


This is because Apple does not offer laptops with workstation-grade video cards, such as the NVIDIA Quadro and ATI FirePro lines. Once you do get SolidWorks running, you may notice that the graphics performance is not on par with Windows workstations, especially if you’re using a Macbook.
3D TOOL FOR MAC INSTALL
Since SolidWorks is not developed for OS X, you’ll first need to install Windows on your OS X device using an application such as Bootcamp or Parallels. The process for running SolidWorks on OS X isn’t as simple as installing and activating the software. So will SolidWorks CAD actually run on OS X? Technically it will, but there are some major considerations. And while we may develop new products in the future that include native tools for OS X, the SolidWorks products we develop and sell today will always be Windows-only.
3D TOOL FOR MAC MAC OS
While we do get occasional requests for a native Mac OS version of SolidWorks, the majority of our customers have asked that we continue to focus our development resources on improving the existing Windows version, rather than split development efforts between two separate versions. We’re all aware of how Steve Jobs was able to turn Apple around in the early 2000s, but the vast majority of product engineering teams continue to standardize on the Windows platform. The SolidWorks founders made a decision to develop solely for the Windows platform, which was the dominant consumer operating system at the time, and remains so today. Some of you may remember that before SolidWorks hit the scene, you usually needed an expensive UNIX workstation to run 3D design tools. That meant leveraging consumer-grade hardware-something that had not seen mainstream success at that time. DraftSight is also available for OS X as a beta version.īut what about SolidWorks 3D CAD? When SolidWorks was developed in the early 1990s, the founding team’s mission was to put the power of 3D CAD on every engineer’s desktop. This includes eDrawings Viewer for OS X, as well as eDrawings and eDrawings Professional for iOS. We do develop several applications that are available for OS X and iOS. All things considered, it makes perfect sense that we’re often asked if SolidWorks software runs on the Apple OS X operating system found on Macbooks and Mac Pros. Apple is, without question, one of the most well-known brands in the world. You’ve seen their ads, you’ve browsed their stores, and chances are you probably already own one of their products.
