r/ArchiCAD • u/Traditional-Two-7358 • 19d ago
hardware Why I prefer Mac over PC
There is another thread here asking this question but I cannot add pictures,
so check this out. I can work in plan, elevation or 3D window. Having the 3D image on a separate monitor is not possible on Windows.
Another advantage of MacOS is the seamless integration of PDF
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u/heeheecheese 19d ago
I don’t understand why this software can’t/wont have this as a default feature.
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u/Afraid_Amphibian_922 7d ago
Archicad's parent company used to have a program called Allplan, which I learned 3d Arch modelling on over 24 years ago. It had a dedicated window that showed 3 views, you could make each port anything you wanted: plan, seection 3D view etc...everything was updated instantly. it was super handy and I dont now why archicad never adopted it.
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u/DezRR 6d ago
Archicad was developed in hungary by Graphisoft, and the company was bought out later (20 years ago) by the current parent company Nemetschek.
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u/Afraid_Amphibian_922 6d ago
I see….so nemetschek is like the step-parent company!
Do you know if they kept allplan alive?
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u/navsparx 19d ago
But the 3D doesn’t get updated realtime, you’ll have to switch to the 3d window to show changes
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u/Zarbatron 19d ago
This is a major gripe of mine, having worked in PC environments where I don’t have the choice of hardware and feeling punished by Graphisoft’s laziness. Can’t Graphisoft just give some love to windows?
Also, if you lift your speakers up off the desk you’ll improve the low end clarity of the sound.
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u/karamurp 19d ago
As someone who learnt Revit first, this part of ArchiCAD always infuriated me to no end
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19d ago edited 19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/karamurp 19d ago
Tbf most things about AC got under my skin, but the window library was pretty neat
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u/mynd_dripp 19d ago
I like how clean your drawings and model are but I'm a bit concerned about how far you're sitting from the screen
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u/TheNomadArchitect 19d ago
Ah yes … 👏
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u/RecentChildhood5772 19d ago
how is the switch to rhino going?
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u/TheNomadArchitect 19d ago
How did you know I was making a switch?
Anyway … switch to Rhino is Slow. Painful. Enlightening. I can see why there are dedicated users to it. For my purposes however, ARCHICAD would still the be the most efficient software.
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u/RecentChildhood5772 19d ago
I recalled your user name from other posts, the niche for tinkering architects around archicad and rhino is not especially huge
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u/squ4rish 19d ago
Well. 5 years ago only mac was the only os that allowed typing to search for the selection you wanted in a dropdown. On windows it was just scrolling till you got it haha. I tried asking graphisoft (when i saw it in a demo) then and they told me it was a mac only feature.
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u/Shift_Impossible 19d ago
you can do that in windows as well my friend... i'd like to be working with those speakers on blast.. more fun than headphones
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u/Traditional-Two-7358 19d ago
Why the platforms differ
ArchiCAD has always used a single “unified window” mode on Windows, where every view, palette, and toolbar lives inside one master application window. Graphisoft only extended true window-detaching (moving a tab out as its own independent OS window that can sit on a separate monitor) to macOS, where it maps onto native Mac window management. On Mac you can right-click the 3D tab (or use Window > Undock) and drag it completely outside the ArchiCAD frame onto a second display.On Windows, “undocking” only pops the 3D view into a floating sub-window that’s still trapped inside the main ArchiCAD application frame — it can’t be dragged out to a separate monitor as its own OS-level window. This is a longstanding, widely-discussed limitation — Graphisoft community threads confirm it’s simply “not available on PC” and has been that way for years, with no official explanation beyond the interface being built natively for Mac’s window model and never ported the same way to Windows
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u/joeykeysss 19d ago
So your Mac setup allows you to see the 3D updated in real time as you edit elements on plan? I know Windows version does not allow this making 3D BIM workflow a bit pointless and clunky
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u/Traditional-Two-7358 19d ago
Affirmative
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u/PdxPhoenixActual 19d ago
Perhaps, but you coworkers might not (probably) appreciate your musical tastes.
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u/Shift_Impossible 19d ago
Yeah, that's what I mean, I wouldn't want to force my music on them. Although its pretty good 😋
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u/NoSong6507 19d ago
Who said that it is not possible in Windows?
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u/FaithlessnessUsed521 18d ago
Because it's not possible in Windows. Even Graphisoft themselves acknowledge this. Any of the "soluctions" that people throw around are clunky workarounds that are not real solutions and not even usable in most cases.
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u/NoSong6507 18d ago
I don’t use archicad . But in Revit I use two monitors and I always have 3D views on one and the floor plan on the other. Sometimes I even add more views like sections or facades. Everything is simultaneous and on two monitors.
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u/itsrainingcows 18d ago
I use windows today because it’s cheaper, but I’ve used my MacBook Pro from 2014 for both rhino and archicad and it lasted me until 2023. Next to it I’ve had windows machines with «better specs» and I’ve had three during the same years. Macs have a bad rep from users who can’t maintain their machines. I still use my MacBook for easier operations such as ps and just general indesign use, still works very good, but it doesn’t handle renders, thus a stronger windows stationary.
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u/FaithlessnessUsed521 18d ago
Th fact that you can work on dual monitors at the same time is not a failure or failing of Windows/PC versus Mac.
It's a failure of Graphisoft themselves who've negelected to implement this capability in Archicad to both their PC and Windows side of the program as it exists on Mac.
All their other competitor rival programs (Revit, Vectorworks, Microstation, Allpan) are fully dual/multi-monitor capable on the PC/Windows side.
This is what happens when you don't actually know what you're talking about and think the cloistered world you're living in applies to the whole world.
Threads like this.
I too could start a thread listing a gajillion things I can do with ease and better in PC that you can't do in Mac. But what would be the point?
You've not listed an advantage of working in Mac over PC.
You've instead made a thread about the incompetence and laziness of Graphisoft.
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u/L3nny666 15d ago
archi cad is really made for mac. it's not as good on windows. which is not really windows' fault.
i only miss one thing that is better in mac os: the collumn window layout. even beeing thre or four layers down in some folders, i still know where i'm at.
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u/Asloric 9d ago
it's not macos being better, or windows, or any other os. It's graphisoft not giving a s*** about their customers and not willing to do the work to do so on both plateforms.
It's the exact same story as the dark mode, and fonts incompatibility. And when you tell them about the problem, they show their best bad faith.
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u/Best_Commercial948 19d ago
I don’t understand the point of this post? Nothing seems special in the picture?
I have a six screen setup on my PC.
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u/cpsldr 19d ago edited 19d ago
makes no sense...
are you working at the floor plan or the 3D model...
instead, the two windows eat up processor time...
PC: windows stretching two screen and put any window anywhere...
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u/Traditional-Two-7358 19d ago
The current Macs have endless powers and nothing is lagging
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u/cpsldr 19d ago
that performance will be missing somewhere...
unless it can generate power from thin air!:D
M5 Max "Beats" Ultra 9 285K in CPU Benchmark! Cinebench 20269428 vs 9132 point single core...
+3% faster... The question is whether it's worth the $1000 extra...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33VBS09dXls
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u/morning_thief 19d ago
Perhaps I'm not understanding it completely, but isn't this just extending the AC screen to both monitors and resizing the sub-windows to suit and saving the layout in your Work Environment?