Utilizing Parallels Desktop with SolidWorks for the Mechanical Engineering Club obviously has the fun built into the project. Evernote® is a great one for notes.” – Matt
Google Drive™ and Dropbox are used alternatively for file sharing/group projects. I use Parallels often with SolidWorks when modeling and designing parts for the Auburn Formula team.
I use Microsoft® Office (Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®) often for school.
It is also the software that I had heard the most about. “I chose Parallels because it is really easy to use and set up compared to the other guys. Additionally, Matt is a member of Auburn University’s Mechanical Engineering Club, where passionate students fabricate and build an actual Formula 1 car from scratch to compete around the world. He utilizes a virtualized environment to run SolidWorks on his MacBook Pro®. Now, meet a talented mechanical engineering student from Auburn University, Matt Huffman.
If the macOS is slowed, then everything running on the Mac will become slower, and this includes Parallels Desktop and any VMs, and any apps inside those VMs. However much RAM you allocate to your VM, please keep in mind that your host operating system will need a minimum of 4 GB to run macOS®. Running CAD software within a VM isn’t a “light” performance task. Think of RAM like a work bench: the more space you have, the more projects you can actively work on with less space, only smaller projects will be available. Change this setting to two or perhaps four cores to improve the performanceĪllocate more vRAM to your VM: Dedicating more memory to your VM will help. Use multiple cores for the VM: While Parallels Desktop now defaults to two processors for a new VM, if your VM was created before this setting was the default, your VM might only be using one core.
Want to know how to fine-tune your virtual machine for performance-intensive tasks such as running CAD programs? Here are our top tips: SolidWorks has their concerns.Want to learn how-to run Windows®-specific CAD (computer-aided design) software on your Mac®? Don’t fret-you absolutely can! SolidWorks® is a widely used 3D design software that runs very well using Parallels Desktop for Mac. Why do you as a product designer care if it’s on Mac or a PC? You’ll also notice a lot of the interest coming from Industrial Designers… ID’ers that use Macs… ID’ers using SolidWorks to design a product. I think the web, as a venue, is making the desire more evident… that and let’s say, the incredible popularity of the Mac platform, that iPhone thing and everything people love about the ‘simplicity’ in an OS.
While some may see it all as a tiny, annoying beasty, others base their entire professional existence on being able to produce 3D via a Mac.
A SolidWorks for Mac OS X petition was started in 1999 that currently has 4,530 signatures. The SolidWorks Mac debate has been rearing it’s vicious head for years. – Read the rest of the interview at Kenneth Wong’s Virtual Desktop So far, the market hasn’t voted that way.That doesn’t mean it won’t change - I’m sure the day will come when we port to. When the market votes to do engineering design on Mac, we’ll be there. Given the hundreds of developers we have working on Windows, we can’t just go to them and say, ‘Starting tomorrow, you’ll start working on Mac.’ It would be an offense to our subscription customers, who are paying us and trusting that we’re spending their money on what’s important to them. Jef Ray: For us to play in the Mac space, we have to be every bit as committed to that platform as we have been to Windows. Kenneth Wong: What is the possibility of SolidWorks on Mac? Recently, Kenneth asked Jeff Ray about putting SolidWorks on a Mac. You’ve seen how to run SolidWorks on a Mac here, porting it through bootcamp and doing a softmod to get RealView on a MacBookPro, but what if you could run it native… on a Mac? Particularly, it’s CEO, Jeff Ray, courtesy of a fine, distinguished writer, Kenneth Wong. But this time, you get to find out a little more about what’s going on in the mind of SolidWorks. SolidWorks on a Mac? Is this another post teasing of the possibility? Totally. Your ankles are swelling with excitiment at the thought.