GIS, Sketchup, & AutoCad for Macbook

[Planner Dude]

Has anyone tried using ESRI's ArcGIS, Sketchup, or Autocad with a mac book? If so, how does it run? These programs have some 3d elements, but i'd assume that they are not as demanding as conventional 3d applications. I would hope that it works fine even with the intergrated processor.

If not, do you think a 1.2ghz ibook would be better (I can buy a used one for for $500)?

Thanks

 

[codo]

Well, I'm pretty sure AutoCAD doesn’t run in OS X so you would have to dual boot into Windows which would require a MacBook.

I'd imagine AutoCAD would be fine on a MacBook - My dad uses it on his cheapo Dell his company purchased for him for extensive building plans/designs which are not 3D. However, I'm unfamiliar with the other two applications you mentioned so I can’t help there - Are they 3D?

 

[Planner Dude]

Well, I'm pretty sure AutoCAD doesn’t run in OS X so you would have to dual boot into Windows which would require a MacBook.

I'd imagine AutoCAD would be fine on a MacBook - My dad uses it on his cheapo Dell his company purchased for him for extensive building plans/designs which are not 3D. However, I'm unfamiliar with the other two applications you mentioned so I can’t help there - Are they 3D?

ArcGIS is a electronic mapping program. it can be done in 3d, but mostly 2d with lots of raster and vector images.....huge files!...it's pc only

Sketchup is a 3d program ....has power pc mac and pc versions

 

[codo]

ArcGIS is a electronic mapping program. it can be done in 3d, but mostly 2d with lots of raster and vector images.....huge files!...it's pc only

Sketchup is a 3d program ....has power pc mac and pc versions

ArcGIS sounds like it should run fine because raster and vector images are usually processed by the CPU if the program is not utilising 3D rendering. The MacBook is plentiful in the CPU department.

Sketchup - Neither would be perfect for a heavy 3D app but I'd personally get the MacBook because the ATI card in the iBook is pretty old now and the Intel GMA graphics are roughly on par and crucially you can run Windows at full speed native or near-full speed in virtualisation on the MacBook so out of the two - I'd say MacBook.

However, if you could afford it, I think you would benefit from a MacBook Pro.

 

[Planner Dude]

ArcGIS sounds like it should run fine because raster and vector images are usually processed by the CPU if the program is not utilising 3D rendering. The MacBook is plentiful in the CPU department.

Sketchup - Neither would be perfect for a heavy 3D app but I'd personally get the MacBook because the ATI card in the iBook is pretty old now and the Intel GMA graphics are roughly on par and crucially you can run Windows at full speed native or near-full speed in virtualisation on the MacBook so out of the two - I'd say MacBook.

However, if you could afford it, I think you would benefit from a MacBook Pro.

Yeah, its hard for me to justify spending around $500-$700 more for the grahics processor though....

I just wish you could bto a graphics card on the macbook!

 

[codo]

I just wish you could bto a graphics card on the macbook!

I'm with you!

 

[tsp]

I'm into GIS myself, and my MacBook is on its way from China to me right now
I think ArcGIS is going to run just fine on the MacBook with XP, as graphics card performance shouldn't be a big problem and if you have enough RAM (i'm going to max the RAM out to 2GB).

If I don't forget, I will write about my experience when I receive my MacBook (but that's going to take until 14th of June , the Apple Store says).

 

[Planner Dude]

I'm into GIS myself, and my MacBook is on its way from China to me right now
I think ArcGIS is going to run just fine on the MacBook with XP, as graphics card performance shouldn't be a big problem and if you have enough RAM (i'm going to max the RAM out to 2GB).

If I don't forget, I will write about my experience when I receive my MacBook (but that's going to take until 14th of June , the Apple Store says).

1st: Congrats on the Macbook!!!

2nd: Myself & countless othe GIS / Urban Planning Professionals would appreciate documentation on your experience.

I won't be getting one at least until July
When I get one I'll probably try it with the standard ram and then buy aftermarket if need be.

Feel free to email me with your results...Thanks!!!

 

[Katharine]

I have heard that ArcGIS works well on the Macbook Pro but I haven't spoken to anyone who has loaded it on the MacBook. I would like to know too.

On a personal note do you like planning? I am a geography student and I am thinking of going in to Urban Planning.

 

[tsp]

Hi there,

while I'm waiting for my MacBook to arrive, I surfed the ESRI web site and found the following:

http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=982&t=187436#554614

First let me say I am a Windows user, and have used ESRI products for over 12 years. I also know that ArcGIS is not supported for the Mac platform. However, as part of my current employment, I have to support a senior executive who only uses Macs.

Hmm, he should be happy about "having to support" an executive who only uses macs - shouldn't be a lot of work

Today, we have ArcGIS 9.1 running on Windows XP Professional SP2 installed on a MacBook Pro (2.16GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB 667 DDR2 - 2x1GB SO-DIMMs), and it runs quite well. We used Apple's Boot Camp software/solution.

That's what I wanted know - if it runs on the MBP, I think it should run on the MB.

But, and that's something I think is a problem that ESRI should fix ASAP, ArcGIS doesn't profit neither from the dual processor architecture of the Intel Core Duo nor from the hyperthreading the old P4's offer. ArcGIS will only use _one_ processor, the other one will idle (that's at least what several threads at the ESRI support forum say).
But at least I will be able to check my mails on the second processor while ArcGIS is number crunching on the first one

 

[Planner Dude]

Hi there,

while I'm waiting for my MacBook to arrive, I surfed the ESRI web site and found the following:

http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=982&t=187436#554614



Hmm, he should be happy about "having to support" an executive who only uses macs - shouldn't be a lot of work



That's what I wanted know - if it runs on the MBP, I think it should run on the MB.

But, and that's something I think is a problem that ESRI should fix ASAP, ArcGIS doesn't profit neither from the dual processor architecture of the Intel Core Duo nor from the hyperthreading the old P4's offer. ArcGIS will only use _one_ processor, the other one will idle (that's at least what several threads at the ESRI support forum say).
But at least I will be able to check my mails on the second processor while ArcGIS is number crunching on the first one

I saw that post recently....gives hope! I am hust wondering about the difference with the graphics card.

ESRI will probably fix the problem with only using one processor, since all computers are migrating to them....maybe it'll be a part of ArcGIS 9.3???

 

[Planner Dude]

I have heard that ArcGIS works well on the Macbook Pro but I haven't spoken to anyone who has loaded it on the MacBook. I would like to know too.

On a personal note do you like planning? I am a geography student and I am thinking of going in to Urban Planning.

Urban Planning is great! I have my bachelors in geography which is cool, but with planning I can actually use my knowledge of geography to solve problems of environmental and social inequity!

I highly suggest you look further into Urban Planning.

 

[tsp]

Hi everybody,

I got my MacBook today. Runs perfect and no problems so far. A quick look over the GIS/Remote Sensing software I installed just now. As I only have little time, I installed the programs, started them and loaded some data. If I will encounter problems with the software while working over the next weeks, I will post an update in this thread...

ArcGIS 9.1: no problems
ArcView 3.3: installed the XP Patch, no problems.
ENVI 4: Installer took some time to load, but I have been seeing this on other systems, too.
Idrisi Kilimanjaro 14.02: no problems
ER Mapper 6.4: no problems

From this experience, I would say: what runs on a regular PC on XP will most likely run on the MacBook with XP. As I didn't have the time to do more complex analyses, I can't judge the performance yet.

hth

 

[xyian]

That's great news!
Now if only ESRI would get off their asses and hire some
good programmers. It's not like they aren't making any money.
Then we could benefit from things like dual core and SLI to help
with projects.