3ds Max 2008 on a Mac Book Pro
I’ve been dreading this post for a while. And not because I have bad news to report. Quite the contrary. 3ds Max 2008 works just fine on my MBP. Installation was no problem. My fear is that I would have little to say on the matter. Which at the moment, is true.
I have not used it in production yet (though, i probably never will unless its an emergency) but I have been working on some of my image-based lighting material for my upcoming talk at Autodesk University (see this link) and everything has been cranking along just fine. No problems to report.
My only remaining issue in general (unrelated to 3ds Max) is that I can’t mirror the LCD panel in the DVI out port. It only extends the desktop. As a presenter and instructor, this is bad news because I need to be able to see whats on my LCD at the same time I’m projecting it.
Other than that, 3ds Max is the smokin’ hotness on a MBP.
Editor’s note: Here are the links to the 1st three parts of the MBP + 3dsMax experience. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
3dguru.wordpress.com 
I’m thinking of getting a iMac and I’ll be using 3dsMax 2008. I gess my question is what are you using to run Windows, VMware, Parallels or Bootcamp?
Bootcamp. Don’t use anything else. The 3D display drivers require a native install to work efficiently.
Although Max will work in something parallels, the 3D acceleration is totally lost in translation.
-Guru
As for your issue in getting a mirrored view on your MBP and DVI out…
Plug in your monitor, open System Preferences, go to Displays, and select the new tab which has appeared. In it you will see 2 ‘desktops’, one for your MBP (often larger), and your DVI-out. To mirror them, simply drag the DVI-out monitor on top of the MBP monitor, and all will be well.
hm i ran into this in Novenber 2009. on my computer it is now:
Plug in your monitor, open System Preferences, go to Displays, and select the tab called Arrangement. there are the two desktops and below is a check mark called Mirror Displays.