Vectorworks requires a 64-bit processor and operating system.
For large projects, complex and very detailed models and drawings, large BIM projects, commercial sites, GIS, high-end landscape design and photorealistic rendering.
- Operating system: macOS 14 (Sonoma) | macOS 13 (Ventura) | macOS 12 (Monterey)
- Processor:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Max 32GB or higher
- macOS Intel: 3.0GHz Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 with 8 cores or better
- RAM: 32GB or more
- Graphics card:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Max 32GB or higher
64GB or 12GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display. - macOS Intel: Metal GPUFamily2 or later with 8GB VRAM or more*
12GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display.
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Max 32GB or higher
- Display resolution: 1920x1080 or better
Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended.
For medium-sized projects, complex models and drawings with a medium level of detail.
- Operating system: macOS 14 (Sonoma) | macOS 13 (Ventura) | macOS 12 (Monterey)
- Processor:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Pro 16GB or higher
- macOS Intel: 2.0 GHz Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 with 6 cores or better
- RAM: 16GB or more
- Graphics card:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Pro 16GB or higher
32GB or 8GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display. - macOS Intel: Metal GPUFamily1 v4 or later with 4GB VRAM or more*
8GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display.
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 Pro 16GB or higher
- Display resolution: 1920x1080 or better
Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended.
For small projects, simple models and drawings with a low level of detail and simple renderings
- Operating system: macOS 14 (Sonoma) | macOS 13 (Ventura) | macOS 12 (Monterey)
- Processor:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 8GB or higher
- macOS Intel: Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5, or better
- RAM: 8GB or more**
- Graphics card:
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 8GB or higher
16GB or 4GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display. - macOS Intel: Metal GPUFamily1 or later with 2GB VRAM or more*
Intel Iris Plus/Pro/Xe is acceptable for simple models/drawing, but we strongly recommend a dedicated graphics card.
4GB VRAM is recommended when using multiple displays or a 4K or higher resolution display.
- macOS M-series: Apple M1 8GB or higher
- Display resolution: 1440x900 or better**
*
For Vectorworks Vision, your graphics card must support OpenGL 4.1 (or better) and have at least 8GB of VRAM, preferably released in the past 3 years (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX). No built-in graphics card with RAM.
**
Apple M1 and later Macs share memory for general processing and graphics applications. We recommend more memory for these systems than for traditional systems where RAM and VRAM are separate.
ATTENTION
Renderworks will not work on older Intel Macs that are missing AVX support, even if macOS 11 is installed on them by bypassing official Apple installers.
TIP
Vectorworks Inc. offers a list of tested hardware. Be sure to take a look at the overview.