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Photoshop CS3: It’s All Great Except The Price.

CS3I’m an original Photoshop user going back to version 1.x. I learned not to upgrade every version.

My last Photoshop upgrade was the original CS. It’s time to upgrade again and boy, have times changed.

They say there’s not much inflation in the US economy. If so, the folks at Adobe haven’t heard the news. Inflation is rampant.

In addition to Photoshop and Illustrator, I’m also a long time user of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash, probably the best one-two-three punch in web design.

Adobe now owns Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and other Macromedia tools, and Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 has bundles to suit any Mac or Windows graphic or web designer. Except those on a budget.

The latest upgrades make Adobe the Microsoft of graphic design and media tools. Microsoft and Apple’s offerings pale in comparison to the sophistication offered by CS3.

To keep it brief, there’s not much to not like about CS3. If you’ve used and require Photoshop and Illustrator for your graphic designs, CS3 has a bundle for you.

If you’ve stuck to Macromedia’s powerhouse trio of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash, they’re available in various bundles, too. All the bundles are designed to put a smile on your face.

No, not a smile of “Wow, what a great deal.” It’s the smile you cough up to hide your true feelings knowing that you have little choice but to cough up again-- cold, hard cash.

CS3’s bundles, relative to packaging of years past with a smaller product line, are an eye opener. The retail price tag on a new version of Create Suite 3 Master Collection will empty your wallet of about $2,500.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. If your boss isn’t paying the freight, make sure you have an upgrade in your future, as that’s where the true savings are available.

I haven’t upgraded Photoshop since the original Creative Suite, missing CS2, so my upgrade “tax” is stiff. However, I did upgrade to Macromedia’s Studio 8 a few years ago, so my pain is reduced substantially.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium gives my the latest versions of what I use most, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash, along with Photoshop, Illustrator, and a handful of other goodies, including Acrobat and Contribute.

Upgrading from Studio 8 is a mere $499 compared to the full price tag of $1,599. What am I getting for the upgrade price? Adobe loaded up all the bundles and individual packages with more features, more capability, and more compatibility.

For example, Photoshop in Intel Mac native, new palettes here and there (actually, a single column of tools) in a new look. That’s fine as I thought both Photoshop and Illustrator had too many palettes.

There are more tools and more non-destructive filters and a bit more speed.

Dreamweaver integrates better with the rest of CS3, improves handling of cascading style sheets and pulls images from Photoshop in direct cut and paste. I like the JavaScript tools for creation of navigation menus.

There’s also a Check Browser Compatibility function which is sure to come in handy when creating sites for web site visitors who use something else besides Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Fireworks may be my favorite graphics app of all time and goes Intel native with new workflow tools, quick sharing with Dreamweaver and Photoshop, and new tools. The Common Library will save time by centralizing a collection of common web page elements, all of which have editable attributes.

My experience so far is limited to the beta downloads from Adobe, as CS3 is slated to ship later in the month. Yes, I coughed up the $499 to upgrade to CS3 Web Premium Edition.

While that’s the most I’ve ever spent on an upgrade to Adobe or Macromedia, it sure sounds like a bargain when compared to the retail price of $1,600.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

Off Topic #23 & #18 - Want to speed up your Mac? Try Kate MacKenzie’s approach to the $7.99 speed increase. Do you have a back up system for your Mac? Kate’s PixoBebo shows you how to use Time Machine with SuperDuper! for the ultimate Mac back up. And she doesn’t even charge Mac360 readers to visit her site.

Off Topic #58 - Do politicians use personal computers? Of course. We’ve heard Barack Obama prefers a Mac, while Hillary Clinton uses a Dell, though, apparently neither of the candidates can bowl. Does Obama’s potential vice president use a Mac? Even Clinton acknowledges Apple’s brand power but says she can’t afford a Mac. Maybe she’d win if she used a Mac.

   • Article by Ron McElfresh • Published on Sunday, April 27, 2008
   • Category: Encore Reviews • 19 Reader comment(s) • Email This • Digg This • Shop Now
  Page 1 of 1 Page(s) for this article.

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Readers Talk Back:
PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ says:

Thanks guys, tired, going to get some sleep. I’ll look into those programs tomorrow. Been with Mac for a year last Dec now and would never go back to microsoft. ever ever ever.

peace

   — Posted on Thu Jan 03 at 3:01 am by PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ

Dom says:

Personally, if you can’t afford the Creative Suite, I’d recommend looking at Acorn as an image editor, and Rapidweaver as a site building tool. If you combine Rapidweaver with one of the theme editing tools or CSSEdit then you should be able to do most of what you’d like very very easily.

There are a number of open source tools for images and web pages worth looking at that run either directly on the Mac or on the X11 layer (eg GIMP for a photoshop equivalent) that are free and also worth looking at.

   — Posted on Thu Jan 03 at 2:55 am by Dom

iggy pence says:

Pro-dude, either buy the best or figure out what you can do for less. Photoshop is nice, but Fireworks for Mac works well for less. GraphicConverter is good for much less. Everything else is HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and those tools are either free or not expensive.

   — Posted on Thu Jan 03 at 2:42 am by iggy pence

PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ says:

WOW, i used to buy a web domain and make a website when I used to use pc’s and use the user friendly web design maker tools. I thought I was so cool, at least I was not on that lame “mysapce”. Well I have been with mac for a year now, I own a Mac Pro desktop with the 23 inch high definition monitor, the Pro has the dual 3 gigahertz processors in it meaning four cores. I also have a Mac Book for the road.

I want to get into real web design but it looks like from what I have read, I am going to have to take a second loan on the house to get the software. Do I need to know “html for this”?
Someone tell me because I am the type to just go buy all the software and bring it home only to run into a brick wall. I am a self taught person, but If I have to know code then I need classes.

   — Posted on Thu Jan 03 at 12:06 am by PRO~DUAL~INTEL~3/GIGAHERTZ

Mr. Reeee says:

Well, I earn a good living with my Mac and gladly pay for the software I use.

When I finally bit the bullet to upgrade to CS3… I had single licenses for Photoshop, Acrobat Pro and FreeHand… I assumed I’d get CS3 for a price that took into account those 3 licenses. No Dice! I was pissed and let a few Adobe reps know it!

What’s worse, when you’ve PAID for software, you’d think that a company would appreciate an honest and PAYING customer and reflect that appreciation with upgrade pricing. Not so with Adobe. Gouging has it’s benefits

   — Posted on Sun Dec 16 at 3:50 am by Mr. Reeee

iggy pence says:

Photoshop CS2 and Elements have some problems under Leopard. Your mileage may vary. I just bit the bullet and paid up for CS3. It works fine under Leopard but is not a speed demon. Invest in RAM.

   — Posted on Fri Dec 14 at 10:47 am by iggy pence

Dom says:

I’m dreading when I reach the point to upgrade to an Intel Mac, as I guess that’s when I make the CS2 to CS3 jump. I’m already feeling stung for the upgrade price (I owned most of the Creative Suite from separate licences but you only get to take PS if you want to upgrade) to CS2 from PS7,AI10 etc.

Then again, most of my day to day needs are covered by Acorn and I only roll out PS for more detail. I’m not certain I need to upgrade!

http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/

BTW does anyone know if CS2 works under Leopard?

   — Posted on Fri Dec 14 at 6:39 am by Dom

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