Has anyone yet tried to run MacRhino on the new 12" MacBook (not Air or Pro). Possible with small models? It would be a better alternativ for presentations - and some modeling - than an iPad with iRhino…
Philip
No one…? Not even educated guesses?
Philip
I haven’t tried it but the specs look a lot like the air which I’ve used with Rhino 5 for Windows and Rhino 5 for Mac on a late 2010 model. For medium sized files it worked quite well for presentation and teaching. At that time Apple had an Nvidia GPU in these smaller laptops which made a significant difference in my opinion. The only hesitation I’d have on the current specs for the new macbook is the Intel HD GPU. It may work fine but may not and I can’t guarantee things like rendered shadows, technical display modes and other OpenGL features will work well on it. @marlin or @jeff may have more of an opinion on the Intel HD 5300 specifically.
Thanks for the reply Brian! The CPU isn’t that great either (Intel Core M), but I wonder if the GPU (Intel HD Graphics 5300) wouldn’t be okay for smaller models (10…80 MB)…
Philip
The GPU will be just fine, although I’m not sure what the specs are in terms of the amount of GPU memory (haven’t looked)… But my development box for V6 has the Intel HD 4600, and feature-wise, it handles everything I’ve thrown at it so far. However, it’s certainly not the workhorses that NVidia and AMD put out. If you’re only planning on running OS X and MacRhino on it, then I’m absolutely positive that Apple will make sure that the HD 5300 is operating at its full potential since the OS relies on the GPU for everything…and we’ll make sure that Rhino does too…but again, there is no way to predict how well it will perform. My experience with the Intels thus far is that they’re not very fast and can easily be bound by bandwidth and throughput. But the latest ones (4000+) are looking pretty good.
-J
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As I wrote in another thread a week ago, I test drove a Surface with Win 8.1 and an Intel 5000.
I must say that I was rather impressed.
Opening and navigating a 1,5 GB file didn’t pose any problems. In fact, it performed better than my Quadro 4000M with 2013 drivers (admittedly, something is amiss with that one as it overheats after a few hours worth of Rhino work - but updating drivers in a bigger company is even harder than getting the toners in the printers replaced…). If things were up to me I would drop this heavy laptop immediately and go for the Surface - with the Intel 5000.
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Thanks Jeff! This really sounds good!
Yes - OS X and MacRhino.
Thanks again!
Philip
Thanks Wim! It sounds like the new, tiny laptops perform very well!
One last question @jeff and @marlin… I wonder if it would be safe to expect this new MacBook to outperform my (very) old MacBook Pro:
Computer hardware
Hardware model: MacBookPro5,2
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo CPU T9600 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 4 GB
Architecture: Intel 64 bit
Video hardware
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Screen size: 2560 x 1440, 1920 x 1200
Displays: LED Cinema Display (109dpi 1x), Color LCD (133dpi 1x)
Thank you!
Philip
To state the hidden obvious: In the Mac world, Rhino will either gain a reputation as a program that has certain hardware requirements, which may not please everyone, or it will gain a reputation of a slow, flaky program.
Slightly related, and fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DyUitTVWlw
Perhaps, though, similar to others here, I’ve not yet had my hands on the new MacBook. At least you have Apple’s 14-day return policy to lean on, allowing you to load up your heaviest model and evaluate. You can try to convince a gatekeeper at a Best Buy or Apple Store to allow you to install Rhino for a test, though I’ve never had any luck with that. You might have more luck if there is a independent reseller in town.
Also, and especially since 12" is a tough size to work off, if this computer is to be the sole home box tethered to a display, etc., keep the single USB-C port in mind when planning out connectivity. USB-C is probably Apple’s future…
Yeah, you’re right - I didn’t remember that. Thanks!
Yes, it’s probably going to be my only computer for a while - until I can buy that MacPro 
- but I have my 27" display… just have to buy that expensive adapter.
Philip