Engineers and Drafters...Share your setup (computer, display, keyboard, mouse)

Hi all,

Thank you for viewing my thread. I am a civil engineer/ project manager. While working, I also enjoy drafting house plans for side money as I personally own a home building company as well.

I plan to use my 2010 MBA as my main computer (13" MBA: 2.13 GHz, 4 GB Ram, 256 GB Flash Storage). I may purchase the upcoming MBA whenever that is. I want to set up my MBA pretty much as my main computer at home to display monitors. Then, use new iPAD as a laptop during the day. I like this setup because, if needed, I can easily grab my MBA and take it on business and school trips where a main computer would be needed. So far, the MBA has handle drafting perfectly fine. The book arch is my top candidate for a docking station right now. I am currently in the process of searching a better option.

I plan on purchasing the 27" apple display monitor with the apple wireless keyboard and track pad. When drafting, I will use a logitech mouse. I am on the fence about having two 27" monitors or not. I will purchase one to see how that goes, then I will make my decision if I need two or not. I will use boot camp for heavy drafting. If only a few mark ups, I plan on using parallels.

Engineers and drafters, will you post or explain your home setup? Do you recommend the apple display as a top monitor for home use? Any comments and/ or suggestions are welcomed.

Thank you.

 

Thanks for the information guys. I'm
going through the picture gallery looking for ideas as well.

I see there are a few opinions regarding which monitor is best. I respects that, and will use the input to compare before making my final decision. I'm glad Jim added that the MBA would only support one monitor. I was not aware of that.

With the apple keyboard, are you able to use the function keys in AutoCAD for shortcuts because I have this problem with my laptop?