Any CAD users here running AutoCAD on a Mac?

[ReMark]

I am contemplating replacing my home computer. I have always used Windows. From what I understand, the new Macs come with an OS that includes an application called BootCamp. This application allows the user to also load and run a copy of Windows. Is anyone here doing such a thing? If so, your comments are hereby solicited (the good, the bad and the ugly) and gratefully acknowledged upfront. Thanks!

[NBC]

If you really wish to pay the extra just to have an apple logo on your machine then go for it.
The difference in performance between an apple and a 'normal' pc is negligible at best.

[f700es]

If you really wish to pay the extra just to have an apple logo on your machine then go for it.
The difference in performance between an apple and a 'normal' pc is negligible at best.

There is no difference. They use the same hardware now. Macs finally caught up with the x86 in performance when they switched over to Intel architecture.

[NBC]

There is a vast difference in price relative to performance, only one has an apple logo on it and this increases the price by a minimum of 10% for some strange reason.

[f700es]

I am contemplating replacing my home computer. I have always used Windows. From what I understand, the new Macs come with an OS that includes an application called BootCamp. This application allows the user to also load and run a copy of Windows. Is anyone here doing such a thing? If so, your comments are hereby solicited (the good, the bad and the ugly) and gratefully acknowledged upfront. Thanks!

OK, let's have the facts. Yes, OSX Leopard includes BootCamp. What this does is allows the Intel based Macs to Dual Boot either into OSX or XP/Vista. This is a good solution for Mac users who occasionally need to run a PC program from time to time. It is a better solution for more graphically intense situations due to the fact that virtual solutions like Parallels can only run in software mode and not in true hardware mode for certain 3D applications. Now what makes the Mac a better solution for you? I will admit they have a nice polish to them and OSX is not bad to use. I have an older machine with OSX Tiger on it and it is OK. I have not tried all of the iLife suite yet and iWork does like very nice as well. I do miss a few things when I am in OSX that I am used to in XP. As for the dual booting I do believe that each one can see the other partition but I am not 100% as to what they can see and not see.

[f700es]

There is a vast difference in price relative to performance, only one has an apple logo on it and this increases the price by a minimum of 10% for some strange reason.

Oh there is an OSX Tax™ , no doubt there! Their high end towers are fairly priced but nothing else is. You also do not have the option of getting a mid range consumer tower without a built-in monitor.

20" iMac: $1,248

1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1x1GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory
20-inch glossy widescreen LCDDell Inspiron 530: $939

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4500 (2MB L2 Cache,2.20GHz,800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
20 inch SP2008WFP Wide Flat Panel with Webcam and Mic
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
128MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO
Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card$300+ for the right to use OSX and iLife. I also hope that you do not want to go to a bigger monitor in a year or so or maybe upgrade the video card for the newest 3D program or game. A little more than a 10% increase there ;) I still wonder why Apple cannot (or will not) simply make a consumer tower for under $1000?

[NBC]

Is it just me that cannot bare to have anything to do with any product that begins with i- ?
for example - i-tunes, i-pod, i-phone, i-mac.
i have not, and i will not ever use any of these vastly over-priced SOC products.

there are better products available to my mind.

p.s. sorry for the vent above.
i shall refrain from commenting on this thread unless i really need to do so, from here on in; as i already have gone off-topic :(

[StykFacE]

A friend of mine uses that feature and has WinXP Pro installed. He switches back all the time, with no noticable drop in performance. It's pretty sweet actually, you can run Windows in "windowed" mode, or use it full screen as if it were a PC. works flawlessly. :)

[StykFacE]

Is it just me that cannot bare to have anything to do with any product that begins with i- ?
for example - i-tunes, i-pod, i-phone, i-mac.
i have not, and i will not ever use any of these vastly over-priced SOC products.

there are better products available to my mind.

p.s. sorry for the vent above.
i shall refrain from commenting on this thread unless i really need to do so, from here on in; as i already have gone off-topic :(
I agree. Here in my office and to my friends, i've replace the "i-" with the word "gay-". The guy in the office next to mine has an iPhone. I call it the gayPhone. if a friend busted out with his iPod, I say "why are you listening to your gayPod?" haha, it's just such a trend to me. I have a samsung cell phone - love it. I have a creative labs MP3 player - love it. and all WAAAAY cheaper than anything with an "i-" in front of it. :)

[f700es]

Is it just me that cannot bare to have anything to do with any product that begins with i- ?
for example - i-tunes, i-pod, i-phone, i-mac.
i have not, and i will not ever use any of these vastly over-priced SOC products.

there are better products available to my mind.

p.s. sorry for the vent above.
i shall refrain from commenting on this thread unless i really need to do so, from here on in; as i already have gone off-topic :(

The hypocrisy of Apple is simple astounding. Just imagined if MS made, the computer, the OS, the music player, the music player software, the phone and sold them all in their own retail stores? The law suites would create a new wind pattern from how fast they would move. Apple is a MONOPOLY pure and simple. You bought an iPod, well you have to use iTunes and buy songs from Apple. Sure there are hacks but the average joe will not look into that.
I was really surprised that when Alias was going to be sold that Apple did not buy them to have Maya under their flag with RenderMan. I guess AutoDesk's price was too good to pass up.

