We are thinking of installing SW 2013 SP4 (the SP5 is apparently in the pipeline).
We were on the SW2011 version.
We work in multi-body mode (sheet metal and profiles), with consistent assemblies. The sheet metal environment finally seems to be operational on the SW 2013 (attributes).
There have been many changes on the 2012 and 2013 versions. Features and uses.
The 2014 version in SP0 is available. Usually, I prefer to wait for SP2 or SP3 before installing a new version. There are some interesting improvements + it seems a better management of multi-core processors, for some features.
My companions at the BE can't stand the x changes on SW quite well.
Having attended a presentation of the new products, I can tell you that the 204 is very interesting. By the way, I just installed it myself. If you have to do an update very soon and your colleagues are reluctant to change you might as well go straight to the 2014, it might be a big step forward for them but you might as well take advantage of all the new features!
Then for your fear of lack of stability of the sp0 (my boss thinks the same thing...) tell yourself that before the release on the market there are about 3 or 4 beta tests that allow you to debug each version as much as possible (having participated in the beta test of the 2013, I can tell you that there is a lot of debugging in the beta versions)
Now it's up to you, but I think you will be able to make your colleagues go from the 2014 sp0 to the 2014 sp1 more easily than from the 2013 sp4 to the 2014 sp1
@DoubleL indeed there have been Beta versions and the SW2014 SP0 seems stable. There is not yet much hindsight on the behavior of the old conceptions already realized.
I therefore @JH advise to install a major version of SW (2013 or 2014) on a "TEST" workstation (with copy of the files to be converted), before migrating to all the workstations of the BE, this will allow you to check that all the SW2011 file database does not pose any major problems. Because once the files have been converted, there is no going back.
Optionally, wait until SW2014 SP1 to deploy the release.
Change is always scary, but if we waited for everyone's agreement before implementing a solution, we would all be working on Windows XP and SW200X...
SW2014 seems very interesting but not to the point of risking a perhaps stuttering installation which, then, will prove right the people who are reluctant to change.
You might as well install a very stable 2013 SP4 version, and get your hands on it with the changes since 2011, before taking the plunge on SW2014 SP1 or SP2.
Afterwards, as JMSavoyat says, it may be better to consider a test machine.
On my machine I install all the versions to be able to open files of different years
The 2014 is a nice step forward compared to the 2013 on the ease of access to the function. if you're not afraid to click in tabs or play with the keyboard shortcut the 2013 seems the best in SP4 version
The 2014 at the HMI level is little different from 2013, so it is not a problem to switch from one to the other
On the other hand, the 2011 (for having used it) has a very big difference.
So in summary, from 2011 to 2013, that's what will hurt the mouse the most.
2013 2014 it happens by itself, borderline if you realize it.
If there is no possibility to wait for 2013 SP4 which is very safe, and wait for SP1 to move on to 2014
I always do a test on a few files. Backup of all files before conversion.
We tested the SW 2013 x months ago. Even on the SP2.0 we had serious pbs.
For example:
- Attributes on the sides of the plates at 0
- For multi-body sheet metal with x different thicknesses, wrong thickness attribute (corrected on SP3 or SP4)
We'll discuss it as a team, so it's better to wait a few weeks for the SW2014 SP1 and test it on a machine. According to the decision, we are not going to install the 2013.
The team would not appreciate changing these habits again (inherent to 3D CAD)
I hope that the 2014 will bring a little boost on the performance of the product.
It is exhausting to always take x precautions not to be burdened on the assemblies and plans.et to forbid yourself from features reserved for SW commercial demonstrations.
Hope makes you live, it's exhausting on SW..... When will we see a new computing engine inherited from CATIA................like on SW conceptual ?
@tomalam when you buy a version of solidworks, anyway you buy a major version (well you have the major version and a year of maintenance to download the service packs), so you don't buy a particular service pack.