VMware Fushion and AutoCAD for Mac

[Republik]

How does it work then, can anyone talk me through it? Is this the best way to run AutoCAD on a Imac G5?

[sjg]

Fusion and Parallels (and indeed Boot Camp) are for Intel CPUs only, so won't run on a G5.

In the PPC days, there was a product for both Windows and Mac called Virtual PC - although Microsoft bought the company in 2003 and canned the Virtual PC for Mac product in 2006. Could possibly track down an old copy and run XP on there.

[Republik]

I looked at Bootcamp but I'm unsure about losing hard disc space purely for it. I'd also like to access my mac programmes whilst AutoCAD is running, especially iTunes, purely so I can listen to music whilst drafting. I've read that VMware can become quite unstable so this is an issue that might put me off. Would you suggest trying VMware first, seeing how it runs then switching over to Bootcamp if VMware becames slow and unstable?

[Republik]

sjg said:

Fusion and Parallels (and indeed Boot Camp) are for Intel CPUs only, so won't run on a G5.

In the PPC days, there was a product for both Windows and Mac called Virtual PC - although Microsoft bought the company in 2003 and canned the Virtual PC for Mac product in 2006. Could possibly track down an old copy and run XP on there.

Hadn't thought of this. It isn't a dual core or intel so might cause a problem. Virtual PC may be the way forward.

[sjg]

If running a windows virtual machine is going to be important to you (especially for a fairly heavy app like AutoCAD), strongly consider buying a new(er) machine. I used to use Virtual PC a few years ago and the performance is pretty horrible, as it has to emulate a completely different CPU type. When I swapped to an intel machine it was massively faster doing the same stuff.

[Republik]

I'm more tempted to buy a cheap PC for the hassle it will cause. It's literally only to do private work at home rather than staying at work until 7-8pm to finish off private jobs. I don't need any programmes besides AutoCAD, I have Sketchup and Photoshop on my Mac.

[sjg]

The cost of a new PC (or even a reasonable Mac) is nothing next to the cost of an AutoCAD licence anyway!

[plasticpig]

Which version of AutoCAD? If you are doing 3D modelling, rendering etc then forget it and buy a PC.

[Republik]

It's some sort of student and teacher license a colleague has acquired, not sure exactly how legit it is as yet.

I won't be rendering for private work, just simple housing layouts and plans/elevations for planning then working drawings.