[StykFacE]

Actually, Apple is not a monopoly. The reason they're not is because they haven't "cornered" the market solely to only their products exclusively. In other words, you do have an alternative choice for computers, media players, OS, etc. Once you have a monopoly, this lets you price gouge your product because it's the only product available, or you have such a higher advantage compared to other competitors.

HOWEVER, I will agree that once you buy an Apple product, then it's their way or no way all the way around (iTunes w/ iPod only, etc).

[f700es]

Sure they are, by the very definition they are. If you want to buy OSX which you can buy off the self, you have to use it in an Apple machine. It says so in the EULA. Does Windows dictate which type of machine you install it on? No, you can put it on a Dell, a Gateway, Compaq and even on a home built machine. Can I build a machine to run OSX, sure can. Can I do it legally according to Apples EULA, no. Does Dell sell only Windows machines, nope. You can get Windows, Linux or even one without an OS if you want to.

So MS gets sued because they bundled IE with Win95 but Apple is OK without their outfit?

They control the market supply of iPods, they also control the content on the iTunes software.
They have exclusive control of the OSX (software) market. Saying what it can and cannot be used on which just happens to be their hardware.

SUN escaped this buy allowing their OS, Solaris, to be legally installed on other machines. And IIRC SGI's Irix used to run on x86 but I believe that they are all but dead and nobody cares about them at this point.

Anyway, my opinions on the subject.

[ReMark]

Seems I stirred up a hornet's nest.

It appears at this point anyhow that no one is doing this at the moment (i.e. - running Windows on an Apple). Oh well...just curious.

[StykFacE]

Sure they are, by the very definition they are. If you want to buy OSX which you can buy off the self, you have to use it in an Apple machine. It says so in the EULA. Does Windows dictate which type of machine you install it on? No, you can put it on a Dell, a Gateway, Compaq and even on a home built machine. Can I build a machine to run OSX, sure can. Can I do it legally according to Apples EULA, no. Does Dell sell only Windows machines, nope. You can get Windows, Linux or even one without an OS if you want to.

So MS gets sued because they bundled IE with Win95 but Apple is OK without their outfit?

They control the market supply of iPods, they also control the content on the iTunes software.
They have exclusive control of the OSX (software) market. Saying what it can and cannot be used on which just happens to be their hardware.

SUN escaped this buy allowing their OS, Solaris, to be legally installed on other machines. And IIRC SGI's Irix used to run on x86 but I believe that they are all but dead and nobody cares about them at this point.

Anyway, my opinions on the subject.
I see your point now. Yes I'll change my point and say that Apple is a monopoly because I didn't know that you can only install a Mac OS on Mac hardware only, legally.

I guess my point is that I don't own anything by Apple, and I still do everything I would on an Apple product, if not more. To me, a true monopoly is when they are the only product out with no alternatives, or very little ones at best.

[f700es]

Seems I stirred up a hornet's nest.

It appears at this point anyhow that no one is doing this at the moment (i.e. - running Windows on an Apple). Oh well...just curious.

Yeah, :oops:, it a touchy area. It will work just fine. If you want to buy an iMac and use BootCamp you will be just fine. Given my hatred of Steve Jobs it is nice to have an alternative. I would get a head-less iMac but it will never happen. Well, if the price was in line with other desktops.

[f700es]

I see your point now. Yes I'll change my point and say that Apple is a monopoly because I didn't know that you can only install a Mac OS on Mac hardware only, legally.

I guess my point is that I don't own anything by Apple, and I still do everything I would on an Apple product, if not more. To me, a true monopoly is when they are the only product out with no alternatives, or very little ones at best.

Yeah, it is a gray area.

[CADGT]

So did you end up buying a mac? If so what are your impressions? A few friends have made the switch and are having no troubles at all running AutoCAD.

[ReMark]

No, I have not made the switch as of this moment. Given the price differential I may rethink my position. I do place a lot of importance in being able to tweak a setup to suit my own needs.

[Ritch7]

macs are fine for running cad it all depends on the RAM/hardrive Gb and the graphics card everytime dosent really matter about the operating system/make/model etc as long as the manufacturer is a realible one

[Alan Cullen]

Maybe at this point I should point you here.....

http://www.cadtutor.net/faq/questions/16/What+computer+specification+do+I+need+to+run+AutoC AD%3F

This was after extensive research on the subject by three of us. As normal, always after feedback on this. :P

[f700es]

So did you end up buying a mac? If so what are your impressions? A few friends have made the switch and are having no troubles at all running AutoCAD.

Which way are they running AutoCAD, Parallels or BootCamp? Neither seem like a good way to work IMHO. Parallels cannot give true graphic card performance yet and BootCamp requires a re-boot which works but tedious at times.