Single Civil 3D License on multiple computers

Pre subscription days we had a couple of "perpetual" Civil 3D licences - these have now been morphed to AEC collection - and although not advertised they had a "home-user" agreement where you were allowed to use it on another computer, relying on the honesty of the user that this other computer was a laptop or home pc etc and wouldn't be used at the same time as the other. I'm fairly sure that still exists as we have 3 Civil 3D seats and 4 users, if you include the 1 installation that I have on a laptop. I think at some point when I installed it on the laptop it needed to be registered, but Autodesk Account management is very difficult to use, and I can no longer see where that is.

Perhaps ask your supplier?

I have C3D on my workstation and laptop with a single subscription license.?ÿ No problems.?ÿ

If it's a subscription version then the cloud does the checking if you are using more than what your licenses allow.

guys I'm pretty sure it's a subscription as it's given me a headache before & won't open up the program when I can't remember my login info when I get randomly asked for it. I know that sounds like an odd thing but I want to say that has happened several times in the last year (been a few months & hopefully it doesn't happen again soon as I always have to reset the password haha)

So I pulled the trigger on this 15.6ƒ? Acer Predator Helios 300 with an hexa core intel I7-9750H processor, NVIDIA 1660Ti graphics card, 16GB of DDR4 RAM & 512GB of SSD storage. Nothing crazy powerful but it works well now. Think Iƒ??ll add another terabyte of SSD storage & upgrade to 32GB of RAM once Black Friday rolls around (open to suggestions on the SSD & RAM). But for now this thing is nicer than my 5year old current tower Dell Precision 5810 workstation in the home office.

How's the Acer holding up? I have stayed away from Acer laptops since my 1st on that had overheating issues even with a fan propped against the vents to help cool it down.?ÿ

I think that there will be no problem with the program being loaded on 2 computers as long as you aren't using both at the same time. Neverthess I'd recommend that you just make the laptop your full time computer. Add a docking station to make using full size monitor(s) and keyboard/mouse convenient when at your desk.?ÿ

So... I just bought it a few days ago and it came with almost 90% of 2500 reviews on Amazon that rated it at 4 & 5 stars (granted most of those were from gamers but they all seem fairly picky to me). Honestly the fans in this laptop are pretty quiet in my mind so long as I keep the back end propped up on a full length architectural scale as compared to the 3 older tower workstations that I've used over the last 7ish years (a Lenovo E32 workstation tower, an older Dell 3600 series workstation tower & my current Dell 5810 workstation here at the house). As for me, I like it so far with AutoCAD C3D 2020, even despite the smaller 15.6" screen (yes I miss running dual 23" LED monitors but with a docking station I'll be back in action or even a wider 42" basic TV then I can hook up the HDMI & run 2 screens side by side). Granted it's not ideal but I'm looking for portability & flexibility right now when not in the home office.

?ÿ

now the keyboard is still taking some getting used to as I'm typically using a desktop full length keyboard. but so far so good thankfully! fingers crossed it serves me well; the way I look at it is that after 15-20 billable hours while out in the field or away from home it will have paid for itself hopefully as this is for a small/solo business venture of mine out of my home office part time (minimal office overhead for E&O insurance, state/federal license stuff & budget friendly version of Quickbooks).?ÿ

side note for those who might know - come Black Friday I'd like to purchase & upgrade the RAM to 32GB as well as add an additional 1TB of SSD (or hybrid SSD/HDD) storage in the second bay this machine has. watched few youtube videos of where guys had done this. But I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on which brand & model of RAM & storage to purchase? I installed a Samsung 500GB SSD unit in my current desktop & like it but I wasn't sure if there was something just as reliable but cheaper out there??ÿ

You can have it wherever you want. You just won't be able to run two stations at once with the same license. My station license is tied to my work email. I downloaded civ3d 2020 on my home machine and logged in with my work email to work from home when COVID first hit. No issues whatsoever

@ncsudirtman

I'd recommend a USB C docking station for full size keyboard, external monitors, etc.?ÿ AND a USB powered cooling stand like the one in the link below.?ÿ Laptops are almost without fail under-powered in the cooling department for continual CAD use.

https://www.amazon.com/Cooling-15-6-17-Portable-Powered-Function/dp/B082SSJY2C/ref=sr_1_4?crid=RHXZ7GWJ1AK7&dchild=1&keywords=usb+cooling+pad&qid=1597756101&sprefix=usb+cool%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-4

I also keep an external 1TB SSD hooked up to a type 3 port on the dock and the read/write speed is nearly on par with the internal SSD.?ÿ I process a lot of laser scans, so I care about hard drive speed as much as anything.

