We have a new girl starting at work who can help us with design and amending cads etc.

We are thinking about getting a new imac but are the current crop of windows machines any good for this?

Also whats the best/cheapest way to get illustrator and photoshop?

Thanks

What’s she used to using? Get that.

What’s she used to using? Get that.

^That!

A designer who is used to working on Macs won’t be a happy designer if made to use windows.

But… for CADS get a PC! 😀

Both work, either are fine. If you, or the user, are used to one and not the other then that is better. As for illustrator and photoshop I think you can only get it by annual subscription now. There are free or cheap alternatives with most of the functionality but again if the user isn’t used to it then there will be a learning curve

Cougar – Moderator
What’s she used to using? Get that.

Pretty Much, Mac types can be fussy/snobbish(for no real logical reason(Though expose and spring loaded folders are a valid argument in saying that! 😆 )), but either will do. But best save yourself the anguish get her what she’s used to. Will no doubt be whatever 27″ imac you can afford..

As for photoshop/illy, subscriptions for the latest programs is pretty much it, you’ll get the prices/options on the adobe site, unless you want to put her on cs6, but that’s getting on a bit these days and will start playing less nicely with later versions of OSX soon enough no doubt..

If she’s not tied to Adobe Software then Afinity Designer and Afinity Photo get some very good reviews…

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/

You can get Adobe CC with a monthly subscription of @ £40- £50. Don’t get earlier versions or you may get version conflicts trying to open newer art files!

For 3D CAD work, PC, leave the Macs for the Graphic Designers. 😉

Thanks for the replies

We bit the bullet and went for an imac as that’s what she’s been used to.

One of our directors already has a creative cloud account so we can use that.

Thanks again

One of our directors already has a creative cloud account so we can use that.

Erm….

“Erm….”

shhh.

Adobe are plenty rich enough anyway!

Erm….

can do that no bother, I think only issue will be using at the same time. Can install it on multiple machines as far as I know. Might lock you out though if used elsewhere.

Also whats the best/cheapest way to get illustrator and photoshop?

Adobe.com

Surprised businesses contemplate stealing software to make money with? If you can’t afford to pay for it your business needs re-evaluation.

Boot camp the mac if you need to run a CAD package for sure.

Also I can also highly recommend the Affinity packages, we have recently cancelled our adobe subscriptions and converted, they have been great so far!