Vectorworks Operating System Compatibility List
as at Dec 7th 2011
Windows:
| 2012 SP2 | 2011 SP5 | 2010 SP4 | 2009 SP5 | 2008 SP3 | |
| Windows 7 SP1 |  | | | | |
| Windows 7 x64 SP1 | | | | |  |
| Windows Vista SP2 | | | | | |
| Windows Vista SP2 x64 | | | | | |
| Windows XP SP3 | | | | | |
| Windows XP SP3 x64 | | | | | |
| Windows 2000 | | | | | |
Mac:
| 2012 SP2 | 2011 SP5 | 2010 SP4 | 2009 SP5 | 2008 SP3 | |
| Mac OSX 10.7.2 | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.6.8 | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.5.8 (Intel Processors Only) | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.4.11 | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.3.9 | | | | | |
Related Articles
Vectorworks 2012 System Recommendations
Last Modified: 12/9/2011
The following are real-world system recommendations for running Vectorworks 2012. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described by these recommendations. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors and additional RAM.
General Recommendations
Macintosh
Windows
Operating System
Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later
Windows XP SP 3
Windows Vista SP 2
Windows 7
Other Software
QuickTime
QuickTime 7.6.0 to 7.6.9 (higher versions not recommended)
Processor
Intel Core 2GHz or better
Pentium 2GHz or better
Other Hardware
DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
Screen Resolution
1024 x 768 minimum, 1280 x 800 recommended
1024 x 768 minimum, 1280 x 800 recommended
Display color depth
15 bit or higher
15 bit or higher
Vectorworks
RAM
1GB minimum*, 4GB recommended
*See the discussion in the Optimizing Performance section below.
Additional Details
Video Cards
IMPORTANT - Vectorworks 2009 introduced a completely new document interaction interface which depends on a high bandwidth interface between the CPU and the screen. This has the potential to provide a very fast and fluid screen interface if used on appropriate hardware or a noticeably slower interface if used on the wrong hardware. It is especially important to choose a CPU and video card which are current-generation if you use Vectorworks on a very high resolution 30" monitor. Some users may be dissatisfied with 30" monitors when used with older generation processors or video cards. In general, starting with Vectorworks 2009, the more powerful your video card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be.
We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. Most functional problems have been traced to older video drivers during our testing.
Please also note that, while modern GeForce cards on the Mac generally behave pretty well with sufficient VRAM, some users have reported stability and performance problems with older NVIDIA GeForce 6800 and 7300 cards starting with MacOS 10.5.6, even when using the most up-to-date drivers. While some users may experience acceptable performance using these cards, we recommend using a more modern NVIDIA card for those users who use NVIDIA cards.
For the latest information on our video card recommendations for Vectorworks 2012, go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "opengl".
Remote and Virtual Machines
We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance in these environments, however, especially with interactive screen feedback.
We do support Vectorworks running under Bootcamp on Intel Macs. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior.
Maintenance Releases
Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step.
On Windows, we recommend against updating QuickTime primarily because most Windows users are not aware that Vectorworks depends on QuickTime and can possibly change behavior when QuickTime is updated. We have never had problems, however, which were traced back to bugs in newer releases of QuickTime, so updating QuickTime on Windows is not a risky choice.
64 Bit Windows
While Vectorworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we generally recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Vectorworks 2012.
While Renderworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we strongly recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Renderworks 2012, as it will take full use of 64 bit addressing.
Optimizing Performance
RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes consume large amounts of memory. On the Mac the operating system will take advantage of nearly all of the RAM that you have up to 4GB. On Windows the operating system will by default only take advantage of 2G of RAM, but can be coerced into using up to 3G. See the following Vectorworks Knowledgebase article for information on how to use up to 3G of RAM on Windows: http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/663/Windows+3GB+Switch. For users who have 64 bit machines and work with large files and complex renderings, we recommend installing 8G of RAM to give the rest of your system more RAM breathing space when Vectorworks is approaching the maximum. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.
RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes consume large amounts of memory. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.
Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. We choose our recommendation based on our perception of mainstream needs and the current available hardware.
Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Designer with Renderworks including all content files. You can easily reduce this size by opting to not install some Vectorworks content files.
More Information
For the latest support information on Vectorworks 2012 go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "2012".
