Hi,
I’ve been using SketchUp 2020 with my brand new 16" MBP Max, and honestly, it’s been a nightmare since the beginning. SU crashes when I quit, my 3DConnexion SpaceMouse stops working after a few minutes in SU (although this may not be Trimble’s fault). When SU is actually working, it pinwheels all the time, simple tasks take forever. I downloaded the 2021 update, and have to say there’s been no improvement. Happens with multiple files too. In all, terribly disappointing.
So far I am somewhat happy. Of course this is all under Rosetta so there is ALOT of room for improvement. I am having a few problems with graphical glitches which look really weird. I also have the feeling that Sketchup doesn’t release Memory every now and than (when I work on a big file Sketchup needs ca. 3 GB of RAM and after a few hours it uses 16 GB and than I shut the program down, open it up again and we are back at 3 GB… 
Some CPU intense operations are actually faster (cleaning up models for example or exporting from Layout to DWG…)
So - I am happy because I know (I KNOW!!!) That Sketchup 2022 is around the corner and maybe (just maybe) it will bring some improvements for M1 users!
What’s really nice about this machine is how freakin’ cool it stays. And the battery life is unbelievable!
Sketchup 2020 or 2021?
I’ve seen comments on Mac forums that macOS Monterrey may have a bug that sometimes causes it to not release memory correctly on M1. This affects other apps too, not just SketchUp.
Hi Hewn, I’m experiencing the same issues, super frustrating. For what its worth, I appear to have found a fix to the SpaceMouse issue, after many rounds of back and forth with 3DConnexion. They sent me a standalone file to replace in the Library directory, which took some experimenting to get permissions allowed on my computer, but it appears to have solved the problem. You might want to reach out to them and ask about the 3DconnexionNavlib.framework folder swap. My SpaceMouse had been dying after about 5 minutes, requiring a hard-kill on SU to relaunch… it has been now running for about an hour after getting the file installed properly this morning.
Hi everyone, only for sharing my experience: I’m having some troubles: both SketchUp 2020 and 2021 crashes EVERY 10 MINUTES on brand new MacBook Pro 16" M1 Pro (16core GPU / 16Gb ram).
I had better results on my previous MacBook Pro mid 2012.
I’m an Architect (and I’m very annoyed for these crashes).
exact same experience for me
Is SketchUp crashing when idle, or is SketchUp in the middle of some operation when the crash occurs? If SketchUp is busy, what operation is in progress at the point of crash?
If SketchUp crashes when idle, I suggest disabling all extensions, quitting out of SketchUp, restarting SketchUp, and seeing if the crashes continue to occur as frequently.
I just upgraded from an M1 Mac Mini on a 14" M1 Pro with 32GB Ram, and so far it’s been mostly great (Sketchup-wise - everything else is Awesome!), though I’m only weeks in. I’ve barely touched Layout yet, and I haven’t tested on an external display.
I bought the Mini in order to produce a residential remodel plan set. I knew I’d want Apple’s eventual pro-level laptop & better M1, more ram, etc, but the project was underway. Trading in the mini was a snap, too. The Mini did the project ok as long as I managed geometry and textures well, though things could bog at times. Layout was never great, and became a beast by the time the plan document was coming into shape. No use of the GPU, and only 8GB of RAM on the Mini, so it makes sense. I’m sure I could’ve gotten far better results with a similarly-priced Windows machine, or a fast intel Mac, but all the rest of my workflow (native Adobe Apps, Safari) worked screamingly well so it was ok on balance.
The M1 Pro with 32GB RAM is a totally different class. In Sketchup my most complex files are smooth as can be. I can monkey with shadow and fog settings in almost real time. Transparencies seem great, and even x-ray with tons of geometry pans without lag. My mouse habits are changing as things like inferences snap with instant feedback - I had become accustomed to being patient with the app.
The only problem I’ve seen is Sketchup maxing out the CPU while I was just tweaking some things in a large model. It didn’t crash, but it got very, very slow. After a save-quit-reopen it worked fine.
