@phillip said:

Sketchup does not run in isolation, as the virtual world moves forward one has the right to hope that each part of their solution will move forward with it and just as importantly - to voice their concern when it doesn't...
From my reading at least, the same concerns are shared by many, moreover there are also those with contemporary hardware purchased as a result of the demands of their other software finding difficulty running Sketchup fluidly. That's a concern for any office that includes Sketchup as part of their solution.

Exactly the sentiment I am trying to express. Give me an old machine, I'll run SU and never have any complaints. However demands of other programs require newer machines with different specs. Those specs have rendered SU obsolete (hopefully just for the moment) since it won't run. I don't need better performance. I need the program to perform. Its got to run. I have to run a 64 bit machine for other programs. Ergo I need SU to run on a 64 bit platform.

Regardless how much of my system it actually utilizes (I'm not a tech guru, obviously) I just need functionality. It's just not practicable to expect users to not upgrade systems, or to run two machines side by side - most of us do not have this luxury, especially in the workplace environment.

I was hoping you folks might have heard about Trimble planning on doing something to help those of us out that are currently finding SU impossible to use. I wasn't having luck finding any references to this myself - my favorite G search engine has finally let me down. I am hoping that by bringing this question to the attention of other SU users out there, and those that frequent the blogs and other industry news sources that I'd find someone who could share some info on these developments, perhaps even someone on the SU development team , or MS software testers who have worked on these issues, or Trimble folks that could point us all in the right direction...

Thanks for the comments guys... a little more background on my frustration, to add fuel to the fire:

I run Sketchup on my little personal netbook flawlessly. (Acer Aspire with a Core II Solo... don't remember the rest of the specs but I don't think I have more than 2GB RAM.) It's a decently zippy proc for the size, and is obviously just one core... so fits SU's parameters perfectly.

I recently had my work machine upgraded to support the 64 bit version of AutoCAD 2013. So now I'm running a Dell Precision T1600 with Intel Xeon E31245 @3.3GHz with 8GB RAM. VAST improvements in system performance with aCAD and all other programs.

Except Sketchup.

Which I can't get to run in a usable form at all. Not only is it slow and jaggy, but anything more than a minute of use makes it crash. I wish my IT guys had done a little more research and let me know that one of my 2 most used programs was not going to run on my new machine, alas they didn't, and I'm stuck trying to figure out the rest. Changing video card settings doesn't hack it. Running virtual PC in XP mode seems to ease some of the crashing issues (though not all) and it won't run for more than a few minutes without bogging down and becoming so unresponsive I can't use the program at all.

I'd imagine there are vast quantities of other users out there in the same situation. The majority of the other programs we use REQUIRE new systems with multiple proc's and huge quantities of RAM. Sketchup has done a great job of making our industry (and the design industry at large) highly dependent on their product, however our new computer systems are rendering their software obsolete.

I understand why Google wouldn't keep dumping resources into developing the software if they were looking to sell. SO. I'm hoping now that Trimble has purchased it, they will keep it moving forward.

Bottom line: SU may not NEED to use multiple proc's, etc. etc. in order to run better. However, our systems NEED to be robust for other software we NEED to run. SU is going to have to figure out a way to run flawlessly on these systems or we just won't NEED SU anymore.

Any word from Trimble on SU 64 bit? I know there has been much discussion in the past... however I haven't seen a response to this: My system IS 64 bit. SU therefore doesn't run worth a darn. I have been trying to get it to run in virtual XP mode, but can't seem to get good performance yet. Users with 64 bit systems need 64 bit support.