Seeking Help Selecting New Laptop and Features for Optimizing SketchUp Pro 2018 and Beyond

SketchUp Pro
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1

Greetings, my 2014 MacBook Pro just took a dive and it’s time for me to upgrade. I struggle through technical jargon and am looking for guidance.

Some notes…

I have been running Sketchup Pro 2018 on my now defunct 2014 macbook pro…it worked but I had a decent number of crashes gltches…not enough make life impossible but enough to think my hardware was only nominally covering my needs of .skp. I have only ever used Mac laptops and for matters of cost was thinking about keepng it that way and just getting a monitor to connect to for home work. Sketchup is the only thing I use computing for that requires any real umph…beyond that I check email, stream the occasional movie, and build spreadsheets. I’m a little scared of switching to non mac based platform but realize that there is nothing really specialized regarding my needs that holds me to apple.

I use Sketchup to build maps for events for both pre-visualization and logistical purposes. I am not really a modeler but would like to move more into that space.

I just had a chat with an Apple sales person and after letting them know my needs they offered up the following:

2.2GHz Core 8th Generation Intel Core
i7 processor
Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz
Radeon Pro 555x with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
16GB 2400 MHz DDR4 memory
256 GB ssd storage

Seeking guidance on navigating this process. Please remember…tech jargon is a very weak point for me.

2

how large are your files tend to be?

3

40 MB and under would probably be a fair assessment. The average is probably closer to 8 MB though.

4

Then you should be fine. I asked, because sometimes, people want a big Mac because their models are huge, so huge that even the highest specs will have troubles handling it.

5

256GB SSD can be a nuisance.

Check your current space usage and try to project over the next 3 years.

6

Have a look at the base model Dell G7 laptop. $1,100 USD

• 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-8750H Processor (6-Core, 9MB Cache, up to 4.1GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with NVIDIA® Max Q Design technology, 6GB GDDR5 video memory

• 8GB, 2x4GB, DDR4, 2666MHz Memory (Can be upgraded later if necessary to 16GB or 32GB)

• 256GB Solid State Drive
(If necessary, one can add a 2nd hard drive in the extra 2.5" drive bay for bulk file storage)

• 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare LED-Backlit Display

Decent specs. out of the box and easy to upgrade Memory and Storage in the future.
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 video memory is superior to Radeon Pro 555x with 4GB

SketchUp Hardware and Software Requirements