M5 (Pro or Max) MacBook Pro w CA17 (Current User Feedback Please!)

[para-CAD]

Thanks for the status update. 
I love comments from users versus “influencers”. 
 

My best action would be a loaded Studio, as you mentioned, so maybe the supply chain will be sorted out soon. 

[Michael_Gia]

3 hours ago, JonathanK said:

 

You're right, for an interior it's more like 5 seconds for it to completely clear, but exteriors are pretty quick.  Like 3.5 seconds.

But I can roll around in PBR and it's always clear enough that I can see what I'm doing or where I'm going.

 

So, you are saying that you can bang out PBR's on the level as what AI is doing in a few seconds?

 

Or am I misunderstanding?

 

I understand that an NVIDEA graphic machine is lightening fast compared to any Mac but garbage is garbage.

 

You can't compare to what AI can do in under 20 seconds on any machine.

 

I would like to see Chief focus on stuff like material lists, staircases, wall snapping issues, poor cad tools, poor dimensioning tools and all that other stuff that although is boring and wont increase sales but is very important and the long and faithful customer base has been clamouring for since many many years.

[JonathanK]

40 minutes ago, Michael_Gia said:

 

So, you are saying that you can bang out PBR's on the level as what AI is doing in a few seconds?

 

Or am I misunderstanding?

 

I understand that an NVIDEA graphic machine is lightening fast compared to any Mac but garbage is garbage.

 

You can't compare to what AI can do in under 20 seconds on any machine.

 

I would like to see Chief focus on stuff like material lists, staircases, wall snapping issues, poor cad tools, poor dimensioning tools and all that other stuff that although is boring and wont increase sales but is very important and the long and faithful customer base has been clamouring for since many many years.

 

Why is this so hard for you to understand?  Have you not read through the blog that CA Staff posted, specifically the benchmarks:
https://www.chiefarchitect.com/blog/computer-for-design-and-gaming/#real-time-ray-tracing

I agree with you regarding AI...but only regarding FINAL IMAGES.  It takes me longer to generate a 3D view through AI than it does to bang out a quick PBR view for a customer to review through email.  Plain and simple...

 

But I also agree with you regarding them focusing on other items (except material lists).  I have always been frustrated with the amount of cabinet tools and libraries that CA has, but a lack of window tools that they have.  Why don't windows have more control over sashes, frames, jambs etc.. like how a window is actually built?  Doesn't make sense to me.  Same with OH doors, or walk doors, or a pile of other things like you mentioned.  How about elevation views...why can't I have only the outline of the building be bold?...why is terrain so fickle?...etc...

[Renerabbitt]

1 hour ago, Steve-C said:

noticable drop in graphics performance

This is unified memory, so without your specs its hard to say but I would venture a guess that youre hitting mem limits. Also the Pro chip is not going to be anywhere near the max chip with double the raytrace speed...for what you do, I would upgrade

[Renerabbitt]

1 minute ago, JonathanK said:

window is actually built?  Doesn't make sense to me

totally different development departments and different animals. It's very easy for the content team to pump out cabinet lines vs touching the extremely complex window code that none of the dev team wants to touch. (Supposedly one of the most difficult and complex bits of code in the whole software)
I agree though that I would love some window improvements

[JonathanK]

1 minute ago, Renerabbitt said:

totally different development departments and different animals. It's very easy for the content team to pump out cabinet lines vs touching the extremely complex window code that none of the dev team wants to touch. (Supposedly one of the most difficult and complex bits of code in the whole software)
I agree though that I would love some window improvements

 

I agree with you, but it would be amazing to see something big like that get an update.  Lets move into 2026...

[Steve-C]

7 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

This is unified memory, so without your specs its hard to say but I would venture a guess that youre hitting mem limits. Also the Pro chip is not going to be anywhere near the max chip with double the raytrace speed...for what you do, I would upgrade

 

I plan on upgrading to the Mac Studio when and if they ever release the darn thing. They have been dragging their butts on new releases for that device for years. My system has 24gb of memory, and i never use PBR images.

