cut vynil MAC not compatible? Plz help

[Gemini Graphics 0]

Ws going on guys if someone could help me out would be a blessing, im a graphic designer & finally would like to get into vinyl cutting but none that im interested in are compatible with my Mac desktop   Are they any?????

if not i have an old HP lap top i can use but doesn’t have illustrator do any printers come with software that will be similar to illustrator creating outlines & vectors ???? & if so WHAT PRINTER PPL  

If possible a cutter thats 250$, 500$ Price range im just trying to be a little more hands im not making 500 shirts a day ppl  

Thank u so much who ever reads this and if anyone has answers or any type of help plz feel free 

[MZ SKEETER 4,718]

The SC2 with Sure Cuts A Lot Software will work with a Mac.   You have to choose Sure Cuts A Lot from the drop down box for software. 

https://www.uscutter.com/USCutter-SC2-Series-Vinyl-Cutter

Lose the word "printer" when referring to a vinyl cutter/plotter..  There is no ink to "print." 

You can download and try a trial of Sure Cuts a Lot Or Vinyl Master for PC.   You choose which one you would like.   They are vector software. 

 

[haumana 1,227]

You're fairly limited as to which cutter you can get from USC with your budget. I'd recommend the SC 2 28".  It's dual platform friendly, and it's better than the MH.

Cutters will only cut vector. Like Skeeter said, you can download the trials on the PC platform and see if that'll work for you. I think SCAL might also have a trial version for your Mac. Either way, the cutter has pretty low system requirements, so you don't need anything state-of-the-art to run the software or machine.

Totally free is Sign Blazer Elements for PC.

Another alternative is to Bootcamp/VM Fusion/Parallels the Mac if you prefer the PC software, but need to run it on your Mac machine. It will work.

[Wildgoose 4,200]

I use mac and Illustrator and interface with the cutter using SignCut Pro 1. They have Pro 2 out now too but since I do my designs on AI the added parts of Pro 2 are not something I need. There have been many that use the Sure Cuts A Lot Pro (SCALP) mentioned above. Just know that it is not the greatest program especially if trying to design in it. If you have access to AI and plan to continue to use it then that won't be an issue and you can probably get by with SCALP as a strictly cutting utility to talk to your cutter. 

If you go the SignCut route it costs money after the free trial. The free trial may only be available on Pro 2 now that it's out but it's still worth a try after you get your cutter and get it up and running for comparison. I ended up buying the lifetime dongle so I don't have to pay rent but they cost as much as your cutter will so you may need to stick to SCALP until you get some revenue coming in. Just know that there are mac options out there for the long run either way. 

[darcshadow 1,641]

And if you have to, you can always design on the Mac and cut on a windows computer. Most all of the low end cutters have a serial port and if you use that you don't need any cutter specific driver, you just need a program that works on a Mac and can connect to the printer via a serial port. The tripplite Keyspan adapter is a great usb-2-serial adapter if you computer does not have a serial port, which most do not these days.