Core 8 or Core 10 for civil structural engineer??

[leandrarafter]

Hello everyone! Please help me!!
I'm looking to buy the new 14” MacBook. As a civil structural engineer, I need to use AutoCAD together with other softwares like STAAD, Sketch-up, Revit, etc...
I would like to know what the best choice could be:
An 8-core CPU with 1TB SSD storage OR a 10-core CPU with 512GB SSD storage?

 

[DJLC]

I think it really depends on where and how you intend to store your files. But personally, I'd probably go with the 10-core with less storage. You can always grab an external drive or sign up for a cloud service if you run low on space. You can't necessarily tack on more cores.

 

[ondert]

I still don't know how is the new 8 core option? Is it the regular M1 or something different? If it has 4 faster and 4 slower cores like M1, there is no need to think. In any case, I'd go with less storage and more powerful cpu.

 

[samwa3]

The 8-core has 6 fast and 2 slow. In general, M1 Pro and Max always have 2 slow cores and the rest are fast cores.

 

[HDFan]

As a civil structural engineer, I need to use AutoCAD together with other softwares like STAAD, Sketch-up, Revit, etc...

What system are you running these programs on now? What performance issues are you seeing? What are your current bottlenecks - cpu, graphics, storage?

 

[jabbawok]

I don’t think you will be able to run Revit or STAAD on an M1 Mac. It’s windows only and you can only run ARM windows VMs on M1 Macs. Compatibility for stuff on ARM windows is hit and miss. I’ve done some experimentation with Parralels and Windows 11 ARM with mixed results. You may have some luck with crossover for some windows apps.
AutoCAD mac still isn’t compiled for Apple silicon so it would run through Rosetta. I’d throw all the power you can at it and sacrifice storage space. I use AutoCAD every day as a controls engineer, and I find it likes plenty of power. My 6-core i5 mini sometimes struggles with it. My M1 Mac mini performs a bit better.
Also, have you looked at Vectorworks?