Edited May 18 by Steve-C

[Renerabbitt]

1 hour ago, Steve-C said:

 

I plan on upgrading to the Mac Studio when and if they ever release the darn thing. They have been dragging their butts on new releases for that device for years. My system has 24gb of memory, and i never use PBR images.

yes 24gb of unified memory is really low. This is shared memory, so much of that gets hogged by loading textures regardless of raytrace being turned on or not.
Thats like running with 15gb of RAM and 9 gb of VRAM..that is really low in this program especially if you are running other programs.
For instance, i have 8 browser tabs open, some standard services running and chief open with no plan open and my system shows 28% utilization on 128GB of RAM

Edited May 19 by Renerabbitt

[Steve-C]

3 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

yes 24gb of unified memory is really low. This is shared memory, so much of that gets hogged by loading textures regardless of raytrace being turned on or not.
Thats like running with 15gb of RAM and 9 gb of VRAM..that is really low in this program especially if you are running other programs.
For instance, i have 8 browser tabs open, some standard services running and chief open with no plan open and my system shows 28% utilization on 128GB of RAM

 

Interesting. I was unaware the memory was such an important factor of graphic performance. I suppose that makes sences because it's an SOC. So the current M4 Max Studio has a base of 64gb, would you consider that to be sufficient? I personally plan on waiting for the M5 Max version. The M5 Pro is impressive so far as was the M5 Max, but the laptop form factor was too restrictive for such a powerful chip.

[Steve-C]

17 hours ago, para-CAD said:

Thanks for the status update. 
I love comments from users versus “influencers”. 
 

My best action would be a loaded Studio, as you mentioned, so maybe the supply chain will be sorted out soon. 

 

Speculation is the M5 Mac Studio won't be released until late this year at the soonest. The Sudio is always last on the priority list because they sell more laptops than anything else, which kinda sucks for pro users.

[Steve-C]

Update on my MacBook Pro M5 Pro. As stated before the M5 Max chip I ordered first was too powerful for this form factor in my opninion. It would throttle and had some serious fan noise, especially when using 3D. The M5 Pro chip has had no such issues. For CA users it seems to be the sweet spot for the laptop form factor. Graphics is slightly slower (very slight) but still very solid. Looking at exported images from my Windows machine next to the Mac exports I can't even notice a difference. I originally planned to upgrade later to the M5 Max Mac Studio but I'm not sure I will do that, this thing runs very smoothly. Plus the form factor allows me to take it from my office to the house, and I have two 32" 4 k monitors at both locations.

 

Disclaimer, my workflow is strictly construction docs. I don't use PBR, I only export standard 3D images and pfd's for clients to review. If you use PBR at any level, a Windows machine is your best bet. However, AI is changing the landscape in that world and may be an equally atractive option for Mac users (and Windows).

Edited yesterday at 09:20 AM by Steve-C

[para-CAD]

My M1 Max has 64 GB "RAM" memory and 10 Core CPU, 32 Core GPU, 4 TB SSD

 

I was looking forward to getting the M5 Max 128 GB memory, 18 Core, 40 Core, 4 TB SSD.

The M5 SSD is actually twice as fast for read-write as the M1.

I've always wanted more RAM than necessary because operating at the minimum requirements sometimes causes swap files to be utilized, which is writing to and from the SSD.

I monitor that kind of activity about every 10 or 15 minutes and I have never had my M1 Max ever have to create swap files because I have enough physical memory.

Also, I got the 4TB SSD originally because I didn't want to be stuck with having to have external drives with me if I was mobile. And I have only used about 500 GB of space, but I'm going to check now just to be accurate.

 

(449 GB) Nice

 

This M1 MAX has been a stellar workhorse and I was only considering upgrading it because there are times when the spinning beach ball happens and it might take me 45 seconds for whatever's processing in the background to do its thing.

 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by para-CAD

[Steve-C]

You might want to consider the M5 Pro. I've seen some benchmark testing where the M5 Pro is on par, and in some cases even faster than the M4 Max. As mentioned above, the over heating is definitely an issue.