Vectorworks 2011 Compatibility with Mac OSX 10.7 Lion
The Nemetschek development team have tested Vectorworks 2011 compatibility on every Mac OS X Lion (v. 10.7) seed version available to them. Overall Vectorworks runs well, but they have discovered some minor issues, and they are working with Apple to address them.
Nemetschek will conduct another evaluation after they receive the final release of Lion, if necessary, they will release a Lion service pack for Vectorworks 2011 as soon as possible. This would be SP5
Vectorworks 2012 System Recommendations
Last Modified: 12/9/2011
The following are real-world system recommendations for running Vectorworks 2012. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described by these recommendations. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors and additional RAM.
General Recommendations Macintosh Windows Operating System Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later Windows XP SP 3 Windows Vista SP 2 Windows 7 Other Software QuickTime QuickTime 7.6.0 to 7.6.9 (higher versions not recommended) Processor Intel Core 2GHz or better Pentium 2GHz or better Other Hardware DVD-ROM drive (dual layer) DVD-ROM drive (dual layer) Screen Resolution 1024 x 768 minimum, 1280 x 800 recommended 1024 x 768 minimum, 1280 x 800 recommended Display color depth 15 bit or higher 15 bit or higher Vectorworks RAM 1GB minimum*, 4GB recommended
*See the discussion in the Optimizing Performance section below.
Additional Details
Video Cards
IMPORTANT - Vectorworks 2009 introduced a completely new document interaction interface which depends on a high bandwidth interface between the CPU and the screen. This has the potential to provide a very fast and fluid screen interface if used on appropriate hardware or a noticeably slower interface if used on the wrong hardware. It is especially important to choose a CPU and video card which are current-generation if you use Vectorworks on a very high resolution 30" monitor. Some users may be dissatisfied with 30" monitors when used with older generation processors or video cards. In general, starting with Vectorworks 2009, the more powerful your video card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be.
We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. Most functional problems have been traced to older video drivers during our testing.
Please also note that, while modern GeForce cards on the Mac generally behave pretty well with sufficient VRAM, some users have reported stability and performance problems with older NVIDIA GeForce 6800 and 7300 cards starting with MacOS 10.5.6, even when using the most up-to-date drivers. While some users may experience acceptable performance using these cards, we recommend using a more modern NVIDIA card for those users who use NVIDIA cards.
For the latest information on our video card recommendations for Vectorworks 2012, go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "opengl".
Remote and Virtual Machines
We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance in these environments, however, especially with interactive screen feedback.
We do support Vectorworks running under Bootcamp on Intel Macs. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior.
Maintenance Releases
Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step.
On Windows, we recommend against updating QuickTime primarily because most Windows users are not aware that Vectorworks depends on QuickTime and can possibly change behavior when QuickTime is updated. We have never had problems, however, which were traced back to bugs in newer releases of QuickTime, so updating QuickTime on Windows is not a risky choice.
64 Bit Windows
While Vectorworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we generally recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Vectorworks 2012.
While Renderworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we strongly recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Renderworks 2012, as it will take full use of 64 bit addressing.
Optimizing Performance
RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes consume large amounts of memory. On the Mac the operating system will take advantage of nearly all of the RAM that you have up to 4GB. On Windows the operating system will by default only take advantage of 2G of RAM, but can be coerced into using up to 3G. See the following Vectorworks Knowledgebase article for information on how to use up to 3G of RAM on Windows: http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/663/Windows+3GB+Switch. For users who have 64 bit machines and work with large files and complex renderings, we recommend installing 8G of RAM to give the rest of your system more RAM breathing space when Vectorworks is approaching the maximum. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.
RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes consume large amounts of memory. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.
Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. We choose our recommendation based on our perception of mainstream needs and the current available hardware.
Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Designer with Renderworks including all content files. You can easily reduce this size by opting to not install some Vectorworks content files.
More Information
For the latest support information on Vectorworks 2012 go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "2012".
Nemetschek will conduct another evaluation after they receive the final release of Lion, if necessary, they will release a Lion service pack for Vectorworks 2011 as soon as possible. This would be SP5
Vectorworks Operating System Compatibility List
July 20th, 2011
Windows:
2011 SP4
2010 SP4
2009 SP5
2008 SP3 12.5.3
Windows 7 SP1
Windows 7 x64 SP1
Windows Vista SP2
Windows Vista SP2 x64
Windows XP SP3
Windows XP SP3 x64
Windows 2000
Mac:
2011 SP4
2010 SP4
2009 SP5
2008 SP3
12.5.3
Mac OSX 10.7
Mac OSX 10.6.8
Mac OSX 10.5.8
(Intel Processors Only)
Mac OSX 10.4.11
Mac OSX 10.3.9
(Intel Processors Only)
Vectorworks 2011 System Recommendations
The following are real-world system recommendations for running Vectorworks 2011. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described by these recommendations. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors and additional RAM.
