Adobe CS5 design premium or master collection?

[Sossity]

While I am in school & going for an AA in graphic design, some of the classes in my major are online & will require some of Adobe's software in the design premium suite.

I can get big student discounts on very expensive Adobe software, & looked at the design suite vs the master collection & it comes down to price

most if not all my classes in my major will probably only need the design premium or web premium suite. At one online student store, the web premium suite & the design suite are about $360.00 & the master collection is $599.99. I did the math & it is cheaper to get the whole master collection then getting say, the design premium, & then later the web premium.

I will be using this software on a macbook pro 2010 i7 laptop running snowleopard 10.6.3.

which version should I get? I want to make good use of my school money grants, this will probably be a one time purchase of such expensive software, so I go for it & get the whole master collection? or just get what my classes will require? with the master collection, it might allow me to grow into it if I find I need the other programs it has. I notice the master collection has some video editors in it & I do sometimes work with video.

Would I be able to get later updated student versions of any of the software in the master collection? for example I if Adobe photoshop CS 6 come out? or CS6 design premium? or would getting the master collection preclude or through Adobe's restrictions on student versions stop me from getting later versions of any of the software in the CS5 master collection?

does all the software in the master collection come on a single DVD-ROM? & can I choose off it which programs to install?

 

[jbyun04]

most if not all my classes in my major will probably only need the design premium or web premium suite. At one online student store, the web premium suite & the design suite are about $360.00 & the master collection is $599.99. I did the math & it is cheaper to get the whole master collection then getting say, the design premium, & then later the web premium.

Do you need to use Contribute / Flash Builder from Web Premium? I can't speak for all design programs but the ones I am aware of only make use of Design Premium.

The program I took used Design Premium + Final Cut Studio. Didn't touch Contribute and I'm guessing Flash Builder is some kind of a noob program anyway.

I will be using this software on a macbook pro 2010 i7 laptop running snowleopard 10.6.3.

which version should I get? I want to make good use of my school money grants, this will probably be a one time purchase of such expensive software, so I go for it & get the whole master collection? or just get what my classes will require? with the master collection, it might allow me to grow into it if I find I need the other programs it has. I notice the master collection has some video editors in it & I do sometimes work with video.

It's really up to you. I prefer Final Cut to Premiere but much prefer After Effects to Motion. If you can justify it and you really think you'll get serious with video editing, go for it.

Would I be able to get later updated student versions of any of the software in the master collection? for example I if Adobe photoshop CS 6 come out? or CS6 design premium? or would getting the master collection preclude or through Adobe's restrictions on student versions stop me from getting later versions of any of the software in the CS5 master collection?

Yes. The only student restriction you get is that you need to be a student to buy the software at that price. Once you finish school, you're free to use it commercially and you can upgrade it whenever the next version comes out. Plus if you have an iMac later on and a MacBook Pro, you can install a copy on both and use it provided you're not using them at the same time. If you need to work remotely on someone else's Mac that doesn't have it installed, you can install yours there and just deactivate it when you're done.

does all the software in the master collection come on a single DVD-ROM? & can I choose off it which programs to install?

My CS4 Design Premium came on two or three DVDs. If you can, just download it digitally..much easier and yep you can pick the ones you want to install.

If you have the money to buy the Master Collection, go for it. It's never a bad thing to dabble in unfamiliar programs like After Effects and such.If you need to save money, I would just go for Design Premium as I'm willing to bet my left leg that you'll need InDesign over Flash Builder. I could be wrong though! Check with your advisor to make sure.

Hope that helped!