New Macbook Air: Finally Good for SketchUp?

alexandersimple · 25 Jul 2011, 14:29

As you may know, the new MacBook Air was released recently by Apple. After not being able to run SketchUp successfully on a previous version, could this one be "THE ONE" to go with for my upgrade?

Columnists and testers have raved that the new Air is just as powerful as a 2010 MacBook Pro... I've never owned a Mac before but this could be the right time to finally make the switch.

What do you guys think?

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_air?mco=MTM3NjU3MDM

Gaieus · 26 Jul 2011, 05:27

Well, as we know, SU needs as fast processing power as possible (to display geometry) and a dedicated video card (to process shadows, textures etc.).

Since the specs say: "speeds up to 1.8GHz and faster" (whatever that means - as "up to" usually means "maximum" so what is "faster" here?) and the GPU is an integrated "Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor" (which has always caused issues in PC's so far), I would really doubt it can handle SU properly.

One should try however. But simply trying for $ 1K may be disappointing, too.

alexandersimple · 5 Aug 2011, 20:28

Csaba,

Thanks for your response. So you dont think it's enough? I was hoping someone else would try that for $1k...

They really push the fact that it's "as powerful as a 2010 MacBook Pro", whatever that may mean... but i guess i may have to wait until the next generation comes out. I'm running on Vista now on a laptop but like the 'coolness factor' of the Mac.

-Sasha