I need it to exist in their database, and know the part number, before I can place it. For example: In CS, I need to do an online search and select, just to be able to place a resistor. If your job is primarily electronics, and you spend some time on PCB design (say, at least 20% of your time) get Altium, because the productivity is soo much higher.

It is deliberately stripped down, as said, and it will make your work slower. The question is: Do we actually need the additional features that Altium Designer has? Is it worth throwing 10 grand at? Why? Why not? It's also worth mentioning that we might need a license for two users. It much cheaper (almost an order of magnitude), but is a stripped down version of Altium Designer IIRC. It's expensive, but we _can_ afford it if we have to. We've been looking at buying Altium Designer, but the price here is allmost 10000$ plus a yearly update of ~1500$. The company agrees that they want to replace CadInt. This company have been using CadInt, but I want to use a modern and efficient CAD software when I'm going design these 4 and 6 layer PCBs. I've used Eagle a lot, and know it very well. The biggest boards we're goint to design MAY be as large as 4 rack units, but mostly never more than 15x20 cm. Hi! I just started working at a small company that designs DSP audio gear and HDMI splitters/repeaters for professional installation.

Altium circuit studio