Sketchup works better on M1 macs than intel macs

Sketchup 2021, on my 2021 16” MacBook Pro works amazingly well, it can handle large models without any issues, it’s amazing the power of this SOC’s, can’t wait to see how does optimized sketchup works on macOS in the future.

What is your Mac’s configuration? Memory, Chip type, SSD, etc. I am looking to get a new machine and would love any recommendations. Thanks!

On M1 under Rosetta SketchUp works about the same as an Intel MacBook Pro. But, the SSD and pretty well everything else works faster on M1. Overall it feels more responsive.

For my Mac I went with M1 Max and 64 GB, plus 4 TB SSD. Not the lowest combination!

I have the 16” MacBook Pro with the M1 max chip, 32 gb of ram, and 1 tb ssd.

You’re right, it feels faster in these machines, can’t imagine how faster would it be when the software is fully optimized for Apple Silicon.

@francisquitof Native M1 SketchUp 2022 was released today!

OK - someone with an M1Max, please fire it up and let us know how it performs! I need justification to get one on order and wait a few months for it to show up!

Yeah, we really need to hear quantitative real-world reports from people trying 2022 on M1 Macs! Not qualitative, like it “runs smoothly” or “feels faster”.

I tried the benchmark model test, with antialiasing set to 4X to make it more demanding. 2022 running using Rosetta gives 40 fps, which compares well against Intel machines. Running as M1 native it gets 60 fps.

5 Likes

Edit: for 2021 running via Rosetta I get:
40 fps - 61 fps. (profiles on and off)

2021 on M1

for 2022 running natively I get:
60 fps - 118 fps

2022 on M1

4 Likes

118 FPS! That’s what I’m talking about. Time to head to the Apple store.

Actually, come to think of I did not hear it specifically said that Layout 22 was ported to the M1 as well. Is Layout still running in Rosetta?

2 Likes

Yes LayOut was also ported to M1.

4 Likes

Legend! :+1:

That’s really impressive! Welp - here goes $5k!

2 Likes

Just updated to sketchup pro 2022, I will check the new features and performance, I’m curious about LayOut performance. Also I would want to know if sketchup is making use of the gpu, on the preferences it says OpenGL instead of Metal.

After I tried sketchup on m1, and m1 max trough Rosetta with horrendous results (I work on large and detailed models), I finally got and m1 max since sketchup is translate in native apple silicon.
And when I started working on it today, the file opened very quickly but the large models area still a little laggy and maybe only 15% faster than my old GTX780! I even experimented again the frozen frame line problem like with the Rosetta in 10 min of work.
So, after spending thousand of euros on powerful machine and being a real apple fan, I am truly disappointed. If you are an architect like me, you’d better spend those 3 thousands and so euros on an ugly, heavy, crappy intel window machine…

1 Like

The Test Time Display scene is maybe not complex enough to give us an accurate performance baseline across all of Sketchup’s functions.

It would be ideal to have a SKP and LO test model and run a few more complex operations on a larger and more detailed model.

I don’t know who at SketchUp would be best placed to do this. Somebody at Trimble must have the specific job of testing & optimizing products for various hardware configurations.

I could supply a model and suggest some operations, but it wouldn’t become the benchmark unless Team SketchUp adopt it.

Hi! I know that it can sound ridiculous, but is it possible that sketch up will work on MacBook Air m1? Does anyone have such an experience?

I’ve use it on a M1 Mini (which is mostly the same) and it works well as long as it’s the only program I have open (8GB of memory isn’t much when it’s shared across the System and the Graphics card)

For small projects and those that don’t include any plants I’m sure you’ll be just fine - the Air is the same.
I’d get the one with 16GB of RAM if you have the choice.