Question about using Fusion on a mac

[ianhughes7UFVF]

Hi

I am in need of upgrading my computer and have used Fusion on a pc up to now.

I assume I can use Fusion on a mac, but not sure how this goes, but would like to swap over to mac. As such I have some questions I really could do with help with:

1. Do I have to download a mac version of fusion or will I need to install the pc version on the mac? 

2. Would there be a basic system requirements for fusion to work as far as the mac hardware goes? If so, what would they be?

I can buy one of the mac mini's that are reasonably powerful, but could do with what would work. I would still like to use my ultra wide monitor and my keyboard and mouse which is why I would get a mac mini, unless anyone has a better suggestion.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Ian

[TrippyLighting · Accepted solution]

Yes, you do have to download the native Version of Apple native silicon. Usually the web interface will detect your hardware and only present the correct download version to you.

If you buy any recent mac with Apple Silicon ( M1 chip and higher) then you're good to go.

Be aware that currently there is no Autodesk Meshmixer version that runs natively (or at all, I don't really know) on newer macs. Not sure this is important for your work.

While more than twice as expensive as a base mac mini, I would still go with the mac mini pro as it has 16GB of unified memory. Unified means the memory is shared between the GPU and CPU.

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@ianhughes7UFVF wrote:

I can buy one of the mac mini's that are reasonably powerful, but could do with what would work. I would still like to use my ultra wide monitor and my keyboard and mouse which is why I would get a mac mini, unless anyone has a better suggestion.

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I would consult with the documentation of that equipment. I used non-native mouse, keyboard and monitor with my 2017 Macbook Pro without problems.  

[jrychter · Accepted solution]

Mac user here, I've been using Fusion 360 for the last several years on Macs.

It works, but is somewhat clunky and clearly it's a neglected platform for Autodesk. We got the Apple Silicon version more than a year after Apple released the new machines. Even today, graphics performance is underwhelming, CAM toolpath calculation can be dreadfully slow, it crashes when switching between external monitors, and sometimes when it's in the background, it leaves elements of its UI on the screen on top of other apps, unless you switch to-and-from the app.

I wish Autodesk paid more attention to the Mac. Even Apple tries to (shyly) promote and showcase Fusion 360 in some of their ad clips, it's a shame that it isn't better.

That said, it works, so you'll be fine!

As for machine choice, any M-series Mac will run it well. I don't think Fusion 360 can take advantage of the wonderful GPUs, so GPU choice largely won't matter, but I'd get at least 32GB of RAM.

[ianhughes7UFVF]

Hi

So I already have a big monitor for my pc and a keyboard and mouse I like.

Looking on the Mac site there are two mac mini's:

I can comfortably afford the M2 Max and can scrape up the money for the M2 Ultra.

Will these both handle fusion ok?

Regards

Ian