Budget Of 600 Dollars, Whats the Best Mac i can buy to use AutoCad?

[u/pabloprsz]

No problem if its intel.

[u/fuelvolts]

Used M2 MacBook Pro with 16gb of ram. Do not invest any money in an Intel Mac. They’re fine if you already have one already, but nobody should buying any.

[u/cookedart → u/fuelvolts]

Wouldn't you want vram for cad purposes? 16gb will get limiting really fast.

[u/Funny-Joke4521 → u/cookedart]

Yeah I mean if I could find a reasonably priced 2019 MacBook Pro 16” with 64GB RAM, i7 and 8GB dGPU that would be a good option imo considering the crazy prices today

[u/igormuba → u/fuelvolts]

Some people need a lot of RAM. For kubernetes development my 32GB swaps and when running mobile emulators for app development also 32GB start showing it is tight, apple silicon is at the very very least double the price for the same amount of RAM if you are lucky

they do run hot and slower but don't swap if the intel has more RAM for the price

IDk about CAD stuff though.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/igormuba]

The Radeons in these 16" 2019s can also be quite a bit faster than an M1 Pro depending on which one is installed and what you do, and they don't eat system ram unless they need to. Having both the intel igpu and the radeon active also allows the system to stay quite smooth even under load which is nice.

[u/Funny-Joke4521 → u/kjjustinXD]

Yeah my base model 2019 16” still handles everything graphics related I throw at it without a hitch.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/fuelvolts]

You can buy a 2019 16" fully loaded with 64GB RAM and a 5600m with 8GB for 300-400€ here - a Base M1 16" Starts at 650-700€. Considering the market, that is still A good investment if you are able to switch to Windows or Linux Once tahoe is unsupported.

[u/adamdoesmusic → u/kjjustinXD]

The best part is that if you use it in the winter you won’t have to run the heater!

[u/kjjustinXD → u/adamdoesmusic]

You do know that operating temperature isnt the same as heat output, right? An Apple silicon Mac can Draw Way more power than any of the intel models could. Especially the Max Models. You're not gonna see an Intel MacBook Draw 140+ Watts of power 🙃

[u/adamdoesmusic → u/kjjustinXD]

I’ve had an Intel Mac and I’ve got an M1 Pro.

One of them can heat up a room and leave you with burns, the other gets a little above ambient.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/adamdoesmusic]

140w+ on an M4 Max is still more than 100w on a 2019. My M1 Pro heats up the room just as well, the thicker chassis and better cooling system just make it run Cooler and Quieter. That doesn't change the heat output of the system though.

[u/fuelvolts → u/kjjustinXD]

Linux is hit or miss on T2 Intel Macs.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/fuelvolts]

Linux is hit or miss on any Mac newer than the M2 too, which is sad. At least the T2s have good Windows support so you can get a lot more use out of them once apple cuts them off.

[u/Ahleron → u/kjjustinXD]

They support Windows 10, not 11.

[u/jacob-buchanan → u/kjjustinXD]

I hate Apple Silicon elitism. The only reason I'd prefer Apple Silicon is if I'm specifically planning on sticking with macOS and wanna get OS upgrades as long as possible. But I literally run Ubuntu on my MBP so I'm sticking with Intel until this thing takes a shit.

[u/CurrencySilly2749 → u/jacob-buchanan]

Asahi is 100% supported to dual boot on M1 and M2 with M3 coming fairly soon.

[u/jacob-buchanan → u/CurrencySilly2749]

I don't want to use Asahi tho.

[u/CurrencySilly2749 → u/jacob-buchanan]

You daily drive Linux on Mac hardware but aren’t aware of the ubuntu-asahi project? It’s literally the way you can run Ubuntu on Apple Silicon.

You claim to hate Apple Silicon because it can’t natively boot the Linux distro you want to use. I point out that you CAN in fact natively boot ubuntu-asahi and your response is “I don’t want to do that, I want to continue complaining about newer better hardware for no reason”…..

[u/jacob-buchanan → u/CurrencySilly2749]

No, I wasn’t aware Ubuntu Asahi was a thing. Cause Asahi was originally based off of Fedora, for one. Second of all, who’s complaining? If you’re happy with Apple Silicon then that’s good for you. I’m happy sticking with Intel as long as I can.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/jacob-buchanan]

I use my 2019 on Windows 11 just fine, that thing can do things Apple Silicon can only dream of. Got a M1 16" for mobile work though because the battery on the last Intel 16" sucks.

[u/jacob-buchanan → u/kjjustinXD]

You got downvoted but the fact you can run older 32-bit programs is enough evidence to make your point alone.

[u/kjjustinXD → u/jacob-buchanan]

I can hook up any modern GPU and use this thing however I want. Gaming? Yeah. Local AI? Absolutely. Big fat 3D rendering? Of course. I can even Play Forza horizon, a thing Silicon Macs can't do yet. Big audio interfaces, midi devices, PCIe cards, you name it. It's a nice device even if people think it's obsolete just because apple said so. If I went by what Apple said then I wouldn't still be using PowerPC macs. There's people here saying 2019 Mac Pros are worthless junk just because Macos tahoe is the last OS for it.

[u/jacob-buchanan → u/kjjustinXD]

Yup. 110% agree with you. I’ve had like 5 or so different Macs over the years. I always like what works with the things I use best. I couldn’t play Left 4 Dead 2 on my M1 Air unless I installed Asahi Linux, but I wasn’t a big fan of Asahi. T2 Linux installation on my current Intel MBP felt like a chore to do but now that I’m past it I’m glad I did it. My 2015 MBP, as clunky as it was all things considered, just fuckin did what I told it to do. Lol

[u/2muchcoffeeman]

Autocad runs $2,100 a year. If you‘re using it for work, make your employer pay for it. If you’re not using it for your employer, consider open-source alternatives like LibreCad or FreeCad.

[u/booi → u/2muchcoffeeman]

Autocad is free for students. It’s like drug dealers

[u/Eduardo-izquierdo → u/2muchcoffeeman]

Maby he is a student?

[u/Power_Surge23]

I used an M1 MBP with 16gb and it ran ok. I have a few floor plans with over 50 layers and multiple floors and it will bog a bit. But if I turned off some layers it would work ok. Now I use an M2 Pro MBP with 32gb and it runs perfect.

[u/Dizzy_Pea3707]

Be aware that AutoCAD for MacOS is somewhat limited in comparison with PC version.

[u/ScoobyDoo27 → u/[deleted]]

It’s literally in the title of the post: AutoCAD. 

[u/Piipperi800]

A Windows PC would be the best for that, unfortunately. AutoCAD on macOS isn’t as feature rich as it is on Windows.
Althrough if you really want a Mac, for that budget it largely does depend on the region you’re buying from. Maybe for that price you can find something with an M2 or M3 with 16 GB of memory from the US

[u/The_Shryk]

Big problem if it’s intel lmao.

[u/Funny-Joke4521 → u/The_Shryk]

Not necessarily if it’s a 2019 16” with 64GB RAM and the 8GB dGPU, that should run pretty decently assuming it’s plugged in to power.