Lion - Fusion 4.1 - Window 7 - Solidworks 2012

[Hendey]

Late 2009 MacBook Pro 13"

  Model Identifier:    MacBookPro5,5
  Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:    2.53 GHz
  Number of Processors:    1
  Total Number of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache:    3 MB
  Memory:    8 GB
  Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version:    MBP55.00AC.B03
  SMC Version (system):    1.47f2
  Serial Number (system):   
  Hardware UUID:    B8A88F1D-8C04-5616-B8AE-38D5E2A5D6B3
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:    Enabled

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M:

  Chipset Model:    NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
  Type:    GPU
  Bus:    PCI
  VRAM (Total):    256 MB
  Vendor:    NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:    0x0863
  Revision ID:    0x00b1
  ROM Revision:    3427
  Displays:
Color LCD:
  Resolution:    1280 x 800
  Pixel Depth:    32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Main Display:    Yes
  Mirror:    Off
  Online:    Yes
  Built-In:    Yes
G19LWk:
  Resolution:    1440 x 900 @ 60 Hz
  Pixel Depth:    32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
  Display Serial Number:    92771CA002404
  Mirror:    Off
  Online:    Yes
  Rotation:    Supported

Runnning Lion - Fusion 4.1.1 - Window 7 - Solidworks 2012, fresh install with all updates

     3D Acceleration - On

     Ram tested - 2 gig to 4 gig

     Graphics performance - Poor, Unusable

Runnning Lion - Fusion 4.1.1 - Window XP Pro - Solidworks 2011, all updates

     3D Acceleration - On

     Ram tested - 2 gig

     Graphics performance - Great

Question

What settings are required to see advertised graphics performance?

Thanks,

[Shootist]

You could try turning off all the Win 7 eye candy interface features. Like Aero and use a Classic theme. They have a big draw on system resources when XP doesn't. You could also install Classic Shell. 4GBs of RAM is, IMHO the bare minimum for Win 7 and now you want to run a graphical intensive program with that same 4GBs on top of what OS X lion is using.

For this reason I chose to install Win 7 in it's own partition so it can make use of the 8GBs of RAM I have in my Mac system. But after reading the sys requirements Boot Camp is not supported.

Well I'm new to Mac and from what I read at the Solidworks website you'd be better off getting a Windows based system for your next purchase.

Good luck.

[Hendey]

Thanks for the reply. Turning Aero off did the trick. The video is a little glichy but it works well now. The caveat is no one said I had to shut off Aero to get the performance VMWare marketing was talking about.

As for ram, this is only an issue with large assemblies. XP had no more then 3.5 gig available, PC or not, and that was plenty for most work, Autocad,  Inventor, or Solidworks. I plan to move to a 15" MacBook Pro down the road.

I thought about the PC box but I got cold chills thinking about it. After my Vista Toshiba got stolen, the one that nothing would run on, I switched to Mac. I program robots, design products, and manage my own business all from my Mac.

Cheers,

[Shootist]

Well Vista was the BOB/ME of the 21st century. 7 is a much better OS.

To be honest I'm still a big fan of XP.

I'm on my second go round with Mac and I'm switching back to Win PC.

Good luck.

[thorbob]

To recap, you are have having good success running SolidWorks 2011 and 2012 on VM 4.x on Lion? The speed has been good? Stability is okay?

I have to make a decision shortly to purchase new Macs and run Fusion or buy dedicated PCs for SolidWorks. Its best to keep SolidWorks isolated on a machine with nothing else (other programs) to possibly cause problems (It has enough problems on its own). I can use one piece of hardward to do this with Fusion.

The memory issue can be solved by running the 64 bit version of Windows. We have run into this issue. We are running XP on two machines daily with Fusion 2.x on 10.5.x. Fusion 3.x doesn't run SolidWorks decently. Windows 7 64 bit in BootCamp runs SolidWorks like a champ including Simulation.

There are four machines running SolidWorks at our facility. Two are in heavy use daily. One has CamWorks installed. You can run Simulation under Fusion 2.x. If its a big model, use BootCamp.

Apples to apples comparison in hardware from a Mac to PC side you aren't looking at any big savings. I've been down that road for years. Higher end hardware costs money. If you bought your computer for x dollars, thats what you get.

Fusion works well here for several programs that we to run. One machine has three virtual machines with Windows installed. Each dedicate to a particular program that doesn't play well with others.

Windows 7 is a good product. It should have happened years ago...

The easy comment is always "buy a PC". I don't believe in this comment. This belongs in a whole different thread.

I'm starting to digress. I would very much appreciate any comments on people's experience running SolidWorks under Fusion 4.x.

Thanks in advance.

[Hendey]

I have been running Solidworks, Including Simulation, off and on with a Mac for several years but my assemblies have rarely been no more then 100 unique parts. My 09' 13" Mac has performed much better then I would have expected. Giving credit to VMWare as well. You touched on a good point. Mac/PC they are all X86 machines. Mac's are just made better with smarter features. The Track Pad is one huge example let alone the aluminum body, smart power plug, new Thunderbolt technology, should I stop now. LOL

For me the Mac is the way to go because of all the things I use it for and my mobility requirements. As a Solidworks work station the discussion gets a little harder. My suggestion would be purchase a good iMac and try using it for what you need, Solidworks etc. Unless you are working with large assemblies or need Solidworks RealView to function I think the Mac will be more stable as you have eluded to.

To further feed the flame, I have seen purpose built Dell's that could barely run Solidworks without crashing 5 times a day. You do get what you pay for. I have been running Autocad, Inventor, and Solidworks since 1997 and I would put my underdog Mac against everything I have used when it comes to stability.

Cheers,