Revit for new Apple M1 Macs

[Anonymous]

I use Revit in a virtual Windows machine on my mac. I'm thinking of replacing my MacBook with a new generation one, but because Apple has created their own M1 chips, its not possible to run virtual windows anymore. It's a pity, these new chips seem very powerful and efficient. 

When is Autodesk going to port Revit to the Mac platform? If this does not happen anytime soon, I'm afraid I and many other architects will have to find another BIM-solution

[rsimx123]

Doesn't make sense to port AutoCad for Mac without Revit. Why not go all the way so I don't require 2 different operating systems. 

[rsimx123]

BTW, I'm agreeing with you. The question was postulated for others. 

[Anonymous]

Nope. Serious architects design good buildings and urban spaces, does not matter what tool they use. FYI, there are a lot of BIM solutions as powerful as Revit or maybe more for some tasks, and they have versions for macOS. e.g. Archicad, Vectorworks, Bricscad, just to mention some of them.

[Anonymous]

I use Vectorworks. The only reason I would like to learn Revit is to have more job opportunities. Revit is not that better.

[tnieves]

that’s mostly been true compared to the traditional setup and old integrated graphics. What’s important to understand about the M1 chip is that it’s built from the ground up as both CPU and GPU (at least the new ones) the versions just announced theoretically would rival any laptop with discrete graphics cards while lasting longer and running quieter. Of course time will only tell but discrete graphics may not be the future for laptops. I imagine intel or and are actively researching ways to utilize ARM in a similar manor as the M1 series.

That being said. I haven’t bought a new Mac because it still can’t do most of what windows does. Yes they are reliable and last forever (my 8 year old MacBook still outruns many new low/mid range laptops) They are great hardware but macOS isn’t at the same “level” as iOS and just doesn’t have the software support. Also pricing isn’t corporate friendly and I have yet to see any firms with Mac computers. So unfortunately no matter how good M1 is, is architects will likely never get to utilize it.

[adamhammoud]

Hey @RobDraw I was wondering if the current version of Fusion 360 along with the other Autodesk Application will run properly with Rosetta 2 emulation. I haven’t read much through this thread since I’m very new to joining forums (this is my first forum) so if it was answered before i apologize. Im planning on getting a Mac with the 10 core CPU, its a very pricy machine and im hoping it will last me through my degree in university. And one more question, I have seen one post posted on October 21, 2021 about talks about implementing a native version of Autodesk for ARM architecture, any new information about that since then. Thank you for your time.

[RobDraw]

Don't know as I use a Windows PC, always have.

[reyesceci1986]

como puedo obtener revió para mac

[jaimeGC58F]

Archicad, Vectorworks, Rhinoceros, Blender, Maya, etc are all profesional 3D and BIM authoring software that work natively and very efficiently in MacOS. I am an architect using daily Macs for my profesional work and I know many others that do so because of the reliability of the system. Check your facts.

[colourcaddy]

Those are all good programs, and if that's all you need then happy you find the MacOS suits you. But, this is a forum for Revit on M1 Macs. Until recently it wasn't possible to run Revit on M1 Macs, but I have now seen it in the wild, with several of my students able to install Windows using the latest version of Parallels, and then Revit. Performance is very poor, but at least it works now. Real-time 3D apps that many Revit users use, like Lumion and Twinmotion, still won't work on the M1 Macbook Pros I tried, and this tees up with all of the benchmarking/reviews etc which seem to indicate that M1 Macs have some advantages in battery life, single thread processing, but are outgunned on overall performance and 3D graphics by (high-end) PCs. If you don't need to use Revit or high-end real-time 3D, maybe an M1 Mac is right for you, but if you do, then a PC with dedicated graphics is a better choice

[Anonymous]

Thanks @colourcaddy!

[Anonymous]

I have an M1 and use Twinmotion w/o any issues.

[mdpape]

I respectfully disagree, macs outpreform windows based PC in every aspect including 3d graphics. The real problem lies with the pollution of the mac envirment with VM software like parallels running windows and Revit which I would compare to modern computing using dialup internet. There is a growing number of mac native BIM software solutions that outperform high end gaming PC's running the same software. The frontrunners being ArchiCAD and BricsCAD.

[colourcaddy]

Good on you, if you feel M1 powered computers meet your needs, I'm happy for you. I beats me why you are posting this on a forum that is clearly about running Revit on M1 Macs when you then go on to mention completely different software. I've used bot ArchiCAD and BricsCAD and find them to be inferior products to Revit for my needs. I've also used Revit running on an M1 Mac via parallels on several occasions and found it to be a very frustrating experience, with lag on almost every click. For this reason I would not recommend running a Revit on an M1 Mac (the topic of this thread!). Your statements about M1 Macs outperforming PCs "in every aspect including 3d graphics" are overblown and and perhaps reflect a lack of knowledge of the benchmarks that are available comparing the performance of these systems. Virtually all independent benchmarks comparing high-end M1 powered Macs with high-end PCs equipped with high-end graphics cards have rated PCs as having better performance overall, particularly 3D performance, albeit with increased power consumption and a higher cost to performance ratio.

I happen to teach next door to a teaching section that runs the highest rated degree program for 3D animation and CGI in my city. We often discuss hardware options to make sure we are using the best technology available. They have displayed even less interest than myself in M1 Macs after evaluating their 3D performance. I have trialled Revit and software I often use together with it like 3ds max, Vray and Twinmotion and found performance to be far better on PCs (with good dedicated graphics cards) than on M1 Macs. If they work for you, I'm glad, but when somebody asks me (as they often do) whether an M1 Mac is a good option for Revit and related software, I will continue to say that at present they are not an appropiate tool

[jlupovici]

it's not worth it,

I have M1 Max 32gb and it isn't a revit machine unless you're doing basic stuff  ,

when trying to work with a 700mb model it sucks... 

I wish it weren't so, or more specifically I hope Autodesk makes revit for M1 / arm processors, until then I'd get a maxed out PC ... very disappointed that Apple abandoned intel processors 

[jeremy_tammik · Accepted solution]

Wow, what a long thread! 

Luckily, I happened to read this other very positive article before checking it out:

Revit 2022 on the M1 MacBook Pro

https://kinship.io/blog/revit-m1-macbook-pro/

That made it easier to skim over the above...

[joao.oliveira.cad]

how do you install a non arm version of windows in mac with M1 or M2 cpu ?

[jlupovici]

Use parallels with arm version of windows 11 and then it will install

[joao.oliveira.cad]

Really? Revit works fine in windows arm?

[Chuong.Ho]

Let see my acticle, it working but I don't recomment for any people work with big project, just fine for research or do with small task.

https://chuongmep.com/posts/2022-12-18-Mac-M1-Silicon-AEC.html