Running ArchiCAD on Virtual PC for Mac?

[Anonymous]

Hi -

I am an architectural student and am in the process of purchasing a Mac and ArchiCAD. I am a long time PC user and would like to run Windows on my Mac, thus I was considering purchasing Virtual PC for Mac, by Microsoft.

So here's my dilemma...
To operate ArchiCAD on my Mac, I need to be running either Windows or Mac OS. If I get Virtual PC, do I buy ArchiCAD for Windows? Or can I buy ArchiCAD for Mac? If I get ArchiCAD for Windows and run it through Virtual PC, does my Mac run any slower? Has anyone out there experienced this?

Or is the obvious thing to do is just get ArchiCAD for Mac, and get the Mac OS?

Any thoughts? Comments?

[Anonymous]

You would definitely not want to run archicad through virtual pc. It would be much too slow. The best thing to do is use virtual pc for only those programs that you cannot live without that do not have a mac equivalent. The new AC9 is crossplatform so one installation CD works for both mac and pc.

[Anonymous]

Millard - Thank you very much for the response. That definitely helps.

[Djordje]

You don't have to have a Mac; ArchiCAD works on both, the protection key is interchangeable, the installation CD is crossplatform.

Enjoy!

[glenn_peters]

But Djordje -- maybe he wants a Mac!

A recent issue of InfoWorld has some interesting coverage of IBM's Power5 CPU and how this RISC chip surpasses the 64-bit architecture from Intel and AMD.

Read the article on-line at:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/12/10/50FEpower5_1.html?s=feature

With Apple poised to use a version of these RISC chips in their high-end computers later this year (?), I would hope that the "dark period" for Mac users running ArchiCAD (AKA the late-1990s) is finally past.

(P.S. -- AC 9 runs very nicely on the new 1.8GHz iMac; I use VPC7 and Windows XP Pro on this same machine to run AutoCAD 2002 and the performance is acceptable for those rare times when I need to use that software)

[Djordje]

glenn_peters wrote:
But Djordje -- maybe he wants a Mac!

No problems there!

glenn_peters wrote:
With Apple poised to use a version of these RISC chips in their high-end computers later this year (?), I would hope that the "dark period" for Mac users running ArchiCAD (AKA the late-1990s) is finally past.

I hope for you guys; the problem is, most of you never experienced the speed of ArchiCAD on the contemporary PC. Apple should finally bring the brunt.

[archislave]

When I became a new user of Archicad (9) in October I used it on my P4 1.8 notebook pc. I sold it and now use an iMac G5 20". It runs great and faster on the Mac - especially the graphics. The screen is the best quality I have ever seen.

But, the point is Mac OSX and the latest hardware from Apple provides a wonderful user experience. Archicad looks much better on the Mac as well, although the horizontal toolbars do not dock under the menus as well as on windows. (I will bring this up in another topic later).

But, the fonts and icons are better rendered in the Archicad GUI on the Mac. Looks very translucent and bright instead of gray and muddy! I believe it is just like good architecture - the look and feel can enhance your mood!

[Aussie John]

its a pity GS ruined the appearance of Archicad with the version 9 release

[archislave]

In my opinion they greatly improved the interface in 9. But, they still have a long way to go toward modernization and simplification.

[Dwight]

Here's a good example of a wonderful interface where everything is properly anchored, connected and dense, maximising working screen area: LightWave

Note that this is entirely within the OS X shell, yet maintains its own efficient dialog style.