My dad is at the point of needing some new CAD installations at his architectural firm... New, not upgrades. I'm tired of answering his questions about whether this or that copy of CAD on eBay looks legit or not, and the websites that offer "100% Legal" downloads for 10% of the normal cost of the program seem to me to be asking for trouble.

Can ANYONE recommend a good place to buy CAD LEGITIMATELY online, at a good price for a version that might be a year or two old? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, because I'm tired of sorting through this crap.

6/8/2009 7:48:19 PM

By the way, this is referring to Autodesk Autocad, if you were thinking it could possibly be something else...

6/8/2009 7:49:09 PM

http://www.amazon.com Search for autocad in the software section.

Though he isn't going to save much money by buying a year or two old copy. Productivity companies closed that loophole long ago.

2010 LT runs $950
2009 LT runs $1019

He might be able to save a little bit buying through bing.com and using the cashback.

If he needs anything more than LT, his best bet is to call Autodesk and get a quote on pricing from them. Especially if needs multi-user.

6/8/2009 9:54:50 PM

my company just bought ~10 seats of autocad mechanical, 5 seats of inventor, >30 seats of product stream, and beginner and intermediate training for everything from these guys:
http://www.asti.com/

sorry, i don't know what we paid...all i know is a lot.

6/8/2009 11:12:30 PM

Thanks, and thanks... Will be looking into both of these at work tomorrow. Any other valid suggestions are welcome as well...

6/8/2009 11:37:29 PM

AutoCAD 2010 5-year license @ NCSU bookstore for only $159.00

student deals = yay

Is your dad's firm hiring?

6/9/2009 2:08:59 AM

Autodesk's subscription service doesn't look like a terrible deal.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=613372

6/9/2009 2:05:10 PM

Quote :

"AutoCAD 2010 5-year license @ NCSU bookstore for only $159.00"

I'm assuming this is the educational version though, correct? If so we can't legally use it for commercial purposes. If not, then that would be perfect.

As far as whether we're hiring, I'm sure you can guess the answer to that. Somehow we have been lucky enough to not have to let anyone go, because a few draftsmen left to pursue other careers and one of dad's head architects retired a few months ago. Staff has gone from a peak of 15 during a boom years ago down to 7 now. I'm sure he WILL have to hire when things pick back up in a year or two though, and I'll be sure to post something up here when a position becomes available.

6/10/2009 4:00:35 PM

it doesn't say anything about being an educational version - i looked. double check me

6/11/2009 11:14:23 AM

Are you sure it doesn't when you print? I know solidworks does

6/11/2009 11:16:41 AM

^^It's the educational version, and it does not transition to a commercial license.

6/11/2009 3:43:56 PM

Which is what all those BS Ebay sells are trying to sell you. Follow this advice:

Quote :

"http://www.amazon.com Search for autocad in the software section. Though he isn't going to save much money by buying a year or two old copy. Productivity companies closed that loophole long ago. 2010 LT runs $950 2009 LT runs $1019 He might be able to save a little bit buying through bing.com and using the cashback. If he needs anything more than LT, his best bet is to call Autodesk and get a quote on pricing from them. Especially if needs multi-user."

6/11/2009 3:48:37 PM