Comments on: ArcGIS on Mac OS X

By: Christian

Christian — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:33:12 +0000

I recently switched from Parallels to VMware, mainly for the reason because I wasn’t able to convert a Boot Camp partition into a Parallels virtual image. VMware transfered my partition without any problems and I never went back to Parallels.

As for performance: if you have the option for a MacBook Pro, go for it! It’s faster, especially regarding graphics, and comes with a bigger screen.

I’m still using my black MacBook (2 GHz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB RAM). In VMware I have 1 processor core and 512MB RAM allocated to Windows XP, which I only use for working with ArcGIS 9.2. I found this to be the best configuration for working in both Windows and Mac OS at reasonable speeds. What I do with ArcGIS is about 80% visualization and 20% geoprocessing. I recently did some benchmarks comparing various storage options if you’re interested.

However, all I can say, it really works well for my purposes and isn’t any slower than our desktop PC installations (probably because they are messed up with hundreds of other applications running in the background).

By: Lara

Lara — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:28:35 +0000

Hello,
I’ve been reading the feedback and it is all very helpfull. I am a new grad student studying GIS and I am looking to buy a new laptop since my current, archaic one can’t handle it anymore. I was considering getting a Macbook or a Macbook Pro, but I am a little concerned about how ArcGIS will run on it. I have been a PC user my entire life but I am so ready to convert, it’s rediculous.

How easy is it to use ArcMap on the Macbook or Macbook pro, and with the new developments for parallels, is it better to get the MBP or the MB?

Thanks so much,
Lara

By: Link

Link — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:01:32 +0000

I’m a longtime Mac user but new to ArcGIS. I’m planning a new purchase of a Mac laptop for grad school in the fall and want to be able to run ArcGIS.
It seems that some are still finding the best results with Parallels but others have made the switch to VMware. Is there a growing consensus on what works best? I’m also interested in hearing about performance issues. What are the minimum and preferred system requirements to be able to pull this off in a virtual environment without it running too slow to be practical? Do I need to buy the top of the line MBP or can I step down to a less expensive Mac?

Thanks to all of you who have pioneered the way on this.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:58:31 +0000

NTFS is the preferred file system. I don’t know what you have in mind, but consider that Mac OS X can only read but not write on NTFS partitions.

If you’re talking about a Boot Camp partition or a virtual Windows image, then NTFS is the best choice because you’ll never access those partitions directly in Mac OS X (using the Finder for instance). For any other partition you want to have read/write enabled in both Windows and Mac OS X you should use FAT.

By: Punongbayan

Punongbayan — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:17:16 +0000

Dear Christian,

I recently bought a Macbook pro and was undecided on whether to partition the windows xp hardrive into FAT32 or NTFS. Any recommended partition format? Will ArcGIS perform better with NTFS or FAT32?

Thanks.

By: Christian

Christian — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 20:46:59 +0000

Jennifer, meanwhile I made the switch to VMware too. Well, I'm still running VMware 2.0 beta which I can use until Oct 2nd. Then I'll probably get a new license. But, Sun released a new Version of Virtualbox which I wanted to test before purchasing VMware. It seems to be a very good and free open source option on the virtualization market.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:47:18 +0000

What a great resource this thread has been! I think there are enough success stories here that have convinced me this is a viable solution. One by one, the people I work with (professors at a university) are converting to Macs. My coworker just got Windows Vista 64-bit working through Bootcamp on a new Mac Pro (eight-core with 18GB RAM). The ArcGIS install went fine after making sure the license server name was set everywhere. No report on how it runs, though!

The computer store I’m thinking about getting my MacBook Pro at is pushing VMware (as is my boss who has it running on his MBP, but he is not running ArcGIS) over Parallels. Parallels cost twice as much – so is it worth it and/or necessary? I will certainly run Bootcamp, but like others will want to access ArcGIS occasionally while in OS X.

Thanks!

By: Install ArcGIS di Mac OS X | iniGIS.info

Install ArcGIS di Mac OS X | iniGIS.info — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:17:04 +0000

[...] Saya bukan pengguna Mac OS X (a.k.a Leopard), juga tidak begitu paham tentang Mac OS X yang telah rilis versi terbarunya itu. Namun blogwalking saya menemukan tautan sebuah blog yang menggambarkan install ArcGIS pada Mac OS X. Anda bisa menuju pada link berikut http://spanring.eu/blog/2006/07/02/arcgis-on-mac-os-x-2/. [...]

By: SN271

SN271 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:03:17 +0000

Hey Fernando.

I’m happy to say that since my last post ARCInfo 9.2SP5 is working flawlessly within a Parallels environment – to the point where I trust it past the R&D phase.

Funny you bring up Garmin..Many of my clients rely on Garmin for nav purposes so I regularly update/maintain these.

Having said that I haven’t tested that in Parallels yet being more concerned with ESRI and ERDAS. I’ll give it a shot this week and post my results – confidence is high.

I’ll check out Bobcat.

By: Christian

Christian — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:33:33 +0000

I'm currently using ArcGIS 9.2. regarding Garmin: do you know Project Bobcat?