I’m anxious to see a native version of Sketchup, though I’m wary of my expectations. I have no idea how much of the codebase is multithreaded (seems little), nor how well structured it is to take advantage of the new GPU.
Still, I made my 2015 MBP hold out long enough and this new one feels like it’ll go a good long time.
Ciao io lavoro con Sketchup 2020 e Vray Next come arredatore d’interni , quindi faccio molta modellazione 3d e render. In questo momento lavoro con un pc portatile (HP Omen . GTX-1050Ti . RAN-32Gb . processore I7 di settima generazione) e devo dire che risponde bene anche dopo 6 anni, però ora vorrei passare a qualcosa di molto più prestante ed ero intenzionato ad acquistare il nuovo MacBook Pro 16 con :M1 MAX . CPU 10‑core - GPU 32‑core - RAM 32GB di memoria unificata - Archiviazione SSD da 1TB.
VOI COSA MI CONSIGLIATE?
How large is large, may i ask?
The BMP 16" M1 Max will certainly be a very good CPU-based renderer. But so far as I know V-Ray has not yet released support for the Apple M1 GPU. That means it almost surely won’t equal a PC with an nVidia graphics card, on which V-Ray uses the CUDA hardware to accelerate rendering. I’m not sure what graphics your HP Omen uses. If it doesn’t have nVidia, the M1 Mac will almost surely go much faster.
I’ve had my new MBP 16" M1 Max with 64gb ram since early December. Impressive machine, fast, runs ridiculously cool, and battery life is best ever. SKP21 runs nicely but wish I could say the same for LO21. Any small file takes a phenomenal amount of time to deal with - zooming in and out is screwy, as one scrolls in and out and all of a sudden the view is way zoomed in. Switching pages brings more of the same agony. Impossible to get any work done. I too have the latest version of the Space Mouse and the acknowledged working version of 3DConnexions drivers. There certainly seems to be something buggy with both my CadMouse Wireless and a Logitech mouse and their respective scroll wheels that I think might be attributable to the MacOS. Regardless, I’ve reverted to SKP20 and LO20 which actually work quite well (though the usual gripes about LO still apply). At least I can get work done. I’m not holding my breath for LO22 . . YMMV
Update 13 Mar 2022: SKP 2022 runs quite well on this machine, but more importantly LO2022 is much improved. Have a 45mb file that loads promptly and is easily manipulated. A very welcome change from LO21.
And in case anyone is interested, Windows 11 in Parallels is fast and smooth. Since I also make use of Bluebeam Extreme, same for it. Thought I would never see this come to pass.
Hi,
I have 2020 Pro, but the trial version of 2021 is the same.
SketchUp 2022 Release Notes says:
Native Apple silicon Support
In SketchUp 2022, we are offering a universal installer that enables SketchUp Pro to run ‘natively’ on Mac devices that run with Apple silicon (introduced in late 2020). Previously, SketchUp has been running on these devices using the Rosetta translation service.
The 2022 installer also supports SketchUp’s installation and operation on Mac devices with Intel processors. Apple users will not need to distinguish which chipset powers their Mac to install SketchUp Pro.
Use Check for Update to upgrade to the new version, or manually download at:
I’ve been running SketchUp Pro 2021 for about a week on a new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and 16GB ram. So far, so good, no problems and much quicker than the late 2013 MacBook Pro that I came from. I haven’t had a chance to test it out on Layout yet, but will get to that soon enough.
Just installed the new 2022 release with native support for M1. Very excited about this! Thank you, SketchUp Team, I know a lot of us have been waiting for this.
interested to hear how native M1 SU is running.
Hi there, since the last post does anyone have any good reports on the performance of SketchUp on the newish MacBook Pro 16” Max?
It works great for me!
An M1 PRO vs an M1 MAX won’t make any difference to the performance of SU or LO, but may make a difference with rendering software if you ever output that way.
Data points to explain this in this thread.
Thank you for that, really helpful. Thanks for the link to the previous notes, the details helped to explain things.
