Upgrading and Compatibility Questions

[Anonymous]

Hi, I orginally posted this in the AutoCAD 2011 board but relize that this might be a better place for it. I have some somewhat general questions and I am hoping that some of you experienced users can provide me with some general answers or suggestions.  I will provide some basic info about the kind of work environment I work in.

My company has a total of two employees, me and my boss, and we are looking to upgrade from AutoCAD 2009 to AutoCAD 2011.  We do only 2D drawings with anywhere from 6-30 drawings in one set.  We use sheetset manager and custom fields extensively as do the other companies that we work with. 

We would go with the LT version but the absence of a sheetset manager and the inability to plot multiple files at once is quite the deterrent.  We have a fairly extensive sheetset template set up and are comfortable with how it operates but does anyone have any suggestions to move away from sheetsets so that we could save a bunch of money and not get the full version of AutoCAD?

Does the stand alone version actually come with two seats or is it intended to be installed on your work computer and then on your home computer?

My boss has heard that there is, or will be, a version of AutoCAD for Mac coming out soon.  He has shown some interest. I don’t know much about MAC’s or how they operate on a network which also contains PC’s.  I read that it is the same exact DWG file format used on PC’s so they would be compatible.  Is it a crazy to try run MAC’s and PC’s, opening and saving the same files, on the same network? Not just DWG’s either. Image files, PDF’s, excel files, word files, ect. 

I apologize if these questions seem too broad.  I’m basically trying to figure out the best scenario for our situation.  Thank you so much for your time

-John

[Anonymous]

Hi, I orginally posted this in the AutoCAD 2011 board but relize that this might be a better place for it. I have some somewhat general questions and I am hoping that some of you experienced users can provide me with some general answers or suggestions.  I will provide some basic info about the kind of work environment I work in.

My company has a total of two employees, me and my boss, and we are looking to upgrade from AutoCAD 2009 to AutoCAD 2011.  We do only 2D drawings with anywhere from 6-30 drawings in one set.  We use sheetset manager and custom fields extensively as do the other companies that we work with. 

We would go with the LT version but the absence of a sheetset manager and the inability to plot multiple files at once is quite the deterrent.  We have a fairly extensive sheetset template set up and are comfortable with how it operates but does anyone have any suggestions to move away from sheetsets so that we could save a bunch of money and not get the full version of AutoCAD?

Does the stand alone version actually come with two seats or is it intended to be installed on your work computer and then on your home computer?

My boss has heard that there is, or will be, a version of AutoCAD for Mac coming out soon.  He has shown some interest. I don’t know much about MAC’s or how they operate on a network which also contains PC’s.  I read that it is the same exact DWG file format used on PC’s so they would be compatible.  Is it a crazy to try run MAC’s and PC’s, opening and saving the same files, on the same network? Not just DWG’s either. Image files, PDF’s, excel files, word files, ect. 

I apologize if these questions seem too broad.  I’m basically trying to figure out the best scenario for our situation.  Thank you so much for your time

-John

[Anonymous]

Probablly heresy on this board, but look into Intellicad and ZWcad for excellent low cost alternatives to Autodesk.

Reid

[Charles_Shade]

LT is fully capable to create 2D drawings. (Of course I have always been on the farm and do not know the wiles of big brother.) I suspect that loosing Sheetsets is a deal breaker. I can't imagine not having Dynamic Blocks now.

Realize also with an LT seat that you will loose LISP and all add-ons that use LISP as a base.

Of note: Fypon software does not work inside of LT.

If you are using the program within the office at the same time you will need to purchase two seats. The PLU (It has a new name with 2011) is designed to move the single seat from one system to another so that you could use it at home or the office.

[Anonymous]

if you are a 2 man band producing 2d drawing sets of between 6 and 30 drawings i would just stick with what you have unless you feel you are lacking something?

unless you need to ability to reference PDF files, DGN files generate transparent fills, parametric constraints.....i don't think you are going to get a huge benefit from upgrading.