solidworks?

Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
496
those who own it where did you get it and how much did it cost?
got a quote from them and it sounds way to high


"Thanks again for your interest in our Soildworks product line. Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions.


Pricing INFO::

SW CORE US$4K

SW OFFICE PROFESSIONAL US$5,500

SW OFFICE PREMIUM US$8K"
__________________
 
Its for commercial use where you earn money through what it produces for you.
AutoCad is still reasonably expensive.
You can probably get it cheaper if you ask "around"
 
I am not sure mate, it may be similar with some features disabled when it comes to saving or printing.
I joined their website and they are very pro active at sending news and information on a regular basis.
 
got a quote from them and it sounds way to high

That's a standard price for most specialized commercial software, really. Under most conditions the company buys a number of licenses for their engineers, so they have no incentive to charge a low price.

A student copy is a "limited time" copy. (2 years)
F:What is the difference between the commercial and the student edition?

A: Although functionally identical to the SolidWorks software used by professionals in the workplace, the student edition contains features that make it unsuitable for commercial use.
Institutional use of SolidWorks Student Edition is prohibited. Schools interested in licensing use should contact an authorized SolidWorks reseller.
SolidWorks Student Edition software may not be resold, transferred, rented, modified or copied. Any misuse of the terms of the software license agreement will terminate the right to use this software.

* Software ceases to function 24 months after registration.
* Subscription service not included
* License may not be upgraded
* Email support is available for installation and registration.
* Registration requires Internet access.
 
The student copy is probably the same, but you probably have to have proof that you are a student to get it.

I work as a Draftsman and my company uses Autodesk Inventor and I believe its about the same price but it is a buy it and its yours type of deal, whereas solid works is a pay every year venture now. Which is why we don't use it, we only upgrade every 4 years.

But to answer your original question, yes thats about the price to expect, for a potentially better bargain check with a "reprographics" company in your area, they are probably a reseller of one of the two aforementioned softwares, and they might be more honest as to which one would better suit your needs.
 
Those prices sound about right for a professional CAD software package. It seems that you only have the price for purchasing a copy of the software. There is usually a yearly charge for support. If you have no previous experience with a CAD package of this complexity, you WILL need the support. You will also need to get (pay for) formal training on how to use such packages effectively. They are very complex and you probably will not get very proficient with very much of it by "just playing around with it". Another consideration is that unless you are using these packages at least several times a week, you will probably have trouble remembering how to use all the functions properly. There are also functions that you probably do not need such as creating and controlling libraries of parts since these functions are oriented towards groups of designers working, concurrently, on different parts of a design. These functions cost money to develop.

If you are not going to get formal training and/or you will not use it frequently, you are better off buying a copy of TurboCAD or some other lower end package for something like $200 or less. Do a search on this forum. Various people have made recommendations for simple, low-cost CAD packages.

There may be 50 to 100 programmers working full time to develop a CAD package, keep it up to date and fix the bugs. It may cost as much money to develop a package like Solidworks as it cost Microsoft to develop one of their packages, say their Office Suite. There are probably thousands of copies of MS Office Suite sold for every copy of Solidworks sold. These companies are not charities. They have to recoup their deveopment costs somehow so they can pay their employees, just like your employer.

Phil
 
I am a full time user of both SolidWorks and ProEngineer.

Solidworks is very user friendly. We transitioned to it from Cadkey. We initially took a two week course from our vendor.

If you are familiar with CAD then SolidWorks should be easy to figure out.

Our company was purchased by a German concern. We transitioned to ProEngineer as that is the package the Germans was using. We have kept our existing versions of SolidWorks 2005 for roughly 3 years with minimal support. If you are computer savvy it is an easy instal and with one seat not running over a network you shouldn't have any problems.
 
The student copy is probably the same, but you probably have to have proof that you are a student to get it.

I work as a Draftsman and my company uses Autodesk Inventor and I believe its about the same price but it is a buy it and its yours type of deal, whereas solid works is a pay every year venture now. Which is why we don't use it, we only upgrade every 4 years.

But to answer your original question, yes thats about the price to expect, for a potentially better bargain check with a "reprographics" company in your area, they are probably a reseller of one of the two aforementioned softwares, and they might be more honest as to which one would better suit your needs.


SolidWorks isn't pay as you go. You can buy it and decline the service.

Locate a SolidWorks Reseller or a SolidWorks Office near you
 
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