Running Autodesk Inventor Professional on the Mac...

V8burble

V8burble

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Looking at running Autodesk Inventor Professional via Parallels on my iMac (i5 2.8GHz with 4Gb 1333 DDR3 RAM and OSX). So, I'll need an OS, but which should I go with? XP, Vista, Windows 7... 32bit, 64bit? primary use will be Inventor and AutoCAD 2012 but what's the best choice of OS and why? I'm afraid I know little about OSs. I'd rather not spend too much, but if the difference in price is say £20-30 then hey. Mmmm I guess I'll be needing anti-virus too, pref free... AVG maybe???

Help please :)
 
Quite a few years since I used Autocad but it used to run with a hardware security dongle. Don't know if that has changed now. If it does still have the hardware lock then it probably need a straight windows install for it to be able to run.

It was £3500 way back when I used it so must be around the 6k mark now. Unless you are asking for use with pirate software - in which case all discussion is against the TP rules - I don't see that the £20-30 extra is of any consequence.
 
I'm a bit lost... I'm only talking about the OS, I have the Inventor and AutoCAD software ready and waiting (fully legal and legit copies) I'm only requesting the real world differences in which Windows OS I buy to run with Parallels to get the best out of the software but also provide a stable and secure environment. I am in no way using or requesting anything under the table so to speak :eek:

And yes, AutoCAD 2012 is £4800 these days. Before now the last release of AutoCAD I used was R11 a loooong time ago, although I've used Inventor only a year or so ago.
 
Yes I'm not really looking for any bargains or anything, I'm prepared to pay the £60-£150 that the spread of OS prices appear to be, I just don't know Windows OSs to know which to go for. Newest vs proven, 64bit vs 32bit, home vs pro vs ultimate... That sort of jargon that I simply don't understand.
 
Ok, from what I can work out from lots of reading online... 64 bit has the main advantage of being able to utilise more than 4Gb of RAM, now I only have 4Gb of RAM anyway at the moment, but that may of course change and so 64 bit appears to be the logical choice just in case. Logic pushes me towards Windows 7 as you would think that being a latest OS then improvements must exist, but I'm happy to be told otherwise. So then it comes down to Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate... need to do more reading up I think.
 
So does Autocad still come with a hardware dongle?

That is what I was worried about. The driver install back when I used Autocad was a major thing. I don't use a Mac and never have but I assumed parallels worked in some kind of mac 'environment' that windows ran in, not a clean boot - and that might cause driver problems with a hardware dongle.

I'd say windows 7 is easily the best windows yet and you don't need the extras of the more expensive versions. Assuming there is a 64 bit version of Autocad it makes sense to get 64bit windows.
 
You'll see 4GB of RAM in 64bit Windows. In 32 bit Windows it will be ~3GB even with 4GB installed... 64bit is a no brainer as far as OS choice nowadays assuming your hardware is capable. Any 32 bit app should run happily on a 64bit OS.

Win 7 is, IMHO, a big leap forward from both XP and Vista (Vista just isn't as polished).
 
Thanks guys.

Robert - no dongle these days, just activation online and a 32 character activation key generated.

Ok, looks like the standard home version of Windows 7 64-bit it is then. Thanks
 
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