I am studying Sketch Up aiming to start to Interior Design Businness.
I will be working with Sketch up, Layout and V-ray.
I have a macbook from 2012 and while running Sketch up (only) noticed that it is too old and while using 3d objects it was standing still at some point.
I am looking to upgrade to a new Mac book pro 14 inch with the following specifications:
M3 Pro
11-core CPU
14-core GPU
18GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage¹
Do you think it will be enough to run all smoothly?
I have no much idea of the tech requirements so you help would be much appreciated!
M3 is a speedy machine, it will certainly be a leap forward from your old MBP. However, SketchUp and all other CAD programs by their nature only run on one core, so the number of cores is irrelevant for that, however it will help with other programs and with multitasking. The biggest bottlenecks are clock speed (fast with the M3), graphic card memory (integrated and fast with the M3), and RAM. I would suggest that the RAM you have listed here is borderline, it will work but a minimum of 32GB would be much better. RAM cannot be added later so must be purchased with the initial configuration. I might want 1TB storage as well but one can buy external hard drives later so it’s not as critical as RAM.
Use lighter 3D objects. Don’t go to the 3D Warehouse but make your own lightweight entourage components. Even if your computer is old, a new one will not have so much more performance that a model that now feels slow will just speed away. Sorry.
Every day someone posts about the same thing. Most are interior design students. The reason always turns out to be that a simple model of a couple of rooms has been so stuffed with overdetailed 3D entourage components that the model statistics show millions of edges and faces that reduces by 98% if you remove the eye candy.
What kind of work will you do with your Mac? For big projects and rendering I would suggest at least 32gb of ram, for small projects that might be enough.
It could. Have you considered an M2 chip? Even a used or refurbished M2? I usually buy refurbished from apple or used, and one generation earlier than current for better value, but that’s just me. An M2pro or M2max with 32 or 64gb RAM is a strong machine and a lot of bang for the buck, potentially a “faster” experience than a basic M3.
Something also to consider is that any “new” mac will ship with the latest Sonoma Mac OS, which SketchUp is not yet compatible with. There have been extensive problems, to the point of un-usability of SketchUp on Sonoma reported, for now, Montery or Ventura are a safer bet, and I believe any shipped Mac cannot be downgraded beyond the system it was shipped with.
