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Adobe CS3 for windows or mac?

Adokimus

Adokimus

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 2, 2007
842
3
Boston, MA
I'm planning on buying Adobe CS3 soon for non-professional (hobby) graphics work. I plan to load CS3 on my MBP when I eventually get it. Even though I will have a MBP, I will be relying on bootcamp + windows for the bulk of my work-oriented projects, and OSX for most of my recreational and personal use. So, I will be on either OS about 50% of the time, or essentially OS-neutral for most matters. Therefore, I am wondering if there is any difference between Adobe CS3 on a mac or on windows as I could just as easily install either on my MBP. I have heard that the mac version is more of a port, and that the windows version is better, but I don't know if any of that was true.

Can anyone give me some objective advice on this? I really can't afford to buy both, so that's not an option. I'd especially like to hear from anyone who has used both.

Thanks!

Ado


P.S. - does anyone know how many computers you can load the software on? My other laptop is a Dell, so if I can load it on at least two machines, that would make CS3 on windows more appealing.
 
Adokimus said:
I have heard that the mac version is more of a port, and that the windows version is better, but I don't know if any of that was true.
Click to expand...

The codebase is just as native on the Mac as it is on Windows. Remember that Photoshop (and the rest of the CS applicaitons) started as a Mac-only app and was later ported to Windows.

There's no appreciable difference between CS3 on the two platforms, honestly. I prefer working in the OS X environment, so I have CS3 for OS X.
 
CS3 runs just as well under OS X as it does under Windows.

In fact, if the improvements I've seen in Blender (3D rendering/animation) software with Leopard are anything to go by, the CS3 should be noticeably faster under Leopard on the same machine than Windows (especially Vista, which is slooooow).
 
I once did a project for uni using Flash, Dreamweaver and Photoshop. The school was using MX on PC's and I was using CS3 on Mac. It turned out to be a big problem, not because of the platform, but because of the different CS versions...

Anyway, I've used CS on both PC and Mac and prefer the latter because I've had more exposure to it. There are little differences like the way the buttons interact visually, some menus are slightly different, things like that.

I don't think you can load it on two machines (even on the same platform) because you have to register and you only get one serial number.
 
CS3 Mac version is not a windows port. It was entirely re-coded by Adobe to be Intel Mac savvy, that's what took them so long.

I run CS3 on my MBP and it runs like a charm. Having owned Adobe software for many years I can vouch for CS3's vast improvements in terms of speed, user interface and features. I really do like CS3 it's a huge improvement on CS2 IMO and I'm running it on Leopard with no problems at all.
 
If you do web then get it for Windows, if not then it doesnt really matter. The only program thats different on both platforms is Dreamweaver, which is much much better on Windows than Mac. In Windows the interface is like Flash and very organized and clean, on a Mac they are still using the 4 year old buggy "floating table" interface that just annoys the hell out of people since it never works right.

In Leopard there are strange graphical glitches in CS3 but nothing that breaks anything, just issues with buttons that look smushed and scrollers that have a white border.
 
stainlessliquid said:
If you do web then get it for Windows, if not then it doesnt really matter. The only program thats different on both platforms is Dreamweaver, which is much much better on Windows than Mac. In Windows the interface is like Flash and very organized and clean, on a Mac they are still using the 4 year old buggy "floating table" interface that just annoys the hell out of people since it never works right.

In Leopard there are strange graphical glitches in CS3 but nothing that breaks anything, just issues with buttons that look smushed and scrollers that have a white border.
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't agree. I hate working with with DW in Windows. DW is very customisable and you can alter the way it appears on screen to your preference and it's not buggy at all. In fact I have worked with DW in Windows and it crashed twice, never happened on my Mac.

I've not noticed these glitches you refer to in Leopard and looking at PS CS3 now I still can't identify them. They don't exist for me on my MBP.
 
Adokimus said:
P.S. - does anyone know how many computers you can load the software on? My other laptop is a Dell, so if I can load it on at least two machines, that would make CS3 on windows more appealing.
Click to expand...

Unlimited computers.
 
i have it for OS X. I rather use it for OS X, because on XP in bootcamp, I find the keys are awkward( due to the MBP being a mac layout and functions)
also, running bootcamp is slower perforamnce then if it was native.
 
If you're running Windows in Bootcamp you are running it native, so it won't be any slower than if your are using it in Windows on a PC. If you are using Parallels then yes it would be slower.
 
Bern said:
Sorry I don't agree. I hate working with with DW in Windows. DW is very customisable and you can alter the way it appears on screen to your preference and it's not buggy at all. In fact I have worked with DW in Windows and it crashed twice, never happened on my Mac.

I've not noticed these glitches you refer to in Leopard and looking at PS CS3 now I still can't identify them. They don't exist for me on my MBP.
Click to expand...

I guess it comes down to personal preference then since I hate the mac dreamweaver version since its not as organized or streamlined as the windows version. On windows I dont have to juggle all the annoying tables and hate how nothing is flush with anything, it just has a poorly done GUI like most of Macromedia's old apps.

You have to have the glitches, adobe even acknowledges them http://www.isights.org/2007/11/leopards-photos.html If you use the toolbars and menu items then they are quite noticeable. They arent serious though based on my uses, just kind of dumb on Adobe's part.
 
Is there any real reason the OP needs to use Windows to do his graphics work? If not then I say ditch Windows and run everything in OSX.

If the OP is doing much of his pro work in Windows then is there a way to do the consumer stuff in Windows?

If all else fails then I say go for the CS3 version that works with Mac OS X, it's just smoother, and when you need to switch between work and play it will be easier.
 
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