AnsweredAssumed Answered

MacBook Pro vs Dell Precision 5540 for SolidWorks

Question asked by Huening Tong on May 20, 2020
Latest reply on May 27, 2020 by Alan Sweetenham

Like • Show 0 Likes0
Comment • 8

Hi, I am trying to decide between purchasing a MacBook Pro or a Dell Precision 5540. My main purpose for buying the laptop is to run CAD software such as Solidworks, AutoCAD etc (I still do not know precisely which CAD software I will primarily be using yet)

I understand that the general consensus in the CADing community is that a PC is better to run CAD software on. However, I have also heard that PCs tend to not last very long and that a Mac is way more stable. In addition, I can use bootcamp/parallels on my Mac which should overcome the problem of CADs needing a windows system. A Mac is a little more expensive than a Dell but if it has a longer lifetime and the overall experience is better, it might be worth the difference.

Below I have included the specs for each model. The only main difference is in the processor (Intel Xeon vs Intel I9) and graphics card (Radeon Pro 5500M vs Nvidia Quadro T2000).

Mac model I am interested in:

Model: 16‑inch MacBook Pro

Processor: 2.4GHz 8‑core 9th‑generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz

Memory: 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory

Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory

Storage: 1TB SSD storage

Price: ~2900 USD

Dell model I am interested in:

Model: 15 inch Dell Precision 5540 Mobile Workstation

Processor: Intel® Xeon E-2276M (6 Core Xeon, 12M Cache, 2.80GHz up to 4.70GHz Turbo, 45W, vPro)

Chassis Options: Intel Xeon E-2276M NVIDIA Quadro T2000 4GB

Memory: 32GB,2x16GB, 2666MHz DDR4 Non-Ecc Memory

Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro T2000 w/4GB GDDR6

Storage: M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

Price: ~3400 USD

Does anyone have experience running Solidworks on a Mac using parallels/bootcamp? If so, would you recommend getting a Mac instead of a PC? If you do not, why? Is a Mac worth the price difference?

No one else has this question

Outcomes

Mark Biasotti May 21, 2020 1:41 AM

Hi Huening,

I have been using SW on a Macbook Pro with Parallels for the past six years and just recently switch over to a Dell Precision 7540. I loved my Macbook Pro for many things, but running SolidWorks and CREO was not one of them.

If you do choose to run SW on a Mac, you will be giving up a lot of things. First off, don't expect to get any tech support for hardware related issues from your VAR. Virtual OS's like Parallels are not officially supported, and for good reason, my colleagues and I here at Spanner have had many troubles with different versions of Parallels occasionally stop working, not loading .dll's for SW and other windows programs, etc. Its like we already have issues with MS Windows (although Win10 has been very stable) but when you run a virtual OS on top of another OS, you are doubling your chances for problems, but the biggest thing that you will be giving up is graphics and graphics performance along with many UI glitches and other graphic related functionality.

I could go on, but in short, you are in for a world of hurt if you choose to run SolidWorks on a Macbook and if you have a choice on which way to go, Mac or PC, and a good portion of your workday is going to be on SW, then I cannot think of why anyone would want to do it on a Mac.

Actions

Huening Tong @ Mark Biasotti on May 21, 2020 2:21 AM

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your input. Have you had any experience using SolidWorks with bootcamp? If so, does it run any better than parallels especially since it is not a virtual platform?

As of now, I am still unsure if I will be using Solidworks as my primary CAD platform in the future. I know that there are many other CAD softwares out there like Fusion360 that run well with Macs. With this in consideration, would you say that it is worth it taking the risk with a Mac or would you say that if CAD were the primary function for the laptop, I should just go with a PC?

Lastly, how has your experience been with the Precision 7540 so far? Is the performance still top notch the longer you use it? And may I ask why you chose the 7540 as opposed to the 5540?

I appreciate any thoughts you might have on this!

Actions

Mark Biasotti @ Huening Tong on May 21, 2020 9:39 PM

We considered Boot camp, but for our organization initially we were running most MAC apps with CAD being the only non-mac app and with Bootcamp that would be too disruptive (i.e. you need to reboot your Mac to use Boot Camp, with Parallels you don't).

Actions

Glenn Schroeder May 21, 2020 6:55 AM

I'd like to add one more point to the excellent ones Mark Biasotti made. Durability seems to be your main reason for considering a Mac, but I'm pretty certain you'll have more than enough productivity loss with the Mac to offset any economic advantage it would otherwise have.

