Will an upgraded MacBook Air run SketchUp 2026 well?

SketchUp Computer Advice
1

I’m shopping for a new Mac laptop on which to run SketchUp Pro 2026. For portability purposes, I would prefer to get a MacBook Air, but the salespeople at the Apple Store say I need a MacBook Pro. They think the Air will overheat and enforce cool-down pauses if doing complex 3D models and/or rendering, since it lacks a cooling fan.

My question is: has anyone out there had success in running SketchUp 2026 on a 13" MacBook Air w M5 Pro chip and 32GB RAM (“unified memory” in AppleSpeak)? This computer also has 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 153 GB/s memory bandwidth and 2TB of storage.

I don’t do exceptionally large or complex models, as my work is in residential design, and I don’t need photo-realistic rendering.

Will this MacBook Air be adequate for my needs?

2

yes, it’ll be fine.

more than enough.

3

Thanks!

4

Residential models can still get pretty big once you add furniture, landscaping, textures, and other details. From my understanding, the MacBook Pro is better for long 3D work because it has a fan and can stay cooler. If your models are simple and you don’t render much, the MacBook Air should still be fine.

5

I use an M2 Macbbok Air for portability. Also run Window Desktops and M5 Pro. The Macbook Air is more than capapble. And battery life is amazing.