MacbookPro set up for better work for Sketchup

Technical Problems
#1

Hello everyone,
Can you help me, suggest me, how can i setup my macbook pro to abetter work with Sketchup?
I mean, what kind of graphic card is better, if necessary ram: how much ram, cpu, etc… I working with Sketchup from many year, also in professional job.
I’m working in an animation studio and my use of Sketchup is for previz and sketchin the environments for the model artists, storyboard artists, concept artist. I’m a supervisor and artist that have learned SkUp by himslf throw the web. I have introduced SkUp in my studio and integrated it in the workflow with the opposition of the IT, but i win and now i can working with SkUp without suspects from IT. But i haven’t technicals skills to make request of implementation of pc hardwares, for example.
Any help or suggestion will be appeciated.

A great thank you to all of you
TG

#2

You don’t say whether you already own the MacBook Pro or are planning to buy one. On a MacBook Pro there are no system settings that will affect SketchUp one way or the other; the only options you can choose are hardware, which must be selected at time of purchase. For a purchase, you should get the fastest CPU option available for the model you want and also the maximum RAM memory (note: the same advice is true on Windows). SketchUp uses only a single CPU core, so dual vs quad will not make any difference. The 15-inch MacBook Pro’s have a separate graphics processor that will perform better than the integrated Intel graphics on the 13-inch models.

#3

+1 on the 15" performing better. I use a 17" that performs well. Two things that make an improvement for me.

sketchup>preferences>openGL>use hardware acceleration-on.

And

Mac>system preference >energy saver> automatic graphics switching-off

#4

No longer available as of SU 2017, but if you have an earlier version make sure this is on.

My MacBook Pro Retina has always detected that SketchUp wants the discrete graphics and switched to it automatically without needing this setting. But no harm in trying it out…

#5

thank you, i have a 2012 macbook pro retina at home, that work well.
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro10,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2,3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 16 GB

at work i have an iMac 2013 with 27" with 8 gb ram
the IT says that iMac non need more ram because the 3d sw not use ram but graphic card and imac not have a graphic card but only a chipset…
it’s true?

#6

thank you for your suggestion
i will try to set this setup.

#7

Your MacBook Pro is the same model as I have and should be fine for most purposes with SketchUp.

Your IT person does not know what he is talking about, in two regards. First of all, according to the Apple specifications for the late-2013 iMac 27 it does have a discrete graphics card, a NVIDIA GeForce (three versions were available). Second, he is making a generalization about 3d software that is not true for SketchUp. SketchUp keeps its model geometry data in system RAM. More system RAM will let you work with a larger model before the system starts to bog down, though a very large SketchUp model (with millions of edges or faces) will overwhelm almost any computer.

#8

I have this Model with 2GB NVIDIA, with 16 GB RAM , SU works great. It was the last iMac with NVIDIA cards, as I recall.

#9

Thanks to all.
Great forum

#10

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