Does AutoCad work on a Mac?

[Andrew Spiering]

I need to buy a new computer for home and I am considering the Mac. I have not only been pursuaded by their humorous and catchy advertising, but their reputation, as well. The word is is that they are considerably less fussy than the PC and they breakdown far less. I really don’t need to be talked into the fact that they perform better than the PC. I do however, wonder how well AutoCad functions on a Mac. Does anyone have experience using AutoCad on a Mac? Or, anyother Cad software for that matter?

Thanks in advance!

[Stephen Buckle]

Once you have Mac, you never go back.

Seriously, I’ve used PC’s all my life. When i started at a new practice that was all Mac based 5 years ago, i kicked up a massive fuss, saying that they were not suitable or compatible etc etc….. (i just was afraid of the unknown)

After 2 weeks, i was so impressed i went out and got myself one for home. The plus point for nervous buyers now is that you can run windows on it, and all your windows based software. So it’s a no-brainer!!!!

I’m now in a different firm, and they are on PC’s……… it is daily torture!!!!!!

Why continue to use antiquated hardware, full of glitches, crashes and virus’s.

I’ve had my MacBook Pro (the 17 inch) for nearly 2 years it has locked up on me once and once only. That was preforming a large 3D rendering cycle. Never had a virus, never had to re-install things, It runs everything you can do o your pc…. just better.

They Just Work!!!!! nothing else to say.

ps. Vista is a blatant attempt to try and copy Mac’s OSX and it’s interfaces……… but it miserably failed to get anywhere near the mark!

[Stephen Buckle]

To follow on, Vector works is a far superior and suitable programme for the use in the landscape industry, it is jut as accurate, quicker to draw and gives you the ability to produce touchy feely plans and effortlessly. No sterile hatches!

It is compatible with importing AutoCAD files, although there can be a few difficulties with scales ect if you don’t know what your doing.

Sorry for my rants, i can’t believe it’s taken people this long to start to consider Mac.

[Andrew Spiering]

Sounds like I hit on a hot spot! Ha ha…

[Eric Gilbey]

Andrew, I’m glad to hear others speak about the success of Vectorworks (Landmark), as I can now say the same…a year ago, I had not heard of the program, but now I’m glad I have…and have more to say about it than the American industry standard…in other nations, around the world, it is actually the other way around, as Vectorworks is the predominant cad software in architecture and landscape architecture/design.

It is true that Vectorworks is native to the Mac and also true that you can run it both on PC and Mac…I too have used boot camp on a Mac Book Pro and used Vectorworks on both sides.

You will find that Vectorworks surpasses the typical 3 program workflow of general cad>photo illustrations>3D modeling, and brings it all and more into one program. As was mentioned, it imports and exports to dwg/dxf files, pdfs, image files (including world referenced image files) and also allows you to import shapefiles and survey text files relative to the 3D coordinate geometry (COGO).

If the BIM future is a concern, it should not be…it has already been functioning well with architect’s needs for BIM, and allows users to go beyond other programs’ BIM functionality by handling 3D site information.

Good luck in your pursuit, but I think you have an easy choice, especially on a Mac.

[Andrew Spiering]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your input. It has been quite helpful. Now that I am convinced all I need to do it come up with the cash!

[Phillip Smith]

There is now a Beta version of Rhino that runs on Mac OS. No need for parallels etc. You can’t do everything that you can on CAD but it’s a great 3d program and so intuitive. It can be used to import CAD files and transfer to Illustrator. Not CAD but pretty useful if you don’t really work in CAD that much. And it’s free at the moment for those who sign up in return for some feedback on the Beta.

I have an old Powerbook G4 that I love dearly. Never been a computer geek. I like computers only for their usefulness so my Mac has won me for it’s reliability and simplicity. The iPod is another story. I only got one because it was a Christmas store model that I got half price. I would never buy another one, mainly because of iTunes and its annoying automatic functions. No matter how I tweak the settings it still opens itself randomly slowing down my computer unnecessarily. I can’t stand slow grinding computers.

[Ryland Fox]

I am always a little bit wary of a company that sells itself so much on image. Anyways, with a PC there is so much more to try and mess with. Finally partitioning my computer to run Ubuntu , so sweet.

[Erika Scholz Gendreau]

yes, you can! the only way that i’m familiar with doing it is through parallels. we have a few Macs in my office that are running this way and there aren’t any problems. I’ve always had a Mac and used them in school, and would never get anything else! i just bought a new MacBook Pro with parallels and windows installed (check out http://www.macmall.com for great discounts!) and am loving it!

hope that helps…

[bak]

@Induct: have you found any good CAD software to run under Ubuntu or using wine?

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