Expert: J. B. Borge - 10/18/2005

Question
Hello J.B.
I'm helping a friend join the 21st century. My friend is an interior
designer and has worked in that field for more than 20 years.
She has done so, believe it or not, without a computer. In the 4
years I've known her she's been  talking about getting wired and
now is ready to move. The only thing she's sure of is that she
wants to buy an Apple computer.
My ignorance of CAD makes me an unlikely candidate for a
helper but we live in the boonies and I'm the best available. If
you would, I'd like to know where to go to get a general overview
of the subject [I tried the Wikipedia article on CAD and didn't feel
much better informed afterwards] and your advice about specific
products. Based on my preliminary research, I think my friend
should not use anything that requires Virtual PC, but I know next
to nothing. Her drawings that I've seen are not very complicated.
I hope you can help me, sorry if this totally outside your
bailiwick.
Thanks,
D.

Answer
Mr. Fox,

I strongly recommend to stay away from mac computers when it comes to CAD. I've been a mac/unix user myself for the past 5 years now & thru my experience, i think these computers do excel when it comes to stability, looks, & to the areas in multimedia. However, the problem lies in the support for the OSX platform & the proprietary hardware used in their computers.

There's only a handful of 'mainstream' software available for the mac (none i know of for CAD). Unlike Windows, Autodesk is dominating the CAD & gaming industry & will definitely be supporting the OSX core...but that'll be years down the line. At some point when your company expands, you'll need CAD technicians. You're more likely to get help faster & see productivity w/ this target group using windows based systems (AutoCAD) as to the ones w/ mac.

Mac computer systems uses proprietary hardware. This means that upgrading can only be done thru Apple. However, extra hard drives, burners, & other output periferals can be connected externally thru firewire/usb/bluetooth. This is your only means of upgrade. The caveat, slower data transfer rates & lots of exposed wires.

As far as what software to use, you'll probably want to delve into the 3D world, eventually. But cover the basics first...learn AutoCAD - the commands, its features, capabilities & just work your way up using Viz. The truth is, 3D is just the visual end - you can't build anything out from it (2D has always been the backbone). Hope this helps both of you out a bit...& keep it touch!

-best regards,
JB