?ÿ

@plumb-bill

So I ended up buying a cheaper internal 2.5ƒ? 512GB Teamgroup GX2 SSD as a relative just gave me an Amazon gift card for $50 for my bday so I figured I would try it (4+ stars out of 600+ reviews). But seeing how everybody running a laptop seems to use a docking station then I believe I better look into one of those along with all the additional hardware.

Honestly I just want to buy a cheaper flat screen TV with HDMI input and mount it to the wall to use it as my main monitor for when drafting in AutoCAD Civil 3D while at the house. I realize the quality probably wonƒ??t be as intense but honestly I just care for a larger 42ƒ? HDTV display at 4ƒ?? away and just a few degrees above horizontal (leaned back slightly in my chair) versus a sharp 15.6ƒ? picture at only 2ƒ?? while looking down and slightly hunched over haha. Anybody tried this?

If you want to walk a fine line between grey and black you can find almost any software produced that has been pirated, cracked and is functional on some torrents. However the following has to be taken into serious consideration ie:

ƒ?Depending on where you live, torrenting may be illegal. If you donƒ??t take precautions, the outcomes of downloading torrents can be quite severe ƒ?? from copyright infringement notices in your mailbox to hefty fines, arrests, and even the threat of jail time.ƒ?

????

@ncsudirtman

I have tried a TV, not reclined - still in my office chair.?ÿ Went back to a traditional 24" monitor but I got telescoping arms to hold them higher and a little closer.?ÿ A 24" monitor is the same size as 42" depending on how far away from you it is 🙂

Found this:?ÿ https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/best/by-usage/pc-monitor

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-X800H-43-Inch-Compatibility/dp/B083R24RLN/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Sony+XBR43X800H&qid=1597841840&sr=8-2

Getting interested in trying it again after reading that...lol

?ÿ

Edit:?ÿ another nice thing about using a dock is Civil3D seems to "know" which user configuration to present you based on which monitors are present.?ÿ I have a mobile configuration for jobsite/courthouse set up with minimal clutter on a single screen, and one configuration with layers, properties and command line persistent on the second monitor - the program seems to automatically switch based on whether or not I have it docked when I run the program.

@ncsudirtman

I'm once bitten twice shy about the hybrid setup.?ÿ It seems some program, somwhere, always manages to put something I didn't intend on the HDD and everything slows down.?ÿ I'd rather back up and archive manually to an external HDD that doesn't always stay tethered than deal with that.

Pure SSD, non-networked (local entitlements) is how I like to roll.

@flga

not sure I follow you? I do t think I had asked to pirate anything nor use a torrent lol?ÿ

I did not mean to imply that. In a nutshell, pirated software is available if you accept the illegality and consequences associated with it.?ÿ

@flga

Not that I know, but I'm pretty sure that the big boys have got a wrap on cracks and pirates, with their update system on software releases - cracks and the like can't update, and without the updates and hotfixes, cracks and the like are useless.

Watched a YouTube video & was able to install & format the additional 512GB of SSD in about 30 mins. Iƒ??m just proud of myself for not having to hire somebody to do it as computers have always kinda worried me haha.

While I was inside the case I realized that I had 2x8gb Kingston 2666 RAM currently installed. If I just went with similar RAM but in the 2x16gb style for a total of 32GB would that be more than sufficient? I mean this computer runs fine now with 16GB but with intense DEM surface models I noticed it slowing down some. Not sure if double the RAM with a hexa core i7-9750H processor & the NVIDIA GTX1660ti would help or not? Or am I just fooling myself??ÿ