I am simply curious who else is using AutoCAD and uses a Mac either at work or home.
If you are a longtime reader of this blog you may have seen the debates in posts and hundreds of comments, surveys, and requests/demands from many users for native Mac solutions when I mentioned we supported Apple Boot Camp and virtualized solutions like Parallels and VMWare Fusion.
You may have noticed my transformation from a PC only user to a mixed platform user using Microsoft Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux and Apple Mac OSX.
I absolutely love my Mac hardware and now have 2 MacBook Pros. I consider myself as a multiple platform gypsy. Yes, I really do believe when I walk into a room with my MacBook Pro aluminum unibody laptop everyone looks at me like I am much more cool, than I really am. After a few years I realized there is no single perfect platform, yet having a Mac and PC allow me to use the best of both.
Question: Have you made the jump to the sexy, shiny, sleek Apple hardware? Why did you switch? Are you running AutoCAD for Windows on your Mac in a virtualized or Boot Camp solution?
Some of the past posts on Mac going back a few years.
- Run AutoCAD on a Mac
- I Need Your Input on AutoCAD for the Apple Mac OS X
- AutoCAD for the Mac
- AutoCAD 2010 on my MacBook Pro
- SnagIt for the Apple Mac! Come and Get It!
- AutoCAD on the Mac Survey
- AutoCAD and Other Autodesk Software Supported on Parallels
- AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, and 3ds Max Supported on Apple Boot Camp
- Run AutoCAD 2007 or AutoCAD 2008 on an Intel Based Mac
Autodesk is adding new native Mac solutions each year and details are always available at http://www.autodesk.com/mac. Autodesk really is platform agnostic from Windows, Linux, Mac, iPhone, and cloud computing. We go where it makes sense from a technology and market standpoint and fulfills our customers needs and requests.
Happy Friday to those on the other side of the International dateline such as Aussies and Kiwis, happy Thursday for us on this side.
Cheers,
Shaan
Nice profile pic, dude. Welcome to the dark side.
I write AutoCAD plugins (currently around RealDWG) for my company, and also Cocoa apps since we have made a major push for Mac. So, for the last 2 years now, I’ve been running on an 8-core Mac Pro with Parallels for Windows applications (AutoCAD & VisualStudio). I love it and it works great.
Our users fight the duality of 2 machines in one sometimes, but they usually prefer it also.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87151163@N00/4691105485/
Shaan
Your comments please…
Do you run AutoCAD 100% virtualized? That is to say have you installed Windows/AutoCAD under Bootcamp and then access the bootcamp partition from Parallels?
I ask 1) this would give best of both worlds, but! 2) years ago there had been some re-activation problems with some software when going back and forth between the two environments
JimL
Timely post! I’ll be upgrading my ANCIENT G4 Titanium home machine soon, and will want to run C3D in VMWare Fusion on my new MacBook Pro (I’ve got a Windows environment here at work). I’d love to hear what people would recommend in terms of video cards and RAM quantities.
I agree that using a MAC gives the best of both…
Started carrying a Macbook regularly about 4-5 years ago and used Fusion and/or Parallels to do AutoCAD/.NET programming, virtual machine software has evolved greatly in the past few years to being very stable and fast. Never really liked bootcamp, just feels wrong not booting into OSX and giving up what it has to offer…
Currently have a Macbook Pro, new MacMini and work system is an i7 iMac 27″ with 8 gb ram which allows running vm software comfortably. Guess I would be considered a bit of an Apple fan, also have iPhone, iPad and several iPods of different vintages…
Blogged about using AutoCAD on a Macbook Air a couple years ago that I had at that time, need to update and get busy blogging again… http://cl.ly/1opu
OK, so we all know AutoCAD is coming to Mac. Natively.
Is there a chance for other platforms as well? Once it runs on Mac using Open GL it should be relatively easy to get it to run on Linux with a Qt interface to which Autodesk is no stranger as well.
Or maybe from another angle – how about bringing some other apps to Mac? Inventor, Revit?
I know you can’t comment on unannounced products but once you start blogging about using virtualized AutoCAD in Ubuntu (which I have done a lot along with Revit), we’ll all know what’s cooking
Long time overdue and this will make a big difference to many design offices with expensive shiny kit
Just curious, does AutoCAD run on the iPad?
I use AutoCAD P&ID on a daily basis, so I’m thinking, how cool would it be to do a walk-down at a plant site with just an iPad or tablet PC in-hand… You could do your redlines and markups right there onsite.
AutoCAD does not run on the iPad. We are looking at other mark up and viewing tools for platforms like the iPad.
Cheers,
Shaan
Installed AutoCAD 2008 some time back on a Mac-Parallels system. I swear it actually ran faster than on a native Windows machine. I was very impressed and I’ve been envious ever since.
My only holdup from making the jump is programming concerns. Some posts here mention programming AutoCAD applications using Visual Studio. For me this is mission-critical.
Should I be concerned? Are there “gotchas”?
Or should I dive in?
Sometimes performance is relative as you may have less things installed on your bootcamp or Parallels giving you a heightened perception of more speed. The Mac or PC is a choice and both have their positives and negatives. If you are running Parallels or Bootcamp you should be fine with current AutoCAD 2010/2011 as this is a supported and tested environment and you could run VS in there after all you would be running it in Windows. One thing is for sure, that Apple hardware is sweet.
Cheers,
Shaan
You certainly can run AutoCAD on your iPad. well, it’ll look like you are anyway. I run with an iMac 27″ i7 with 8GRAM. It is running Windows 7 though Parallels. However, you can have your AutoCad on a plain old PC too – it is irrevelant to wanting to use an iPAD with AutoCAD. Except for the fact faster is ALWAYS better.
I use logmein to remote into my iMac with my iPad. The logmein app for the iPad is 30 bucks. Sceen is kinda small but it is really cool when you’re doing field work and can edit drawings without carrying a laptop. Give it a try!!!
You can use you iPad with AutoCAD right now!!!
I use logmein to remote my iPad to my iMac – you can do the same if you happen to be running with a plain old PC too. The screen is kinda small but you can still pinch zoom and auto orient the screen. Also, if you’re running multiple monitors on your remote computer, you simply shake the iPad to switch to the other monitor. The logmein application for iPad is about 30 bucks – but worth it!!
Windows at work, since autocad is the primary app in use there. Mac at home, with Autocad in Parallels. For me its not really about the hardware. I switched to os x when it first came out; I love having access to the *NIX underpinnings & I feel more productive using os x – it just makes more sense for me.
I’m still on a first-gen Macbook Pro, so visualization isn’t always the speediest of solutions, but that’s a trade-off I am happy to make. This is key – using bootcamp separates me from my data and platform/interface of choice. Its silly, but I even do all my autocad-related coding in textmate.
Company has been an all Mac operation for 20+ years. Just switched from vectorworks to AutoCAD P&ID and currently running in Parallels. We’re not big fans of using Parallels because of the high memory requirements. Exploring running AutoCAD on one of our PCs and using RDP to access windows machine. Will have to try using our new iPad for P&ID updates. Already using iPad with our process control system, but connection a little too slow to drive the plant from the iPad.
i using Ubuntu 10.04 and installed Virtualbox for runing Windows XP/AutoCAD 2011.
in the virtual system , AutoCAD 2011 works very well in 2D basic drafting tasks.
wish one day Autodesk release some native program for Linux platform.
I am a high school CAD instructor, and my school is looking to go all Mac. I have already been given a Macbook Pro, and have yet to install AutoCAD, Revit, and Inventor to see how it operates using Parallels… should be interesting.