Important note: For Vectorworks 2011, the minimum requirement for the Macintosh is Mac OS 10.5.7 running on an Intel processor.
General Recommendations
Macintosh:
Operating System:
Mac OS X 10.5.7 or later
Other Software:
QuickTime
Processor:
Intel Core Duo 2GHz or better
Other Hardware:
DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
Screen Resolution:
Recommended: 1280x800
Minimum: 1024x768
Display color depth:
16 bit or higher
Windows:
Operating System:
Windows XP SP 3
Windows Vista SP 2
Windows 7
Other Software:
QuickTime 7.6 to 7.6.6
(higher versions not recommended)
Processor:
Pentium 2GHz or better
Other Hardware:
DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
Screen Resolution:
Recommended: 1280x800
Minimum: 1024 x 768
Display color depth:
16 bit or higher
Product Requirements:
Vectorworks Fundamentals:
RAM: 1GB Minimum*, 2GB recommended
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Fundamentals plus Renderworks:
RAM: 2GB Minimum*, 4GB recommended
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Designer:
RAM: 1GB Minimum*, 2GB recommended
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Designer plus Renderworks:
RAM: 2GB Minimum*, 4GB recommended
Hard drive space: 10GB free
*See the discussion in the Optimizing Performance section below.
Additional Details
Video Cards:
IMPORTANT - Vectorworks 2009 introduced a completely new document interaction interface which depends on a high bandwidth interface between the CPU and the screen. This has the potential to provide a very fast and fluid screen interface if used on appropriate hardware or a noticeably slower interface if used on the wrong hardware. It is especially important to choose a CPU and video card which are current-generation if you use Vectorworks on a very high resolution 30" monitor. Some users may be dissatisfied with 30" monitors when used with older generation processors or video cards. In general, starting with Vectorworks 2009, the more powerful your video card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be.
We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. Most functional problems have been traced to older video drivers during our testing.
Please also note that, while modern GeForce cards on the Mac generally behave pretty well with sufficient VRAM, some users have reported stability and performance problems with older NVIDIA GeForce 6800 and 7300 cards starting with MacOS 10.5.6, even when using the most up-to-date drivers. While some users may experience acceptable performance using these cards, we recommend using a more modern NVIDIA card like the GeForce 8800GT for those users who use NVIDIA cards.
For the latest information on our video card recommendations for Vectorworks 2011, go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "opengl".
Strict Minimums:
The absolute software version requirements in order for Vectorworks to launch are often but not always more relaxed than our recommendations. Vectorworks 2011 requires the following as an absolute minimum:
Windows:- Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or later
- QuickTime 7.6.0
- All attached video monitors set to 15 bits per pixel or higher
- Mac OS X 10.5.0 or later
- QuickTime 7.0
- All attached video monitors set to 15 bits per pixel or higher
We do not currently have strict runtime checks of other aspects of the machine configuration such as the processor architecture.
Remote and Virtual Machines
We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance - especially with interactive screen feedback.
We do support Vectorworks running under Bootcamp on Intel Macs. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior.
Maintenance Releases
Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step.
On Windows, we recommend against updating QuickTime primarily because most Windows users are not aware that Vectorworks depends on QuickTime and can possibly change behavior when QuickTime is updated. We have never had problems, however, which were traced back to bugs in newer releases of QuickTime, so updating QuickTime on Windows is not a risky choice.
64 Bit Windows
While Vectorworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we generally recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Vectorworks 2011.
While Renderworks is fully supported in both 32 bit and 64 bit Windows environments, we strongly recommend using a 64 bit Windows operating system for Renderworks 2011, as it will take full use of 64 bit addressing.
With those recommendations having been made, we have noticed that drivers for 64 bit Windows can be somewhat more problematic than those for the more mainstream 32 bit versions of Windows. Should you choose to run 64 bit Windows you should make sure that you carefully choose your hardware and driver versions to avoid problems.
Optimizing Performance
Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. We choose our recommendation based on our perception of mainstream needs and the current available hardware.
RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes consume large amounts of memory. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.
Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Designer with Renderworks including all content files. You can easily reduce this size by opting to not install some Vectorworks content files.
More Information
For the latest support information on Vectorworks 2011 go to http://kbase.vectorworks.net/ and search for "2011".
Vectorworks Operating System Compatibility List
Windows:
| 2010 | 2009 SP4 | 2008 SP3 | 12.5.3 | 11.5.1 | |
| Windows 7 | | | |  | |
| Windows VistaSP2 | | | | | |
| Windows XPSP3 | | | | | |
| Windows 2000 | | | | | |
Mac:
| 2010 | 2009 SP4 | 2008 SP3 | 12.5.3 | 11.5.1 | |
| Mac OSX 10.6.1 | | * | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.5.8 | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.4.11 | | | | | |
| Mac OSX 10.3.9 | | | | | |
* = Vectorworks 2009 SP5 will be available in November and will add OSX 10.6 compatibility to Vectorworks 2009.
Vectorworks 2010 System Requirements
The following are real-world system recommendations for running Vectorworks 2010. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described by these recommendations. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors and additional RAM.
Macintosh:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later
Other Software: QuickTime
Processor: Intel Core 2GHz or better
Other Hardware: DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
Screen Resolution: Recommended: 1280x800, Required: 1024x768
Display color depth: 16 bit or higher
Windows:
Operating System: Windows XP SP 3
Windows Vista SP 2
Other Software: QuickTime 7.6 (higher versions not recommended)
Processor: Pentium 2GHz or better
Other Hardware: DVD-ROM drive (dual layer)
Screen Resolution: Recommended: 1280x800, Required: 1024 x 768 (XGA)
Display color depth:16 bit or higher
Product Requirements:
Vectorworks Designer:
RAM: 2GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Designer plus Renderworks:
RAM: 4GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Design Series:
RAM: 2GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Design Series plus Renderworks:
RAM: 4GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Fundamentals:
RAM: 2GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Fundamentals plus Renderworks:
RAM: 4GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Package-Specific Minimums:
Vectorworks Designer:
RAM: 2GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks Designer plus Renderworks:
RAM: 4GB
Hard drive space: 10GB free
Vectorworks 2010 requires the following as an absolute minimum:
- Windows:* Windows XP sp3 or Vista sp2 or later*
QuickTime 7.2*
All attached video monitors set to 16 bits per pixel or higher - Macintosh:* Mac OS X 10.5 or later*
QuickTime 7.0*
All attached video monitors set to 16 bits per pixel or higher
We do not currently have strict runtime checks of other aspects of the machine configuration such as the processor architecture.
Remote and Virtual Machines:
We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance - especially with interactive screen feedback. We do support Vectorworks running under Bootcamp on Intel Macs.
As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior.
Maintenance Releases:
Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step.
On Windows, we recommend against updating QuickTime primarily because most Windows users are not aware that Vectorworks depends on QuickTime and can possibly change behavior when QuickTime is updated. We have never had problems, however, which were traced back to bugs in newer releases of QuickTime, so updating QuickTime on Windows is not a risky choice.
64 Bit Windows:
On the Windows platform, the user must choose whether to run with a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system. Vectorworks runs well and is fully supported in either environment, and we have no known problems in Vectorworks 2010 caused by running under a 64 bit operating system. Having said that, the following are also true:-
- Vectorworks 2009 does not use 64 bit addressing and does not benefit from running in a 64 bit environment.
- Vectorworks does run about 5% slower in a 64 bit environment due to a 32 bit emulation layer.
- We have noticed that drivers for 64 bit Windows are somewhat more problematic than those for the more mainstream 32 bit versions of Windows.
Should you choose to run 64 bit Windows you should make sure you carefully choose your hardware and driver versions to avoid problems.
Optimizing Performance:
Newer processor architectures often bring substantial improvements in performance. Mac Intel CPUs are substantially faster than G5s and we recommend using Intel based Mac hardware in all performance-sensitive applications. Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance.
We choose our recommendation based on our perception of mainstream needs and the current available hardware.RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations.
Large files and especially complex rendering modes such as HDRI and radiosity consume large amounts of memory. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed.
Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used. Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Designer with Renderworks including all content files. You can easily reduce this size by opting to not install some Vectorworks content files.