Actions

Alan Sweetenham May 21, 2020 8:34 AM

Hi Just to chip in to make you aware of 2 things on that Dell System

first tehre is little point going for the Xeon as the Precision 5540 doesn't support ECC (error code correcting) RAM which is the main differentiation between Xeon and I7/i9 CPUs. Only tends to be justified for heavy users of simulation products where teh ECC ram may correct for random errors that could otherwise cause a software /OS crash during a long simulation run. Same reason why most servers run ECC RAM they have to run 24/7 without such problems.

Second a new model the Precision 5550 just got released which is smaller and has a taller screen with no bottom bezel, looks very nice!

Precision 5550 15 Inch AI-optimized Mobile Workstation Laptop | Dell UK

Currently just i7 6 and 8 core available, not sure if the new model will support xeons with ECC RAM but benefit would only be for heavy simulation users.

Also the Precision 5750 17inch version is due to release in early June, similar size to a regular 15.6inch laptop but 17.0 inch 16:10 screen again no bezels at the bottom Dell Precision 5750 17" gets slimline new look - DEVELOP3D

Also with improved cooling this has the option for more powerful Quadro RTX 3000 graphics which are a big boost for Visualize rendering and may also benefit large assemblies. looking forward to testing these soon!

Actions

Mark Biasotti @ Alan Sweetenham on May 26, 2020 8:47 PM

I have an RTX 4000 card on my office Workstation and I'm really loving the near-realtime attracting on Visual (as well as Keyshot now). Didn't realize that there was going to be an offering of RTX on a Dell laptop? I wouldn't expect the battery life to be very substantial.

That is the only complaint I have so far about my Precision 7540 - the battery life is not very good compare to my older 15" MacBook.

Actions

Alan Sweetenham @ Mark Biasotti on May 27, 2020 1:14 AM

Hi Mark, indeed they often draw more power than the CPU, so battery life does suffer if the application uses the GPU heavily.

I know dell make us fit the larger battery with these as presumably they draw too much power which card do you have in the 7540?

They had the RTX 3000 available at launch and the 4000 and 5000 got added but since they run at the same power limit of 80W there isn't quite so much benefit as the larger 7740 that runs them at 100W-110W more niche for applications needing more memory mainly so we only spec the higher end cards in the 7740.

For this new 5750 thin and light 17inch I'm told the RTX 3000 runs a little bit reduced at 65W the and 5750 has a vapour chamber cooler in it an other materials to cool in such a small area. I belive in all systems the cards can boost a little beyond their long term power limits but all on all

quite a feet of engineering what we have in laptops these days when I think back even 12 years to my first mobile workstation our ceo handed me on my first day, dual core, 256mb graphics card and 4GB ram, fans like a jet engine but I could turn realview on for the first time and make some very shiny models!

Actions

Henry Sommer May 21, 2020 8:45 AM

They are by no means perfect but the Dell Precisions are significantly more reliable than their lowest cost consumer products.

Actions

8 Replies

Mark Biasotti May 21, 2020 1:41 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Hi Huening,

I have been using SW on a Macbook Pro with Parallels for the past six years and just recently switch over to a Dell Precision 7540. I loved my Macbook Pro for many things, but running SolidWorks and CREO was not one of them.

If you do choose to run SW on a Mac, you will be giving up a lot of things. First off, don't expect to get any tech support for hardware related issues from your VAR. Virtual OS's like Parallels are not officially supported, and for good reason, my colleagues and I here at Spanner have had many troubles with different versions of Parallels occasionally stop working, not loading .dll's for SW and other windows programs, etc. Its like we already have issues with MS Windows (although Win10 has been very stable) but when you run a virtual OS on top of another OS, you are doubling your chances for problems, but the biggest thing that you will be giving up is graphics and graphics performance along with many UI glitches and other graphic related functionality.

I could go on, but in short, you are in for a world of hurt if you choose to run SolidWorks on a Macbook and if you have a choice on which way to go, Mac or PC, and a good portion of your workday is going to be on SW, then I cannot think of why anyone would want to do it on a Mac.
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
- Huening Tong @ Mark Biasotti on May 21, 2020 2:21 AM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  Hi Mark,
  
  Thank you for your input. Have you had any experience using SolidWorks with bootcamp? If so, does it run any better than parallels especially since it is not a virtual platform?
  
