AC13 Mac Hardware / system requirements

[Karl Frost]

I hope that I'm not doubling up on a discussion somewhere else in the Forums, but we're looking at the hardware & system requirements for AC13 and note that (for Macs) it runs on OS 10.5 or later on Intel processors. Is this the minimum? If so we will have to "retire" a number of PPC workstations, and buy a number of copies of OS10.5 or 10.6 for our Intels.
I note that Karl Ottenstein said that his G4 desktop could run AC12 although the AC12 info said a G5 or later processor was required.
This would also apply to the BIM server idea - again Karl Ottenstein noted in another topic that it seems a shame that this cannot run on a PPC mac as old G5s would be perfect in the server role.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Yes.

The decision that AC12 was going to be the last Universal Binary was posted around the time the first Mac Intel and the AC10 UB was released if I remember correctly.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Karl,

Yes, as Eduardo notes, Graphisoft announced over a year ago - perhaps 2 years? (cannot remember without a search) - that 12 would be the last version that would run on PPC (G4/G5) Macs, more or less in synch with Apple having Leopard (10.5) as the last OS that would run on those PPC machines.

The specs do say either Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) for 13. I don't know if it would run under Tiger (10.4) as I don't have an Intel machine with Tiger installed. I do think that the increased functionality (and speed) from the OS upgrade is tremendous and worth it for anyone with older Intel machines. Besides quick view, Time Machine, and so much more, a feature that saves me tons of time in Leopard is the search box in the Help menu of every application which searches all of that app's menus. As many commands as there are in ArchiCAD, it is sometimes hard to remember where one is - especially on someone else's customized WE ... and typing into the Help box instantly gets you there.

While PPC machines cannot run Snow Leopard or 13 (or 13's BIM Server), a Power Mac G5 with Leopard (for Time Machine backups) could still be a useful file server in the office, and perhaps useful for other tasks.

2 GB minimum systems memory for Mac or PC; 4 GB or more recommended.

Cheers,
Karl