Housing and Community Development

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Can anyone comment on how Vectorworks performs on a MacBook Pro, OS X 10.6.8, Intel Core 2 Duo, with 4 GB memory for general drafting, construction drawings, 3D for small residential projects? Is it faster than AutoCAD LT using Parallels for drafting and CD's?

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Daniel Alter AIA
Daniel Alter Architect PLLC
Brooklyn NY
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I use it on an imac on 10.5.8, 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB and it runs beautifully. Don't know about AutoCAD lite.

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Kate Svoboda-Spanbock AIA
Principal
HERE Design and Architecture
Los Angeles CA
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 I run Vectorworks on a 2 1/2 year old MacBook Pro with a 2.4 GHz Intel COre 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM and OS 10.6.8. My practice is mostly residential and light commercial.

I've been using Vectorworks on Macs since the mid 1990's (when it was called MiniCAD). I've also used AutoCAD on Windows PC's for most of that period., and AutoCAD LT on a Wndows PC recently.

Though I haven't used AutoCAD LT in Parallels, it's slow enough on a Windows machine that I have to believe Vectorworks on a Mac would be substantially faster.

I've found Vectorworks to be superior in almost every way to AutoCAD and vastly superior to AutoCAD LT, which is 2D only. In addition, Vectorworks isn't that much more expensive than AutoCAD LT, less than half the cost of AutoCAD, with capabilities similar to AutoCAD and/or Revit.


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Frank Greene AIA
Element 5 Studio LLC
Santa Rosa Beach FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-07-2011 00:32
From: Kate Svoboda-Spanbock
Subject: Vectorworks on MacBook Pro

I use it on an imac on 10.5.8, 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB and it runs beautifully. Don't know about AutoCAD lite.

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Kate Svoboda-Spanbock AIA
Principal
HERE Design and Architecture
Los Angeles CA
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Been using it for years.  Works great.

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Polly Osborne AIA, LEED AP
Osborne Architects
Los Angeles CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-07-2011 00:32
From: Kate Svoboda-Spanbock
Subject: Vectorworks on MacBook Pro

I use it on an imac on 10.5.8, 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4 GB and it runs beautifully. Don't know about AutoCAD lite.

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Kate Svoboda-Spanbock AIA
Principal
HERE Design and Architecture
Los Angeles CA
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I use Vectorworks 2010/2012 on a MacBook Pro with 10.6.8 and it works great... only bogs slightly with large 3d files. I can't compare with Autocad LT as I have never used , but the program Vectorworks is ,in my opinion, superior to Autocad

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Stuart Howard AIA
Stuart Howard Architects, Inc
Vancouver BC
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you'll probably get a better answer by going to the Vectorworks Support forums: 
http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php
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Roger Morgan AIA
City of Chesapeake
Chesapeake VA
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Daniel,

I have used VW on a slight older model MacBook, and it has been fine.  I don't have experience with ACAD on Parallels to give you a fair comparison, but using Parallels to run other software is generally slower.

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Andrew Fethes AIA
President
Andrew Fethes Architects PA
Oradell NJ
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The following came from someone that works with us.

I have used this setup for many years. The only concern -- which would be similar for any drafting program -- is the size of the screen on a 15" MacBook Pro. The more drafting space the better -- drafting on a small screen is not as efficient. If you have a display that you can plug into the MacBook, that will solve the screen size issue and allow for two screen drafting. The pallettes can be placed on the smaller screen and the drafting is done on the larger screen.

I csnnot compare this to ACAD on a similar setup.

Guy

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Robert Taylor AIA
Principal
Chelsea Architects
Houston TX
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