Which PCB Program Is BEST?

[Thomas Ligotti]

I'm searching for a Comparison List of PCB Programs.
I have used Board Station for years now and looking for something else, something better. There are many choices like Protel, Cadence, Pads, Expedition, etc. There are HUGE differences in pricing though. Protel offers a suite that seems GREAT. What are the downfalls? Cadence offers Allegro and OrCAD. Big difference in price. Mentor the same Expedition or PADS. Assuming I do state of the art boards would Protel DXP be a good solution. Someone please HELP. I need someone who has used these tools, not just heard one was better than the other.

[Chinacrime]

Mentor'WG 2000 have powerful routing capibility which is better than Cadence'Specctra. However, WG 2000 still lack of capibilities
which an high-end tool shold have especiall for enterperise suit.
to take analogy to MCAD packages. WG is similiar to Solidworks But Allegro/Specctraquest is similiar to PR0/Engineer. Mentor'En2000 have an old technology but still have strong capabilities. the onw weakeness of En2000 is that it still adopt 20 years ago it technology. Mentor is vey lazy in innovation. I believe Mentor should be crashed soon!

[Chinacrime]

Also i expect that cadence acquire mentor'autoactive technology!

[cadpro2k]

Originally posted by Chinacrime
Also i expect that cadence acquire mentor'autoactive technology!

No, cadence won't 'acquire' AutoRE anytime soon. As Steve Job's would say... "not until Hell freezes over..." Cadence is still pretty darn comfortable with Specctra's technology (good or bad), and will continue to engrain it into Allegro... their roadmap shows allegro and specctra being ONE environment. They don't need another 'autorouter'. What they need is to continue to develop allegro to be the fastest interactive tool for high speed, high constrained board designs.

Will it happen? You make the call.