Video Cards:
IMPORTANT - Vectorworks 2010 has a completely new document interaction interface which depends on a high bandwidth interface between the CPU and the screen. This has the potential to provide a very fast and fluid screen interface if used on appropriate hardware or a noticeably slower interface if used on the wrong hardware. It is especially important to choose a CPU and video card which are current-generation if you use Vectorworks on a very high resolution 30" monitor.
Some users may be dissatisfied with 30" monitors when used with older generation processors or video cards.
We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. Most functional problems have been traced to older video drivers during our testing.
Technical Bulletin
Vectorworks 2009 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v.10.6) Stability Concerns
As many of you know, Apple will be releasing Snow Leopard on August 28, 2009. And as many of our customers work on a Mac platform, the release of Snow Leopard naturally brings up questions of compatibility. Understanding that for the majority of our customer base, our software is a key component of their work flow, our CTO, Dr. Biplab Sarkar, does not recommend running Vectorworks 2009 (Service Pack 4 or earlier) on Snow Leopard at this point in time. Dr. Sarkar and his team are already in the process of developing a version of Vectorworks 2009 that will be fully compatible with Snow Leopard and free to all Vectorworks 2009 users. Expect to hear notice of this version availability in early November, 2009. And, if you’re not already subscribed to our monthly e-Dispatch newsletter, please subscribe now so that you’ll get the announcement. http://www.nemetschek.net/community/edisp_subscribe.php For those customers with software versions earlier than Vectorworks 2009, please note we do not have plans to update these older versions to support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v.10.6). Thank you for your understanding and patience. If you wish to read a more detailed technical explanation of the current stability issues with Snow Leopard, you’ll find that information on our ever-growing Vectorworks Knowledge Base site: (http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/706/Vectorworks++%26+Mac+OS+X+Snow+Leopard+V+10.6). If you wish to be kept abreast of all our latest updates on the Vectorworks Knowledge Base, you can subscribe to the feed of new posts there. Juan Almansa
Product Support Manager
Nemetschek North America, Inc.
For any specific questions, please email techsupport@megabits.co.nz
Vectorworks 2009 System Recommendations
Last Modified: 22 Sept 2008
We now specify a hardware and software configuration for real-world use. There are notes below discussing tradeoffs which can be expected if users decide to use Vectorworks with other hardware or software configurations.
The following are real-world system recommendations for running Vectorworks 2009. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described by these recommendations. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors and additional RAM.
| General Recommendations | Macintosh | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later Mac OS X 10.5.4 or later | Windows XP SP 3 Windows Vista SP 1 |
| Other Software | QuickTime | QuickTime 7.2 to 7.5 (higher versions not recommended) |
| Processor | PowerPC G5 2GHz or better Intel Core 2GHz or better | Pentium 2GHz or better |
| Other Hardware | DVD-ROM drive (dual layer) | DVD-ROM drive (dual layer) |
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 (XGA) | 1024 x 768 (XGA) |
| Display color depth | 15 bit or higher | 15 bit or higher |
| Vectorworks | |
|---|---|
| RAM | 2GB |
| Hard drive space | 10GB free |
| Vectorworks plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Hard drive space | 10GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer | |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Hard drive space | 10GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Hard drive space | 10GB free |
- Windows XP or Vista or later
- QuickTime 7.2
- All attached video monitors set to 15 bits per pixel or higher
- Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later
- QuickTime 7.0
- All attached video monitors set to 15 bits per pixel or higher
Vectorworks 2009 does not use 64 bit addressing and does not benefit from running in a 64 bit environment.Vectorworks does run about 5% slower in a 64 bit environment due to a 32 bit emulation layer.We have noticed that drivers for 64 bit Windows are somewhat more problematic than those for the more mainstream 32 bit versions of Windows. Should you choose to run 64 bit Windows you should make sure you carefully choose your hardware and driver versions to avoid problems.Newer processor architectures often bring substantial improvments in performance. Mac Intel CPUs are substantially faster than G5s and we recommend using Intel based Mac hardware in all performance-sensitive applications.Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. We choose our recommendation based on our perception of mainstream needs and the current available hardware.RAM requirements are usually driven by performance considerations. Large files and especially complex rendering modes such as HDRI and radiosity consume large amounts of memory. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have an unexpectedly large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used.Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Designer with Renderworks including all content files. You can easily reduce this size by opting to not install some Vectorworks content files.IMPORTANT - Vectorworks 2009 has a completely new document interaction interface which depends on a high bandwidth interface between the CPU and the screen. This has the potential to provide a very fast and fluid screen interface if used on appropriate hardware or a noticeably slower interface if used on the wrong hardware. It is especially important to choose a CPU and video card which are current-generation if you use Vectorworks on a very high resolution 30" monitor. Some users may be dissatisfied with 30" monitors when used with older generation processors or video cards.We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. Most functional problems have been traced to older video drivers during our testing.For the latest information on our video card recommendations for Vectorworks 2009, go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "opengl".For the latest support information on Vectorworks 2009 go to the Vectorworks Knowledgebase and search for "2009".
