Running Revit architecture on a macbook pro 2011

[jenny.keating]

Hi all.

Im teaching myself revit at the moment on my macbook pro, running through parallels and the computer is struggling. Has anyone experienced this ? Any ideas on how to get around it ? I've listed the specs below, I'm looking foreward to using the new programme but my macheine is making it very difficult!

• Processor type: Core i5 (I5-2415M)
• Processor speed: 2.3GHz
• Turbo boost: 2.9GHz
• RAM type: PC3-10600 DDR3
• 8GB RAM
• Video Card: HD Graphics 3000
•  Parallels running Windows 7 (should I be using Bootcamp instead ?)

Any help with this would be great! 

[BIMologist_]

I would recommend bootcamp as you get full dedicated support from the Hardware.

Also for parallels, check how much memory you are allocating for the windows session. I would recommend 4GB min

try this page out it has recommendations on setting the parallels settings for revit.

.

http://www.bimtopia.com/index.php/item/tips-for-improving-revit-performance-on-a-mac

Configuring Parallels Desktop for Macintosh – Version 7

• View Mode 

Use Full-Screen or Window. Avoid Coherence to preserve performance.

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: General: Number of CPUs 

If you have a Dual Core, select 1 processor.  If you have a Quad Core, Select 2 processors.

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: General: Memory

Give as much memory as you can spare to Parallels. On the 4 GB MacBook Air, I give Parallels 2 GB (the minimum needed for Revit to runwell). On the 8 GB MacBook Pro, I set this to 4 GB. 

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Optimization

Performance: Faster virtual machine
Disable “Enable Adaptive Hypervisor”
Enable “Tune Windows for speed”
Power: Better performance
Free Space: Disable “Automatically compress virtual disks”

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Security

Integration: Disable “Isolate Mac from Windows” if you want to store your Revit project files in a Mac folder.

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Sharing

Share Folders: All disks
IMPORTANT >>> Shared Profile: Disable “Share Mac user folders with Windows” (if left enabled, this will really slow down Revit file operations to a crawl)
SmartMount: Enable “Map Mac volumes to Windows”
ShareWindows: Disable “Access Windows folders from Mac”

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Applications

Disable “Share Windows applications with Mac”

Disable “Share Mac applications with Windows”

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Coherence

Disable “Use Crystal Mode”
Enable “Disable Windows Aero”

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Full Screen

Disable all options

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Modality

Enable all options

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Options: Advanced

SmartMouse: Auto
Copy & Paste: Enable “Share Mac clipboard”

• Virtual Machine: Configuration: Hardware: Video

Video Memory: 256 MB
Turn on “Enable 3D acceleration” -- while disabling 3D acceleration may improve performance slightly, many analysis and simulation programs require it.  If you do turn off 3D acceleration and find that programs are no longer display graphics reliably, turn it back on to see if this setting change fixes the problem.

Windows 7 Settings

• Turn off System Restore

Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > System Protection tab > Configure… > Turn off system protection.

• Turn off File Indexing

Right-click C: drive > Properties > General Tab > Disable “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed...” > Apply changes to drive C:\, subfolders and files.

Disable” Compress this drive to save disk space”

• Anti-Virus Software

If you can avoid installing anti-virus software by practicing safe-computing, do so.  Anti-virus software can cause significant system slowdowns.

Revit Options Settings

• Graphics

Disable “Use Hardware Acceleration” -- note: this setting can be tricky.  Some newer video card emulations are not understood by Revit's hardware acceleration, so it's often better to disable it.  But, to graphically display the results of some types of analysis -- for example, the wind tunnel simulation in Vasari -- it must be turned on.  The best setting to use is likely to change as the software gets updated in new releases.

Disable “Use Anti-Aliasing for 3D views”