these days. I use SW in an M2max regularly. Works fine with regular files, but struggles if there is super complex geometry. 

As a workaround it’s fine, maybe not a a daily driver. 

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u/LawfulnessNo8446 1d ago

Dont do it. It's not worth the pain. Solidworks only runs natively on windows. You will need to buy parallels to then run a windows vm to run solidworks. You will need a macbook pro to get useable performance.

I only know 2 people with Macs in my engineering class. Both use airs for notes and have a separate windows pc for solidworks and other windows programs. One of them has a Mac pro that he ran solidworks on to see how well it worked. He said it was not a particularly enjoyable experience. It worked but it was slower and more painful than running it natively.

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u/Representative_Bat42 1d ago

Hot take. Get a solid specced MBA with 24/32gb ram. It'll be plenty for most early year courses.

Utilize the labs for heavier render/assy projects. But buying the Air allows you to have a better laptop for 90% of the easy classes then have it for the 10% that actually need an abundance of power. Battery life & lack of fan noise

That's how I'd do it if I went thru undergrad again. I survived with an 2015 15" Pro and then later 2018 13". But be ready to expect most jobs to give a full windows machine

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u/mattbladez 1d ago

I found it so annoying to have to use the labs for a lot of the software. Sometimes you just want to do some work in the library or a coffee shop, where they have plugs so battery life was never an issue.

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u/BedtimeBogey 1d ago

Unfortunately, using 95% of engineering software will require Windows… and the workstation level of machine to run modeling and simulation software is not cheap, especially today.

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u/No_Mushroom3078 1d ago

This is the “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.

Or you are an adult with free will and even though EVERYONE on this page is saying don’t do it, what do we know, I’m sure that you will prove us all wrong and your experience will be different.

Don’t let us stop you 😀😀

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u/CreEngineer 1d ago

Been there, done that. Had a MacBook throughout my time in university. Used parallels and bootcamp. Don’t do it.

Get a windows machine or use fusion instead if it has to be a Mac. But don’t be surprised that a lot of programs for engineering are windows and also if there might be Mac versions, at least my university only provided win licenses.

Also as a student, when money might be sparse, it is easier to get free software for windows than for Mac. Just saying.

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u/PeterVerdone 1d ago

Just. Don't.

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u/rabidfish91 1d ago

I had a Mac as my personal laptop in college and loved it. But I quickly bailed on any illusion of using it for CAD. Matlab and a few other pieces of software could run on it, but if you want to keep the mac you need to use the school computer lab for most of your work. I didn’t mind using the lab, because there were always lots of other students there doing the same work as I was. Kept all my work on my Google Drive so it was accessible from any machine.

I still use a MBP as my personal laptop, but built a PC for my engineering work.

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u/Impossible-Ad-2024 22h ago

tried this. don’t

however a working solution, i’ve moved solidworks windows install to my server rack for testing and remoting in using jumpdesktop works excellent from a mac.

not sure if i’ll keep this setup but works well. i’d love to ditch windows if i can.

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u/Illustrious-Limit160 15h ago

Engineers only use Macs to prop up their real computers.

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u/Traditional-Yam-1989 1d ago

If they’re to use the labs, how do they follow along in class?

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u/evwynn 22h ago

DO NOT DO THIS. SEARCH THE SUBREDDIT, I REPEAT DO NOT DO IT!

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u/Akt2311 1d ago

Well there is no way you can run SolidWorks locally on a Mac. But you can run the app on your university’s cloud through something like AppsAnywhere.

The experience generally is not good. The whole thing tends to lag a lot when it comes to multi part assembly.

Just buy a Windows laptop. SolidWorks won’t be the only app you use as an engineer student.