Does ArchiCAD 22 work/run on Apple M1 machines?

[ricardord]

Hi,

Does ArchiCAD 22 work/run on Apple M1 machines?

I use a dongle and have no issues working on Intel with 11 Big Sur.

Thanks,

Ricardo

Operating system used: Mac Intel-based 11 Big Sur

[Karl Ottenstein · Accepted solution]

Your answers are all here with a little use of the Search function at the top of the page... sort of.  Ideally if anyone is running 22 on an M1 Mac running Big Sur, they'll post what issues they are having, if any.  In any case, running an old OS on an old version of AC and getting a new machine which is today an old chip (M1) doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me as you'll eventually have to upgrade the OS for security and software compatibility reasons.

The Big Sur article from Graphisoft here:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Installation-update/macOS-11-Big-Sur/ta-p/304187

states that AC 22 and earlier will not be made compatible with Big Sur and will not be supported.  (Certainly not with any MacOS newer than Big Sur either.).  If you are running 22 without issues on an Intel Mac with Big Sur, then maybe it will work on an M1 Mac ... where the app will run under Rosetta 2 Intel-emulation mode.  (There is no native Apple ARM version of Archicad until Archicad 26.)

At the time of the M1 release, Graphisoft released these performance benchmarks for the M1 Mac running AC 24.   I know, doesn't help with 22.
https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Installation-update/Performance-review-with-M1/ta-p/304124

Archicad 26 released for Apple Silicon in 2022:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Installation-update/Archicad-for-Apple-silicon/ta-p/304108

Graphisoft's certified hardware list - way out of date in terms of today's chips, but since you're talking about an M1, it has those machines listed:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Installation-update/Certified-Hardware-for-Archicad/ta-p/330970

[ricardord]

Hi Karl,

Thank you for your very helpful reply.

I already have an M1 Mac mini but it's running Sonoma and I don't want to go through the hassle of performing a clean install of Big Sur unless I am absolutely sure that ArchiCAD 22 Solo will work without issues.

I'll probably buy a used 2018 mini or 2019 iMac instead. My current employer uses AutoCAD, which will run fine in any of those, I just don't want to use one of Windows machines.

Kind regards,

Ricardo

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Ricardo,

If you have a high speed external drive (USB 3 or better), you can install Big Sur on the external drive and change your security settings to allow booting from external in order to test 22 Solo without any risk. 

https://www.macworld.com/article/331916/how-to-start-up-your-m1-mac-from-an-external-drive.html

Good luck with whichever direction you go in 🙂

Karl

[ricardord]

Hi Carl,

I have an external SSD and will give that a go, it would definitely be the cheapest option.

Kind regards,

Ricardo