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Hi,

I'm thinking of getting myself a Macbook and I was wondering if anyone has experience with having Windows (preferably 10) run in a dual boot configuration? It's very difficult to get a PC laptop with a similar spec (at least here in Adelaide) so this is why I'm looking at this option?

I'm not a fan of "finder" (as there are some features using Windows Explorer that can't be replicated in finder) so the Mac OS is not an option therefore I would like to know if anyone has any experience running VW in Windows on a Mac.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Running Parallels on your Mac is a decent option. The only thing is that you'll want a good chunk of RAM installed on your laptop to ensure you can run everything you want as your dedicating memory to both the Mac OS and Windows at the same time.

The other option is Bootcamp where essentially your laptop could be a Mac only or a Pc only computer.

I've used Parallels a lot and it works well and the idea of having access to both operating systems is great.

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I wonder which things you can do in windows explorer that ain't possible in Finder.

I've moved the opposite direction and I should have done so earlier.

Using the automator you can also create these awesome little additions if you require additional scripts/functionality.

I do have bootcamp installed, purely for programs that are only available on windows. I chose bootcamp because it's free and I never require both operating systems running at the same time.

Edited by Hippocode
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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

I run Windows via Bootcamp constantly, it works fantastically with Windows 10, just a matter of getting the Bootcamp utility and drivers to play nice but once it's set, it is solid as a rock.

I would be interested to hear what you find limiting about Finder though, I use both Mac and Windows all day every day and I find them pretty comparable other than the overall appearance.

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I use OS X since 9 years. I still prefer Win Explorer.

I think it is the fact that you can open more branches of your tree at different disks

to switch between and move objects between in one window.

On OS X I have an own Space for Finder and always 6-8 Finder Windows open at

the same time :)

I prefer the column view there and still don't use Tabs.

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I am OS X at work and Windows at home. With Windows 10 - I now firmly prefer Windows - its both easier to customize and easier to use. I also feel like Apple has not given much love to the professional community. Their bread and butter is now the consumer market and the OS reflects that - it is not so office friendly.

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Hi Jim,

Thanks for your valuable feedback. Zoomer mentioned part of the reason I don't like finder, that is, having the tree structure on the left pane with various locations available with 1 click of the mouse.

The other reason is I have a standard folder structure for each job with various folders for separating the different software I use. So, when I go to open/save (more for save, cause I can always drag and drop to open) from the various software, each software opens to a default or the last remembered location. This becomes a nuisance to double click folders searching for the locations I want. With windows explorer, I can 1 click the folder I want (as mentioned before), copy the folder path on top, go to the save dialogue box, paste the path and save. The windows explorer workflow is extremely fast for me as I'm doing this the whole day with various files.

I've been through my graphic design course using the Mac OS and the lecturers and other Mac users said this (and other things) wasn't possible. Also, when it came to renaming files one couldn't use the home or end keys on the keyboard (wtf). I hated the finder (and Mac experience) for those 3 years.

I'm always looking for better ways to do things so if Mac had a windows explorer feel then I'm sure to change. I'm not loyal to any brand/system/company be it OS/hardware/software.

Tom, I'm mainly looking at specs for rendering. Therefore cpu and ram are important. Just because a PC uses an i7 chip doesn't mean it's the same. I'm Googling cpu benchmarks to come up with comparable cpu speeds to the current Macbooks. Unless Vectorworks provides us with an online rendering farm (like autodesk), I'll still need a high spec computer. It's easy to get high spec pc desktops but I need something with mobility for now.

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The other reason is I have a standard folder structure for each job with various folders for separating the different software I use.

Same here.

But Finder isn't such a problem for me.

For several other reasons I prefer OS X and its environment and will stay there

as long as possible until Apple forces my one day to go back to Windows.

So far that were 9 wonderful years with Macs that I never regret.

Unless Vectorworks provides us with an online rendering farm (like autodesk), I'll still need a high spec computer.

I think for Rendering your working Machine has always to have the fastest CPU, GPU,

SSD and RAM you can afford. Just for working and setting things up. That means

there mostly is enough power for final still image rendering over night anyway.

