AutoCAD for the Mac, is it right for me?

By now you may have heard a lot of new, blog posts and general excitement about AutoCAD for the Mac, and you would expect to as this is big news that AutoCAD is now being developed natively for the Mac platform. After years of AutoCAD being a Windows only product this is a significant change.

However, the next logical question to ask is “what does this mean to me?” Currently, only AutoCAD is available for the Mac. So if you are a Civil 3D user you can only wait and see if at some point in the future there will be a version of Civil 3D for the Mac. If you are an AutoCAD user and a Mac enthusiast, then this may be very exciting news and you should do some research. First you should understand that AutoCAD for the Mac and AutoCAD for Windows are two separate products and there are some differences. Jason Porter as written an informative blog post on this, AutoCAD 2011 for Mac! Don’t throw out your Windows system just yet!, and I would suggest that you check it out. Autodesk also has published a technical document that covers the details of the difference. These are some great places to start your research to find out if AutoCAD for the Mac is right for you.

Author

Rick Ellis, president of CADapult Software Solutions, Inc, has worked with and taught Autodesk Civil 3D, along with Map 3D and other Autodesk products since the mid-90s. He is the Author of several critically acclaimed books on Autodesk Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, Land Desktop and Carlson Software; including the Practical Guide series.

Rick continues to use Autodesk Civil 3D on projects in a production environment, in addition to teaching classes to organizations both large and small around the country, helping them get the most out of their design software investment.

This practical background and approach has made him an award winning speaker at Autodesk University and a sought after instructor by organizations around the world.

AutoCAD for the Mac, is it right for me?