LT 2009 with Subscription or eBay LT 2008 ?? Please help decide.

Hi there,

I've got a dilemma.

I 'need' to update my software (been away from AutoCAD for a long time), I'm using AutoCAD more and more but for now I can do with just a LT version.

I've been getting away with using trial versions now for about the last couple of months, I don't use AutoCAD 24 hours a day, but hope that I will be using it more and more (I can certainly see it going that way).

Anyway, I've been deliberating whether to buy AutoCAD LT 2009 and last week I decided to go for it - in the UK, we're talking £1100 (roughly $1800 I'd say) and then subscriptions of around £200 per year.

And that's with a legacy upgrade !!

But, being the freelancer I am, and frequently looking at eBay, I'm looking at potentially buying a copy of LT 2008 for around £650 - £750.

The Seller says it's never been registered and that I won't have any problems registering it, but I very nearly got burnt recently buying LT off eBay before, so I'm treading very very carefully.

What's putting me off going down the £1100 route is that I've been out of using AutoCAD for a fair while, and I'm not convinced that having Subscriptions is a good way of spending my money. I'm not sure I want a new release every year.

So if I go for the LT 2008 on eBay, I reckon that I'll keep it for the next 2-3 years and then upgrade to AutoCAD Architecture. That'd mean over 2-3 years that software cost me around £250 per year.

With LT 2009, plus subscriptions, that's going to cost me over 3 years, roughly £560, way over double.

I also don't intend upgrading my hardware every year either, so I'm again worried that with subscriptions I'll be getting software which'll make greater and greater demands on my hardware.

I know that for some, these amounts of money aren't great, but they are an obvious consideration for me.

Please can you guys comment on the best way forward in your opinion ??

Thanks,

Jez.

I've gone for it.

AutoCAD LT 2009 from my friendly AutoDesk dealer.

I took one look at AutoDesk's promo for LT 2009 on the web and thought I can't be faffing about with eBayers (selling LT 2009).

I'd had a tough time as it was trying to purchase software on eBay and I'm trialling LT 2009 now so I don't want to go to LT 2008 (I don't even know what the interface looks like ).

I've bought some Adobe software off eBay recently and nearly got my fingers burnt there and Adobe (unlike AutoDesk) don't have any problems transferring licences so I didn't fancy the sort of issues I could have had with Autodesk over eBay purchased software further down the road.

Answered my own question, but maybe others may learn something from my thoughts / experiences.

Thanks for reading.

Jez.

well, I for one am glad that you went for the autodesk reseller-option. Like you yourself said, there could be no end to the problems with buying off eBay..

there could e problem buying it with ebay.

But I see you want to upgrade to autocad architecture down the track, & Here I have come to know that you can not upgrade to revit from LT. So make sure with your reseller,if that is the case with 'ADT' as well, than you better not spend/waste money on the subscription

Hi Dipali,

You can upgrade from LT to Architecture, and the savings are quite nice.

The reality is though that AutoDesk do not want you to buy from eBay and I have had some scary moments buying software off there, so I weighed it all up and didn't fancy ebay AND AutoDesk hassle.

At least, this route, I'll get support.

Deal is that you *have* to have subscription (we wouldn't want those poor people at Autodesk to go starving now :wink:)

Regards,

Jez