I’ve been pondering my options. I’ve been using SketchUp Pro through 2018 and currently have AR enabled in my SketchUp Viewer Android app. I’ve been paying M&S yearly. I’ve already downloaded SketchUp Classic (aka Pro 2019 downloaded software).
Looking forward: I like the bundle of SketchUp Pro - which essentially covers everything I might want to do, but at $299/year, I’m a bit loathe to give up the permanency of a downloaded version. So here’s my question:
I don’t see any feature differences between:
What I’m calling a “hybrid subscription”:
Continuing to pay $120/year for M&S and ADD a yearly Subscription to SketchUp Shop at $119/year for a total of $239/year versus
Switch over completely to the Subscription service named SketchUp Pro at $299/year
And since I already have SketchUp 2018 PRO and M&S, the first option above has the following advantages:
No matter what happens, I’ll always have the most up to date, most capable, downloadable version of SketchUp available
I’ll be able to do that paying LESS yearly than the SketchUp Pro subscription!
While I realize this analysis isn’t applicable to people who don’t already have SketchUp Pro 2018, I hope it helps for those that do!
Have I missed anything?
Conversation note: There are plenty of OTHER threads arguing the pros/cons of the Trimble move to emphasize a purely subscription based model. Along with the price. Please comment over there and reserve THIS thread for the analysis of the features available should I choose this “hybrid” model.
I need 2D documentation which is what LO does. I can stop my M&S and keep 2019. But how will 2019 fare in, say, 5 years time if Classic is no more and I need to direct clients to a free viewer which (who knows) maybe won’t open a 2019 file!
It’s all a little stressful thinking about how to future proof the business that I’ve built up using SU/LO and possibly ending up being trapped in an (relatively) expensive subscription that if I decided to stop I then lose access to my work. There just doesn’t seem to be any certainty at the moment.
However, and incidentally, I now have access to everything except Sefaira through my employer - who now subscribes to SketchUp Pro. So as long as I’m working there, all I need at home is to maintain my Classic M & S.
New Pro subscription. And a new computer to go with it. Almost everybody at work (including me before the new computer) uses thin clients with a Windows Server based desktop through an RDP session. SketchUp simply doesn’t work in this environment. There was also another program (SnagIt) that I wanted to use that wasn’t compatible with our environment. So I searched, found a $399 micro desktop with an acceptable graphic adaptor, sold my company two of my OLD monitors (which I stopped using 2 years ago), and le voila! I run SketchUp and SnagIt on the computer. For everything else, I still use an RDP session to the server based desktop.
I suppose they treat it as a violation of license. From another point of view, keeping high-spec servers and allowing office-based designers to use them via RDP indeed seems like a much better use of resources. (and safer)