Sketchup Pro 2018 on MacBook Pro

JakeMM

What are you looking to do with Sketchup Pro?

SketchUp purely uses one computer core, but rendering plugins will use more than one.

Using this website, compare the single core scores and see how all the Mac's stack up against each other: https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks

The MacBook you are looking at has a single core score of 4496.

I'm still currently using a 2013 13" MacBook Pro with a single core score of 3314, and on this machine I'm able to build fairly detailed architectural models with ease, complete with lots of custom textures etc. The machine you are looking at is approximately 50% quicker than my MacBook, and so I don't think you'd have any issues at all.

ebelg2000

Thanks for the feedback, that is very helpful!

pbacot

that's a great webpage with the benchmarks. I wonder at the significance of the numbers, say how many points and you actually see a difference in performance.

chuck

I am running Sketchup 2018 Pro on a MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536: I have no issues working on it and using numerous extensions and renderers like Ambient Occlusion and Twilight - I use it along with AutoCad for Mac 2019 and have no issues.

Goggin

@unknownuser said:

I am running Sketchup 2018 Pro on a MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 6000 1536: I have no issues working on it and using numerous extensions and renderers like Ambient Occlusion and Twilight - I use it along with AutoCad for Mac 2019 and have no issues.

Hey Chuck (or anyone else):

I've been using older versions of ketchup on my older Mac for years, and I just bought a new MacBook Pro today. In looking at downloading SU2018, it warns against using it with an Intel Graphics card. Is that a serious problem, or only a problem with complex 3-D models? I use SU to draw up architectural plans and typical do a 3-D model of the house I'm working on. Nothing crazy like fancy interiors, but exterior elevations in 3-D.

My computer hardware is:

Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 2400 MHz SSR4
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

I'll be happy to download some older version if that would be better, and if it's even possible.

Thanks in advance.

--G

Dave R

@goggin said:

Hey Chuck (or anyone else):

I've been using older versions of ketchup on my older Mac for years, and I just bought a new MacBook Pro today. In looking at downloading SU2018, it warns against using it with an Intel Graphics card. Is that a serious problem, or only a problem with complex 3-D models? I use SU to draw up architectural plans and typical do a 3-D model of the house I'm working on. Nothing crazy like fancy interiors, but exterior elevations in 3-D.

My computer hardware is:

Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 16 GB 2400 MHz SSR4
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

I'll be happy to download some older version if that would be better, and if it's even possible.

Thanks in advance.

--G

Integrated Intel graphics haven't had a great track record as far as adequate OpenGL support although that's been more of a problem with Windows than Mac. Apple seems to do a better job of not breaking the drivers that Microsoft. Most Mac users seem to manage OK with Intel graphics.

At this stage, considering your application, SketchUp 2018 Pro would be the way you'd need to go so you might as well dive in.

pbacot

Can this help you? Just guessing as I still use a MBP with NVIDIA card. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043

Goggin

@unknownuser said:

Integrated Intel graphics haven't had a great track record as far as adequate OpenGL support although that's been more of a problem with Windows than Mac. Apple seems to do a better job of not breaking the drivers that Microsoft. Most Mac users seem to manage OK with Intel graphics.

At this stage, considering your application, SketchUp 2018 Pro would be the way you'd need to go so you might as well dive in.

Thanks. Assuming I can still get a free version, I think I'll just download that and see how it works. If it's OK, I'll switch to Pro. I need Pro for it to be useful for me, but not sure I want to shell out the $$ if there are going to be problems.

Dave R

You can use the SketchUP Pro 2018 trial for 30 days and see how it goes. The last free desktop client version is SketchUp 2017 Make. It wouldn't be a good comparison because there are differences between the two and SU2017 will not be updated for the current Mac OS version.

If you are using SketchUp for your work, you would be required to have a SketchUp Pro license since Make is only for non-commercial use. At this writing, the only license they are selling is for SU2018 Pro.

pbacot

I'd love to try out SU on a nice Windows machine and see if I am missing something.

Dave R

@pbacot said:

I'd love to try out SU on a nice Windows machine and see if I am missing something.

Why don't you come for a visit, Peter? You can try out SketchUp on one of mine. The snow has melted...for now.

FWIW, since I've seen lots of folks having issues related to integrated Intel graphics over the last few years, when I decided to replace my ancient MacBook Pro, I switched over to PC notebooks with Nvidia graphics cards. Most Mac users with Intel graphics seem to be doing fine but I didn't want to take a chance since one of my key reasons for buying a new computer this year was Basecamp presentation and workshops.

ANouaaman

I am running the software on my MacBook Air 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 6000, until now, i have no issues, performance is so good.