Need buying advice

[jmwillcoxon]

i've been wirh the Mac since they first came out..... my first was a Mac Plus.... i am in the graphics world . i still have a G4 wirh OS 9 (circa 1995) thst i use every day. it has a very expensive software on it that did not survive the OS9 /10 tran

I have an OS 10.6 computer that finally failed me so I am about to start over in some ways…… Since I’ve been out of the buying loop for sometime now…. I need some advice on Hardware/Software…

What is a good graphics Mac these day & what will I need on the inside to be productive?
Currently run Photoshop / Acrobat/ MS Office / FileMaker .
I also need to know of a good 2D CAD software that can output a .dxf & a .geo file…. I use Flexisign on my OS9 computer , but they ceased to make it for the Mac.
I need something to create in that is friendly and can convert Raster files to Vector.

Also. Since I’ve been out of the buying game for a while, are all new software programs subscription based now?
No more DVD’s or Downloads you own?

My Current 10.6 laptop is starting to not open up websites and the browsers & sys software have reached their limits……

Looking for advice on the above …… Thank You

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

One of the new MacBook Pros would be amazing and would last you for years and years. There aren't many appreciable differences between the smaller and larger one (except for size, obviously) as there were in the past, so choose which size fits your needs/budget. I would spring for 32GB of integrated memory to be more future proof. SSD size will be dependent on your file storage needs and habits.

I can't help much on the software, as my needs are different than yours, but a LOT of software is subscription based these days. There are exceptions in my space (mostly print, a little digital/web), so there may be in yours as well.

 

[jmwillcoxon]

One of the new MacBook Pros would be amazing and would last you for years and years. There aren't many appreciable differences between the smaller and larger one (except for size, obviously) as there were in the past, so choose which size fits your needs/budget. I would spring for 32GB of integrated memory to be more future proof. SSD size will be dependent on your file storage needs and habits.

I can't help much on the software, as my needs are different than yours, but a LOT of software is subscription based these days. There are exceptions in my space (mostly print, a little digital/web), so there may be in yours as well.

Thank you so much !

 

[wonderings]

Always get the best specs you can afford as Apple is horrible for being upgradeable later on. A sad trend that has caught on with pretty much all their machines. If you are not going to be paying for an Adobe subscription I would recommend checking out Affinity Photo to replace that. Cheap software that is feature rich. As for vector I would look at Corel. I am not a big fan of Corel, they just run different the Adobe and my mind thinks like Adobe, but Corel does have the best tracing, especially compared to Illustrator. You can demo both though and decide for yourself. Corel is also used by a lot of the ultra wide format shops as they can handle very large files in terms of physical size. Illustrator and Indesign are limited to 200", same goes for PDF's. The only downside I can think of with the M1 Macs is the lack of support for VM's of Windows versions that are not made for ARM. They can virtualize but you will not get the best performance with Windows that way.

 

[MacGizmo]

Affinity offers Photo, Designer and Publisher - which are replacements for Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. All three Affinity apps cost $55 each, currently, with no subscription.

 

[wonderings]

Affinity offers Photo, Designer and Publisher - which are replacements for Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. All three Affinity apps cost $55 each, currently, with no subscription.

Affinity makes great apps but they are not feature for feature replacements for Adobe. You can do a 30 day demo, or sometimes they offer a 90 day demo, which is full use for that time. I would recommend before buying that you download and try the most complicated jobs you normally work on as well as just the regular day to day ones and see if the apps can indeed replace Adobe for your needs.

 

[KeithCody]

i've been wirh the Mac since they first came out..... my first was a Mac Plus.... i am in the graphics world . i still have a G4 wirh OS 9 (circa 1995) thst i use every day. it has a very expensive software on it that did not survive the OS9 /10 tran

I have an OS 10.6 computer that finally failed me so I am about to start over in some ways…… Since I’ve been out of the buying loop for sometime now…. I need some advice on Hardware/Software…

What is a good graphics Mac these day & what will I need on the inside to be productive?
Currently run Photoshop / Acrobat/ MS Office / FileMaker .
I also need to know of a good 2D CAD software that can output a .dxf & a .geo file…. I use Flexisign on my OS9 computer , but they ceased to make it for the Mac.
I need something to create in that is friendly and can convert Raster files to Vector.

Also. Since I’ve been out of the buying game for a while, are all new software programs subscription based now?
No more DVD’s or Downloads you own?

My Current 10.6 laptop is starting to not open up websites and the browsers & sys software have reached their limits……

Looking for advice on the above …… Thank You

From All3D:

For students and teachers, Autodesk offers a free educational version that runs on up to two personal devices for 3 years. Here’s how you can access the free educational version of AutoCAD.

1. Go to the Autodesk Education Community.
2. Choose AutoCAD from the list of software.
3. Create an Autodesk account. Alternatively, sign in to your existing Autodesk account. If prompted, set up your Education profile.
4. Click DOWNLOAD NOW.
5. Select the desired version, your operating system, and your preferred language.
6. The displayed serial number and product key are sent to your email address. And click BROWSER DOWNLOAD.
7. Next, install the free version.
8. When installing the CAD software, enter the serial number and product key to unlock it.
9. When you start the program the first time, activate the license.

 

[donnac202]

i've been wirh the Mac since they first came out..... my first was a Mac Plus.... i am in the graphics world . i still have a G4 wirh OS 9 (circa 1995) thst i use every day. it has a very expensive software on it that did not survive the OS9 /10 tran

I have an OS 10.6 computer that finally failed me so I am about to start over in some ways…… Since I’ve been out of the buying loop for sometime now…. I need some advice on Hardware/Software…

What is a good graphics Mac these day & what will I need on the inside to be productive?
Currently run Photoshop / Acrobat/ MS Office / FileMaker .
I also need to know of a good 2D CAD software that can output a .dxf & a .geo file…. I use Flexisign on my OS9 computer , but they ceased to make it for the Mac.
I need something to create in that is friendly and can convert Raster files to Vector.

Also. Since I’ve been out of the buying game for a while, are all new software programs subscription based now?
No more DVD’s or Downloads you own?

My Current 10.6 laptop is starting to not open up websites and the browsers & sys software have reached their limits……

Looking for advice on the above …… Thank You

Don’t know if you’re in the market but Affinity makes: Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, and Affinity Publisher which could replace most of Adobe subscriptions. Approx $50 each to purchase w free upgrades for life! They do what I need- you may want to check them out.