So how much is solid works for the hobby user?Solidworks is the best for 3D modelling , kills any other 3D software like Inventor , SolidEdge and so on , so intuitive and powerful ( normally where others programs need 10 steps to do something SW does it in 5 ) , also Dassault Systems - which owns SW - has released years ago a 2D cad for free called DraftSight , also student SW version is free . Premium Inventor license costs 5/6000 euros , then SW Premium costs 12'000 euros and you need to upgrade to a high performance pc / laptop .
CatiA is the best for complex surfaces like vehicles bodies ( that's why every car manufacturer uses it )
Personally I find Autocad very simple to use , even if I'm italian I prefer the english version which I use now , not so much people knows that Autocad is really powerful and gives huge possibilities to ones who know how to use it properly , you can combine it with DOS , Excel and so on and make pretty impressive things
Personally we have never left pencil and paper in the shop and in the office , yes we use computers and CAD but I wouldn't be able to work if I cannot make manual sketches or just annotate anything on printed technical drawings !