Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005

This book assumes you have an IBM-compatible computer with at least a Pentium II or equivalent CPU. Your computer should have at least one CD drive and a hard disk with 300MB or more of free space for the AutoCAD program files and about 120MB of additional space for sample files and workspace. In addition to these requirements, you should also have enough free disk space to allow for a Windows virtual memory page file of at least 256MB. Consult your Windows manual or Appendix B of this book for more on virtual memory. Finally, AutoCAD requires 220MB of free space on your C drive for temporary installation files.

AutoCAD 2005 runs best on systems with at least 256MB or more of RAM, though you can get by with 128MB. Your computer should also have a high-resolution monitor and an up-to-date display card. An SVGA display with a resolution of 1024 768 or greater will work fine with AutoCAD. If you intend to use a digitizer tablet, you'll want to have one free USB, or serial, port available. I also assume you are using a mouse and have the use of a printer or a plotter. A CD or DVD is needed to install AutoCAD and the software from this book. Finally, you'll want an Internet connection to take full advantage of the support offerings from Autodesk.

If you want a more detailed explanation of hardware options with AutoCAD, see Appendix B. You will find a general description of the available hardware options and their significance to AutoCAD.