AutoCAD® software is the 2D drafting and detailing and 3D design tool used by more designers worldwide than any other CAD software. It provides native DWG compatibility, plus you can personalize or program the software or add a third-party application to meet your specific design requirements. Features of AutoCAD 2009 include: Express Tools, including layer management and dimensioning, which reduce the number of steps required to perform a task Tool palettes, which can be customized to include only the content you need on a daily basis Optimized DWG file format for shorter file open, save, and transmission times True color catalogs and presentation graphics for creating high-quality presentation drawings without exporting files. Digital signatures for validating the origin, authenticity, and unaltered state of your drawings. Difference between AutoCAD LT2009 and AutoCAD 2009 Customization: The AutoCAD 2008 platform offers fully extensible drawing and application customization through APIs (application programming interfaces) such as Visual LISP™, VBA, and ActiveX®. AutoCAD LT 2008 is not an extensible product. AutoCAD 2008 has a wide variety of add-on programs available such as Architectural Desktop and Mechanical Desktop which make extensive use of the API's available in AutoCAD 2008. 3D Design Capabilities: AutoCAD 2008 enables you to create, modify, render, and navigate 3D objects. AutoCAD LT 2008 does not have 3D capability Network Licensing: Workstation licenses for AutoCAD 2008 can be managed through a network.  These are capabilities that AutoCAD LT 2008 cannot offer.

Differences between AutoCAD 2009 and the student version of AutoCAD 2009:   The Autodesk Student Portfolio is an education version of the software. Though it is functionally identical to AutoCAD 2009, the student version of AutoCAD 2009 has been specifically designed for education use, making it unsuitable for a professional production environment by Including an education banner that will plot in the margin of printed drawings. A dialog box opens up every time a file created with the educational version is accessed that says "Created with an educational version of AutoCAD. Do you want to continue?" The educational version of AutoCAD 2009 is on a 13 month license, meaning after 13 month you will no longer be able to use the software.

System Requirements: The recommended operating system for AutoCAD® 2009 is:

For Microsoft Windows XP SP2: Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or AMD Athlon®, 2.2 GHz or greater or Intel or AMD Dual Core processor, 1.6 GHz or greater 1 GB RAM 750 MB free disk space for installation 1024x768 VGA with true color Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 (SP1 or higher) For Microsoft Windows Vista or 3D modeling: Intel Pentium 4 processor or AMD Athlon, 3.0 GHz or greater or Intel or AMD Dual Core processor, 2.0 GHz or greater 2 GB RAM or greater 2 GB free hard disk available not including installation 1,280 x 1,024 32-bit color video display adapter (true color) 128 MB or greater, OpenGL®, or Direct3D® capable workstation class graphics card. For Windows Vista, a Direct3D capable workstation class graphics card with 128 MB or greater is required.