If you do Animation it is useful to use own render slaves or a commercial render farm.

That needs additional software like C4D but I think you will want that for animations

anyway.

BTW,

VW cloud services IS a render farm, for select subscribers.

Load up your File and it will render all your Camera Viewports. Currently at no cost.

It will eat your initial 3D credits at one point and you may have to ask for new ones.

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BTW,

VW cloud services IS a render farm, for select subscribers.

Load up your File and it will render all your Camera Viewports. Currently at no cost.

It will eat your initial 3D credits at one point and you may have to ask for new ones.

Aah, I didn't know that. Can you explain how the credits work? Do you have to pay for more credits?

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Hi Kizza,

1. You're suggesting that I buy a software to compensate for an OS's short comings. Let's stick to OS v OS. I'm not going to buy and install additional software on one OS where I can get it included built-in on another OS.

2. In any case I had a look at path finder and it does not give me the ability I want (refer to my previous post). Also, path finder doesn't solve the problem of the "save as" or "open" dialogue box. This depends on the OS's native file management system (finder and windows Explorer).

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Path Finder at least let you show hidden Files :)

It does still not bring Explorer Features.

Finder isn't such a big problem.

Some parallel windows in column view (means one-click-only) will do nearly the same.

Problems with the save as dialogs not remembering the paths is an App thing, as these

tend to not remember more than the last opened file path, as you were used to from

windows apps.

Jim explained the credit thing here on the forum once.

2D is no problem and credits are just to ensure no one is blocking all servers by

rendering complex animations.

https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=202146&Searchpage=1&Main=40709&Words=credit&Search=true#Post202146

I never tried that as I am not allowed to put my projects in clouds.

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Hi Kizza,

1. You're suggesting that I buy a software to compensate for an OS's short comings. Let's stick to OS v OS. I'm not going to buy and install additional software on one OS where I can get it included built-in on another OS.

We've looked at the Bootcamp/Parallels option and it's not for us. Two OS's to maintain.

We'll probably migrate fully over to Windows 10 shortly. Main reason is we use Microsoft Office extensively and the mac version of Office is not the same.

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Hi Jim,

Tom, I'm mainly looking at specs for rendering. Therefore cpu and ram are important. Just because a PC uses an i7 chip doesn't mean it's the same. I'm Googling cpu benchmarks to come up with comparable cpu speeds to the current Macbooks. Unless Vectorworks provides us with an online rendering farm (like autodesk), I'll still need a high spec computer. It's easy to get high spec pc desktops but I need something with mobility for now.

There are plenty of mobile workstations with high-end specs. I am a fan of MSI and Lenovo . I have a hard time believing they run windows slower than a similarly priced Macbook. I have a MSI GS60 that I got 2 years ago. It is 17" but super thin. I render on it all the time and I have had few issues.

Also - are you looking at the benchmarks of a Macbook running windows?

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Hi Tom,

As rendering only uses the CPU, I didn't think the OS made any difference. I was just looking at cpu speeds on www.passmark.com.au

However I was interested on the stability of windows on a Macbook and if everything worked as it should.

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I am not a hardware guy - so you are probably correct. Anecdotally, I have seen Bootcamp cause system slowdowns in this office. I always chalked it up to the extra resources required to run Bootcamp and windows on a machine optimized for OSX - but that could be total bull.

We have not experienced (or the users have not reported) stability issues on the machines (we have 2 Imacs, 1 Mac pro, and 1 mac-book pro) running Bootcamp. So, performance has been a bigger issue compared to stability - though we do not run VW on the PC side.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Once you get your drivers properly installed, there should be little to no difference at all with CPU rendering work. Results on both sides were easily within a margin of error in my personal tests here on a few dual OS rigs.

Generally OpenGL performance will be superior on Windows because of the more regular graphics driver revisions, OS X graphics drivers come with the OS x.x and x.x.x releases and are often 6 months or more behind their Windows counterparts depending on the graphics hardware in question.

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