This is my situation - I’m currently using an MacBook Pro mid 2012 16gb to run SketchUp pro 2020 (though I do have the perpetual licence for 2021) on its last legs and a M1 Max 64gb MacBook Pro that I use for more powerful software.
I have no intention to go to the SketchUp subscription model (even if I did I’d want to keep my perpetual license working)
I know it would run on the m1 if I put the system software back to big sur - but then I couldn’t use my other software.
As much as I’d like to purchase a new m5 MacBook Pro 16” laptop for the more powerful software, to get similar specs to the m1 is ridiculously expensive and out of my price range.
I did have a look at 2nd hand m1 low spec MacBook airs and pros as a stop gap for a few years but even the 16gb ram are £600-£700 plus which is too much.
The compromise seems to be getting a 32gb or 64gb ram 2019 MacBook Pro 16”
what I don’t know is if the minimum spec of that model is enough or what processor or graphics card I should be trying to aim for (I think entry level is 2.6GHz 6‑core Intel Core i7 with AMD Radeon Pro 5300M with 4GB of GDDR6)
Would the entry level MacBook Pro 2019 16” 32gb be powerful enough to handle most jobs (what file sizes can it handle) or should I try and get better specs?
Might be easier and less expensive to purchase a PC notebook with a decent discrete graphics card. 2020 and 2021 will run on Windows 11 with no problem.
I have a 2019 Intel-based MacBook Pro 16” and it can run up to the latest macos 26 and SketchUp 26. Since Apple is ending support for Intel this year, it’s a dead end, but you can probably find one pretty cheap.
I’ve been a Mac user since I was a child (almost 35yrs - way before Apple became cool) so it is my comfort zone (I had to get a pc laptop for uni as AutoCAD would only run on pcs at that time - we did not get along well then and I don’t get along with my siblings pc the few times I’ve borrowed - which sucks as pcs tend to get more software features than Mac - but your comfortable with what you are comfortable with!)
In terms of apples no longer supporting intel’s I think the last compatible os with Sketchup pro 2021 is big sur (but if a later os unofficially runs SU2021 better please let me know)
If they where cheaper than id look at a low spec 32gb m1 MacBook Pro but they are just too much and there isn’t much difference in price between the intel models that offer 32gb (the 2018 & 2019 model) and with the vast improvement in graphics card the later 2019 16” pro seems like the best compromise for a stopgap Mac laptop when considering price, specs and familiarity with the Mac interface
What I’m less sure about is if base specs are more than enough or if there’s higher specific spec I should try to tick a routine the boxes on:
i7 or i9
2.6ghz or 2.3/2.4ghz processor
Radeon pro 5300m or 5500m graphics card
4gb or 8gb of GDDR6 memory on the Radeon pro graphics card
(Sorry if I got some of the terminology mixed up)
obviously benchmarks point to getting as high spec as you can but user experiences and reviews are a bit all over the place but the best ppl to ask is Sketchup users like myself
Can I ask what spec your 2019 16” MacBook Pro has (if it’s handling that high a Sketchup version and os I’d hope there’d be okay with using Sketchup pro 2021 on that same spec in theory?)
Prior to the M models, one basic thing was that the 15"/16" models had actual graphics cards, while the smaller models did not, so I think just about any 16" model 2018-2019 model would serve well enough.
SketchUp 2020 runs well on the M1 MacBook Air (8GB) and M4 MacBook Air (16GB) with the latest macOS Tahoe—so now is the time to buy, since Rosetta won’t be available after the next version.
There is little difference compared to the M5 chip. Although the M4 chip is twice as fast as the M1, there is practically no difference in everyday use (my M4 is gathering a bit of dust…), except for ray-tracing rendering… but will we even be doing rendering anymore, when you can just feed a SketchUp drawing to AI? Besides, I don’t notice any significant speed difference in my own development work, either.
I compromised to get ram rather than cpu and disk, so it is a 6-core i7 at 2.6GHz, 32GB ram, Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB, 512GB SSD. It had no problem running SU 2021.
SketchUp 2021 was developed exclusively for Intel cpu architecture, it means that it won’t run Macs with the latest OS from this year cause Roseta, the translator that lets x86 software run on Apple silicon Macs, won’t be available anymore, so if you want a new Apple machine you must know that either you won’t be able to instal the latest OS or you won’t be able to run SketchUp 2021.
I also love macOS and windows 11 is one of the worst OS I’ve used, but in your case the best option is to get a windows machine. I’d hold my money until the release of the windows machines with Nvidia’s SOCs.
It’s interesting that you said that Sketchup pro 2020 works with the m1 8gb air and m1 m1 16gb with os26 tahoe
my original plan was to upgrade to one of the m5 max (and keep my M1 Max for Sketchup - though MacBooks new are astronomical right now so I have to put a pin in that right now) as I’ve kept my m1 on big sur as the last compatible os version for su2021 - but my other software would benefit from a newer os release.
(Yes, it’s dawning on me that the solution could be much simpler)
I guess I have a new question then - obviously Sketchup 2021 pro was designed to be used (official compatable) with Intel Macs up to os big sur (as in all features working as expected)
Those of you still using Sketchup pro 2021 (or an earlier legacy perpetual licence) what limitations to Sketchup, layout or plugins are you encountering by using a m series mac and/or os12 or higher?
(Guess I need to open another topic as this thread title is very different than this new question)
Finding a 8gb vram radeon pro graphics card on the second hand market for a MacBook Pro 2019 16” model is not the easiest to find at a decent price (and finding those specs with the i7 rather than i9 is like trying to find a small LEGO piece in a haystack
Also about 80% of second hand intel MacBooks seems to have 80% or less battery health which would add another £150-£250 to replace
I read that for some i7 runs better than i9 but others the opposite
But how vital is getting a 8gb vram for the Radeon pro 5500m compared to the 4gb vram?
Turned out 8GB vram was less essential than I thought. The i9 was way more popular than the i7 but more expensive at the time. The biggest difference was number of cores, but SketchUp used only a single core and in that situation the i9 had only about a 10% advantage. And yeah, on any 7 year old computer the battery is almost sure to be 80% or less. That only affects run time, not function.
Aside from that, the problem I keep seeing is that the battery swells and makes the trackpad unable to do a physical click. There are replacement batteries for many machines, but for some, it means a new mother board.
Both are on MacOs Tahoe. 8gb is a problem if you open a 1gb IFC file… : ) … But it’s fluid, stable, fast on big architectural SU models.
Intel builds app with Rosetta2 loose only 20% of speed which is negligible (you don’t see it).
Nothing. Except for the limitations associated with not having a subscription (the online services nobody cares about—those that have been replaced by others, or are useless and don’t require an alternative).
I should point out that I use practically no plug-ins in my workflow.
Regarding the end of Rosetta, I believe it will happen after the next version of macOS, which is currently in beta. I also read that a sort of “minimal Rosetta” might be offered for older games…
I don’t know if this counts as an alternative, but perhaps it will be possible to install an older OS via virtualization?
“…it will stop working in a future macOS release. That future is fall 2027, when macOS 28 is expected to cut off Rosetta 2 compatibility for virtually all Intel-based software…”