Applies to Vectorworks version: 2008
The following are minimum system requirements to run Vectorworks 2008. In many cases we would recommend a significantly more capable machine than is described by these minimum requirements. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors, additional RAM, and larger screens.
| General Requirements | Macintosh | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later Mac OS X 10.5.0 or later | Windows XP SP 2 Windows Vista |
| Other Software | QuickTime 6 or higher | QuickTime 6.5.2 to 7.2 (higher versions not recommended) |
| Processor | PowerPC G4 or newer Universal binary runs native on Intel Macs | Pentium IV or newer |
| Other Hardware | DVD-ROM drive | DVD-ROM drive |
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 (XGA) | 1024 x 768 (XGA) |
| Display color depth | 16 bit | 16 bit |
| Vectorworks | |
|---|---|
| RAM | 1GB |
| Hard drive space | 4GB free |
| Vectorworks plus Renderworks | |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Hard drive space | 4GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer | |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Hard drive space | 6GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer plus Renderworks | |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Hard drive space | 6GB free |
Vectorworks 12.5.1 may not have flawless performance with Windows Vista, as Vista was released in 2007, well after the release of 12.5.1.All versions of Vectorworks 12 prior to 12.5.3 are not compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). 12.5.3 is recommended for Mac OS 10.5Last Modified: 15/8/2006
Applies to Vectorworks version: 12.5.0
The following are minimum system requirements to run Vectorworks 12.5. In many cases we would recommend a significantly more capable machine than is described by these minimum requirements. The Vectorworks user experience is always improved by faster processors, additional RAM, and larger screens.
| General Requirements | Macintosh | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later | Windows 2000 SP4 or later Windows XP (64 bit not recommended) |
| Other Software | QuickTime 6 or higher | QuickTime 6.5.2 to 7.1 (higher versions not recommended) |
| Processor | PowerPC G4 or newer Universal binary runs native on Intel Macs | Pentium III or newer |
| Other Hardware | DVD-ROM drive | DVD-ROM drive |
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 (XGA) | 1024 x 768 (XGA) |
| Display color depth | 16 bit | 16 bit |
| Vectorworks | |
|---|---|
| RAM | 512MB |
| Hard drive space | 3GB free |
| Vectorworks plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Hard drive space | 4GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer | |
| RAM | 512MB |
| Hard drive space | 4GB free |
| Vectorworks Designer plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Hard drive space | 5GB free |
Minimum System Requirements 12.0.xLast Modified: 16/3/2005
Applies to VW version: 12.0.0
The following are minimum system requirements to run VectorWorks 12.0. In many cases we would recommend a significantly more capable machine than is described by these minimum requirements. The VectorWorks user experience is always improved by faster processors, additional RAM, and larger screens.
| General Requirements | Macintosh | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later | Windows 2000 SP4 or later Windows XP |
| Other Software | QuickTime 6 or higher | QuickTime 6.5.2 to 7.0.4 (higher versions not recommended) |
| Processor | PowerPC G3 or newer | Pentium or newer |
| Other Hardware | CD-ROM drive | CD-ROM drive |
| Screen Resolution | 1024 x 768 (XGA) | 1024 x 768 (XGA) |
| Display color depth | 16 bit | 16 bit |
| Vectorworks | |
|---|---|
| RAM | 128MB |
| Hard drive space | 110MB free |
| Vectorworks plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 256MB |
| Hard drive space | 1GB free |
| Vectorworks ARCHITECT, LANDMARK, MECHANICAL, or SPOTLIGHT | |
| RAM | 256MB |
| Hard drive space (minimum / with SPOTLIGHT gobo textures) | 200MB / 1.2GB free |
| Vectorworks ARCHITECT, LANDMARK, MECHANICAL, or SPOTLIGHT plus RenderWorks | |
| RAM | 256MB |
| Hard drive space (minimum / with SPOTLIGHT gobo textures) | 1GB / 2GB free |