[gotwake26]

I am planning on going to college and I am looking in to the field of Engineering and Drafting and I am wondering why i should buy a mac over a pc and what programs are there for the mac that are like AutoCAD

[wataru]

Why? Because of
�ease of use (the Mac has true plug & play peripheral support, and the GUI is consistent and well-designed),
�standards compliance (OS X is a *NIX variant, and as such can run all sorts of UNIX and Linux software. Apple supports standards like AAC whereas Microsoft wants to lock you in with Windows Media and Office formats),
�well-designed software (Apple's bundled software is very highly regarded; in general Mac software is of excellent quality)
�better security (OS X is more secure than Windows by design, and Apple is generally quick about fixing problems. You won't need to worry about viruses every week)

I'm sure other people can give more reasons.

And I'm sorry to say that I don't know anything about CAD software.

[bma_mat99]

and in addition to what was said, if you realy need some windows programs, you can just as easily get virtula pc to run those windows programs you need. all i recoment is to get a good mac, g4, or g5 (recommeded, i just bought myself one'). they never fail me

[itai195]

This thread is a little dated, but has a lot of info about Macs and CAD as I recall. The gist I've always heard (I'm a programmer, so I don't use CAD) is that Macs are pretty poor in this market, and VPC most likely is insufficient for high performane CAD apps. Maybe you can run some Linux/Unix CAD apps on OS X, or dual boot into PPC Linux.

[ryju]

Why do you need others to convince you of what computer to use for the work YOU will be doing?

I personally dislike AutoCAD, but I'd get a PC for it.

[leavestone]

Originally posted by gotwake26:
I am planning on going to college and I am looking in to the field of Engineering and Drafting and I am wondering why i should buy a mac over a pc and what programs are there for the mac that are like AutoCAD

try vector works if you are looking for a cad program

[Chris O'Brien]

I'm an engineer and the only program I've really needed is MATLAB - which works fine in OS X. Well, up until the second year I had a passing acquaintance with SolidWorks, which isn't (as far as I know) available for OS X...

I can't help too much with the draughting side - I only did that in 1st and 2nd (when it was general engineering) before I specialised in electronic engineering... But I've never needed a PC for anything I'd do at home - the UNIX and Linux guys quite often have an engineering background, so there's a plethora of apps available to use with OS X.

[ism]

Engineering ain't all there yet on a mac, but I reckon it is enough to get by.

Office software: There's microsoft office / open office and also omnigraffle for diagramming
2D CAD: No autocad but there is vector works / Cadintosh / qcad
3D CAD: Ashlar Vellum only, which looks ok with student deals available.
Maths: No Mathcad, but there is Matlab / Mathematica / Octave

It just depends how much you need to have the same software as college, i.e. if they have requirements for assignments and whether you will have group work where you need to all use the same software.

When I was at Uni I did not need a computer at home because a lot of our work was group work, we needed to be in uni altogether. Plus the software/hardware at uni was better then we would have been able to afford ourselves. Times may have changed though

You could always try running PC stuff through virtual PC. Personally I'd get an ibook for day to day use (i.e. office stuff, cus it'll just make you happier which helps with the stress of college) and a cheap arse PC for home if you need to run Autocad, etc.

[melman101]

Also, if you have a spare pc w/ WinXP somewhere, then you can use Remote Desktop Connection to connect into it, and it's way faster than Virtual PC

[leavestone]

Originally posted by melman101:
Also, if you have a spare pc w/ WinXP somewhere, then you can use Remote Desktop Connection to connect into it, and it's way faster than Virtual PC

Do you have a discription / helpnote how to do that?

[theolein]

Originally posted by gotwake26:
I am planning on going to college and I am looking in to the field of Engineering and Drafting and I am wondering why i should buy a mac over a pc and what programs are there for the mac that are like AutoCAD

For CAD on the Mac I would go for one of Ashlar Vellum's various 3D CAD software versions. The interface and UI is *a lot* easier than AutoCAD (I had to support AutoCAD in my last job and it is a really painfully bad and old programme in the way in which its Drawing is implemented - The ancient DOS way of working is still part and parcel of that). AV's software all have very good DXF and DWG support and they have student pricing as well. The DXF and DWG compatibility will ensure that you can open AutoCAD files and that they can open yours.

I personally would use Mathematica over MathCAD. I also had to support MathCAD in my last job and while it is a pretty nifty piece of software, it has a poor UI and uses that bastard Macrovision software lock (It needs product activation).

[theolein]

Originally posted by leavestone:
Do you have a discription / helpnote how to do that?

You need the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client for OSX available on Microsoft's Mac site. You then need to activate Remote Desktop on your WinXP box (In one of the tabs in the Systemcontrol panel. Be warned that this only works if XP is not using Server profiles, i.e. not part of an AD domain, but instead a workgroup) You then start the Mac MSRDC, enter the IP or Computer Name, log yourself in with the same User name and password that you use for the XP box, and Bob's your aunty.

[Neo.cmg]

I'm an aerospace engineer at skunk works, and I can tell you, having recently finished graduate school myself, that you need not concern yourself with a computer at this time. The fact that you lump drafting and engineering together tells me you haven't had a good enough taste of what engineering is at this point.

Buy yourself a cheap PC to go to school, and see if you last in engineering longer than two years. If you make it that far, then the odds are you will make it through to the end, at which point you can choose which computer will suit your needs the best. I can tell you now that a UNIX based OS, which ever flavor you prefer, is going to be a better tool in the long run.

Neo.cmg

[mitchell_pgh]

I guess it's all preference.

Also, it depends upon what you end up doing.

A know a bunch of people that started out as engineers, but never made it... or decided that they wanted to something more personal...

Needless to say, anyone that says you will be doing advanced AutoCAD work is kidding themselves. Maybe in your 2nd or 3rd year you will be doing a little...

[milhous]

Regardless, AutoDesk needs to get their act together and bring AutoCAD to X!