  As of now, I am still unsure if I will be using Solidworks as my primary CAD platform in the future. I know that there are many other CAD softwares out there like Fusion360 that run well with Macs. With this in consideration, would you say that it is worth it taking the risk with a Mac or would you say that if CAD were the primary function for the laptop, I should just go with a PC?
  
  Lastly, how has your experience been with the Precision 7540 so far? Is the performance still top notch the longer you use it? And may I ask why you chose the 7540 as opposed to the 5540?
  
  I appreciate any thoughts you might have on this!
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
  - Mark Biasotti @ Huening Tong on May 21, 2020 9:39 PM
    Mark Correct
    Correct Answer
    We considered Boot camp, but for our organization initially we were running most MAC apps with CAD being the only non-mac app and with Bootcamp that would be too disruptive (i.e. you need to reboot your Mac to use Boot Camp, with Parallels you don't).
    Like • Show 0 Likes0
    Actions
Glenn Schroeder May 21, 2020 6:55 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
I'd like to add one more point to the excellent ones Mark Biasotti made. Durability seems to be your main reason for considering a Mac, but I'm pretty certain you'll have more than enough productivity loss with the Mac to offset any economic advantage it would otherwise have.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions
Alan Sweetenham May 21, 2020 8:34 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Hi Just to chip in to make you aware of 2 things on that Dell System

first tehre is little point going for the Xeon as the Precision 5540 doesn't support ECC (error code correcting) RAM which is the main differentiation between Xeon and I7/i9 CPUs. Only tends to be justified for heavy users of simulation products where teh ECC ram may correct for random errors that could otherwise cause a software /OS crash during a long simulation run. Same reason why most servers run ECC RAM they have to run 24/7 without such problems.

Second a new model the Precision 5550 just got released which is smaller and has a taller screen with no bottom bezel, looks very nice!

Precision 5550 15 Inch AI-optimized Mobile Workstation Laptop | Dell UK

Currently just i7 6 and 8 core available, not sure if the new model will support xeons with ECC RAM but benefit would only be for heavy simulation users.

Also the Precision 5750 17inch version is due to release in early June, similar size to a regular 15.6inch laptop but 17.0 inch 16:10 screen again no bezels at the bottom Dell Precision 5750 17" gets slimline new look - DEVELOP3D

Also with improved cooling this has the option for more powerful Quadro RTX 3000 graphics which are a big boost for Visualize rendering and may also benefit large assemblies. looking forward to testing these soon!
Like • Show 1 Like1
Actions
- Mark Biasotti @ Alan Sweetenham on May 26, 2020 8:47 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  I have an RTX 4000 card on my office Workstation and I'm really loving the near-realtime attracting on Visual (as well as Keyshot now). Didn't realize that there was going to be an offering of RTX on a Dell laptop? I wouldn't expect the battery life to be very substantial.
  That is the only complaint I have so far about my Precision 7540 - the battery life is not very good compare to my older 15" MacBook.
  Like • Show 0 Likes0
  Actions
  - Alan Sweetenham @ Mark Biasotti on May 27, 2020 1:14 AM
    Mark Correct
    Correct Answer
    Hi Mark, indeed they often draw more power than the CPU, so battery life does suffer if the application uses the GPU heavily.
    
    I know dell make us fit the larger battery with these as presumably they draw too much power which card do you have in the 7540?
    
    They had the RTX 3000 available at launch and the 4000 and 5000 got added but since they run at the same power limit of 80W there isn't quite so much benefit as the larger 7740 that runs them at 100W-110W more niche for applications needing more memory mainly so we only spec the higher end cards in the 7740.
    
    For this new 5750 thin and light 17inch I'm told the RTX 3000 runs a little bit reduced at 65W the and 5750 has a vapour chamber cooler in it an other materials to cool in such a small area. I belive in all systems the cards can boost a little beyond their long term power limits but all on all
    
    quite a feet of engineering what we have in laptops these days when I think back even 12 years to my first mobile workstation our ceo handed me on my first day, dual core, 256mb graphics card and 4GB ram, fans like a jet engine but I could turn realview on for the first time and make some very shiny models!
    Like • Show 0 Likes0
    Actions
Henry Sommer May 21, 2020 8:45 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
They are by no means perfect but the Dell Precisions are significantly more reliable than their lowest cost consumer products.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
Actions

MacBook Pro vs Dell Precision 5540 for SolidWorks

Outcomes

Related Content

Recommended Content