Macbook solution?

General Forums Blender and CG Discussions
#1

I apologize if this has already been solved somewhere, but of all the threads I’ve read, no real solution has been presented.

I’ve got a Macbook and Blender still runs incredibly slow on it and is even unresponsive at times. I’ve tried piping blender through the OpenGL Profiler but it just crashes after it loads.

Has this problem been solved yet? I’m considering dual booting OS X and XP on the same machine, but I’m not sure if this problem is related to the GPU itself, or the drivers OS X uses to render the display. Would moving to XP fix it?

#2

Thats hard to say, for me.

Is it a MacBook Pro? If it is a Pro, then your GPU should be Ok and it should run as is. If it is not a Pro, then you have a graphics bottle neck and may want to simply take it back.

Or dual boot it and let us know how it works out.

#3

I think it has something to do with the MacBook and OSX itself. I have a MacBook with the same problem but it doesn’t happen in the MacMini I have at work, and both have the same GPU. The Mini runs it just fine, and it actually has a slower CPU! The only difference is that my MacBook runs Leopard and the Mini runs Tiger.

Also, I used to dual-boot OSX and Ubuntu on the MacBook and when I was on Ubuntu, Blender would run just fine.

So, there’s something fishy with OSX and the MacBook…I just gave up on running Blender on the MacBook and stick to the Mini at work, or my secondary machine at home running Ubuntu x64.

Just for reference, the last version that ran perfect on my MacBook was 2.45. After that it was just unbearable, though 2.48 runs a little better than 2.46 and 2.47 did.

#4

Is it a problem with Leopard? Are you running Tiger or Leopard on your Mac Mini?

#5

The best solution is to burn Ubuntu (free linux) to CD, set up a partition for windows with bootcamp (you should already have bootcamp on mac). Downloaf and install Refit. With CD in computer, restart and hold C key. (c=boot from cd). Install Ubuntu, whan you get the option to install on partition or main disk, select your partition. There may be a minor change to one of the settings to make, if you get an error that says something about space not bieng a valid value (previnting you from continuing), drag the above slider.

I still need the CD to boot, just put the CD in, boot select boot from harddisk (if avaliable), and in the CD setup screen select “boot from harddisk” (the bottom option).

Everyone says to back up your files, is there a risk?..

Need help? Google Ubuntu macbook dual boot.

When downloading blender, get the static version.

#6

Yeah, that’s what I think I am going to have to do. I’m still curious as to why the problem can’t be fixed on our end. I mean, it use to work… a while ago.

#7

get Windows =)

sorry, I just like to find an excuse to say Windows can do some things better than Mac.

#8

There’s a build of Blender on graphicall.org that supposedly fixes the problems… here it is…
However the game engine (and maybe some other features) don’t work.

Using Ubuntu is probably your best option :slight_smile:

PS. Could someone please explain what slows down when using Blender on a Macbook, as I’m using a Macbook (Leopard) with Blender and to me Blender doesn’t seem slow :confused: Or is it just a specific kind of Macbooks that have the problems?

#9

Is this still a problem on the newest generation of mac-books(if anybody has tested 'em yet)?

#10

Hello,
i have a macbook with that problem…it is related to mac osx 10.5 only …10.4 worked well… and it is ONLY with the intel GMA 950 graphic card…it is a bad Apple bug with openGL… i use the patched graphicall build , but anyway i only use macbook to fool around.
it has NOTHING to do with blender… it is sadly apple (or intel) not doing standard double buffer functions… anyway integrated graphic cards should be avoided… and i guess with the new macbooks and their nvidia cards it will work smoothly
look at the other thread too
o

#11

New Macbooks should fix that with nVidia Cards in all the Mac models. Bye, bye, Intel.

#12

that’s god news!