Need help configuring specs for new Mac and my software needs [closed]

Question

I have to buy a new Mac and I have two programs I'm hoping to optimize with the new set up. I know I can ask them in the Apple store but I know there's a lot of smart peeps on here so would love any feedback and advice. The two programs I will be using are:

Main Program:

ArchiCAD v. 23 and 24

Hardware for Archicad 23 Recommended hardware Processor: 64-bit processor with four or more cores RAM: 16 GB or more is recommended; for complex, detailed models 32 GB or more may be required Hard disk: installing Archicad on a SSD drive is recommended; 5 GB free disk space is required for the installation, 10 GB or more is required per active project Display: A resolution of 1920 x 1080 or higher is recommended Graphics card: Dedicated OpenGL 4.0 compatible graphics card is recommended to fully exploit hardware acceleration capabilities. 2 GB+ VRAM is recommended, opt for 4 GB+ with 4K displays. You can find a list of recommended graphics cards at: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/knowledgebase/87338/

Optional Secondary Program is and Add-On to ArchiCAD (would like to use this if it doesn't make the new purchase super expensive):

Twinmotion

Twinmotion System Requirements for Mac Os

Minimum Recommended requirements Use case: Small to average project, ( <1GB geometry data ), Suitable for real time 3D presentation, video generation in HD mode, all images formats up to 4K Not suitable for for VR / 4K video rendering / 360 panoramic video Operating System: Mac OS X 10.14.6 or later Graphic Card: 6 GB dedicated memory or card with benchmark score over 10 000 here Graphic card memory: 6 GB CPU (processor): CPU with benchmark score of 2000 higher here System Memory (RAM): 32 GB or more Hard Drive space: 30 GB of free disk space

Answer 1

If you are lucky you might get a response from Archicad and/or Twinmotion users, though I suspect not many here. You might do better to ask on the discussion forums of contact the vendor. Failing that a few web searches suggest the following.

Twinmotion says minimum RAM requirement is 32 GB. Of the existing Macs, that means an Intel based Mac. So either:

Desktop: 27" iMac 2020 with at least 32GB RAM and, I would suggest, fastest CPU (core i9) and at least one of the 8GB graphics options.

Portable: 16" MacBookPro 2019 with at least 32GB RAM and, I would suggest, fastest CPU (core i9) and one of the 8GB graphics option.

The iMac would be faster, but you don't say if portability is a requirement. Nor how large a screen size you require - or do you have a suitable monitor already?

If you were to pass on Twinmotion, then you could get one of the current M1 (ARM) Macs, though the Intel ones above would be excellent too. See Archicad performance on M1. Again you have choice of portable (13" screen) or desktop (24" screen). I would maximise the RAM (16GB) for your usage.

I hope you get a more authoritative response, but this may help for now.