SolidWorks 2013 on a Windows 8 Surface Tablet... will it run?

Good afternoon everyone just wanted to take a moment to share some info with you about SolidWorks and Windows 8. First stay tuned to this blog over the next couple of weeks to see hands on SolidWorks in Windows 8. Outside of seeing campaign ads every 22.5 seconds you’ve probably seen SURFACE commercial with Windows 8 RT. It looks really cool, but will it run SolidWorks.

That answer is no, not those tablets, not right now, but in the future. The reason for this is Surface tablets you see in the commercial are based on ARM chipset, which is much different than AMD or Intel. Windows RT is what is installed on these types of devices and standard Windows programs will not install on them. They will only accept apps from the Windows App Store. With that said later this year Microsoft will be releasing the Windows Surface Pro tablets that are base on the normal chipsets required for our applications to install and run. So never fear your SolidWorks will run on a tablet faster than you think.

Bob McGaughey, CSWE

CATI

Happy Movember

Windows 8 & Solidworks 2012 Test Drive

 

   I just had to. With the Release to Manufacturing of Windows 8 already here I had to take it for a test drive. It is available as an evaluation copy from the MS website. It was a 2.5gb downloaded .iso file which when put onto a bootable USB stick, (because really who uses a DVD player anymore?) installed with out any issues on an older Dell M6300 in less than 10 minutes.

The thing that is striking about the interface is the massive overhaul by Microsoft. It is definetely a bold move and in my opininon a good one. You can definetely tell that it is aimed at a multi-platform arena. Tablets, touchcreens, phones, and desktops will all get a taste of it. All of the usual driver issues that have usually have plageued MS for quite some time seem to be absent. The OS was actually pretty lightweight and nimble. The one thing that will get everybody upset is the new "Metro" style interface.

I have been a Xbox live subscriber for quite some time because I have teenagers that like to game. The interface has actually been on the Xbox for quite some time, so it really wasnt a shock and I was already used to it. SolidWorks ran very well with no crashes in my testing and I did no tweaking whatsoever. I couldnt even tell you what video driver was running. With the majority of businesses all converted over to Windows 7 now and the official retirement of XP immenent, Windows 8 will be quite a large task to sell the corporations on as far as an upgrade is considered.

The price point is going to be a reported $40 for the upgrade to Windows 8. That is now sounding like Microsft is really starting to listen to there customer base. Now give me a Microsoft Surface tablet to run the full-blown Windows 8 and SolidWorks and we will be talking game changer. Gauranteed.

 

 

Todd Werginz

CATI