Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I need to purchase Photoshop for new iMac...which one?
- Thread starter rsted222
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
For basic use, instead of getting Photoshop, I'd recommend getting Photoshop Elements (79$) which is a lot like Photoshop, but with some of the more advanced features removed.
There's also Pixelmator (29$), which is compared closely to Photoshop itself and is, like Photoshop Elements, a more consumer version of Photoshop, and since it's built specifically for Mac OS X, it flows with the system a little better.
Of course, if you're still tout on getting a full version of Photoshop, you'll have to at least get a copy of CS3 (Try to get CS4 if you can), since CS2 and CS only support PowerPC.
Get CS3 at the very least as it's native to Intel. However, it is highly advisable to get CS5 as it is 64-bit and multicore aware.
You can use Photoshop Elements to do art
I would recommend downloading the free trial for Elements 10 as it can really do most of what Photoshop does (unless there's some really technical thing you have to apply)
If anything, CS3 is pretty limited. I would shoot to try to find at least CS4.
Well, both CS and CS2 are PowerPC applications so you won't be able to run them on a new iMac (considering the iMac is running Lion). If you are intent on getting something such as CS2 you will need to be running Snow Leopard with Rosetta, however, these earlier versions of Photoshop are very limited in comparison to the newer versions. If you aren't able to get CS5 (current) I would go for CS4 at the very least.
If terms of extended or not, it really depends on what you want to do. I say extended is reserved for those doing different aspects of 3D work which you claim to not be doing.
If terms of extended or not, it really depends on what you want to do. I say extended is reserved for those doing different aspects of 3D work which you claim to not be doing.
Yes, go with the standard version. At this point however, look into possibly waiting for CS6 as Adobe's Creative Suite (CS5) is nearing its end of life and coming up on an upgrade cycle. If you can wait a possibly a few months for Adobe to announce and release CS6 do that, if you need Photoshop now however, look into getting the least expensive copy that you can get your hands on.
CS3 and CS4 are completely terrible versions. Avoid them.
Go with CS5, not to mention if a new OS comes out CS3 and CS4 will not be supported since CS6 will be out by then and Adobe has made it clear they only support the last two versions.
Go with CS5, not to mention if a new OS comes out CS3 and CS4 will not be supported since CS6 will be out by then and Adobe has made it clear they only support the last two versions.
Thanks for this tip, chrf097, I have been thinking about getting Photoshop also, and this app looks excellent! sold!