I'm thinking of switching to a mac but I have JPSP

[rmfawcett]

So, I love graphics design. I absolutely love it. Obsessed, really. I mostly do photomanipulation.
I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 right now and love it. While there are some things I could live without, I've worked really well with it over the years.
My problem is that I'm thinking of getting a Mac mini, because right now the family computer is getting fought over too often. Really, there are not any downsides to getting the Mac. Except that my PSP won't work on it.
So I was wondering if there was a way to convert it to work on a Mac, or if not, which program would I have to buy to replace it.
I was thinking Photoshop CS3, but then I have heard that Elements is a lot like PSP, and it's considerably cheaper than CS3.
So my question is, which would be best for photomanipulation? I do the works: cut, shade, tint, ect. Like I'll take a horse, cut it from its original background, place it on a beach, add splashes, sand, shadow, tint, until the horse looks like it was originally in the beach background. So I was wondering if Elements has all the tools needed to do that? I think it does, but as I've never used it and don't know anyone who's used it, I can't be sure.
Just want some opinions from people who know what they're doing

 

[munson]

I know nothing of Elements, but CS3 does well for me, and if you get the CS3 Design Suite you get Fl, Dw, Br, Id, and Ps.

You COULD get it for free, but, I'm sure there are plenty of places around the web where you could get a good deal on it.

(I do NOT condone illegal piracy, but, I am well aware that it exists)

 

[djbahdow01]

Elements would be totally fine for you. CS3 probably has a lot more features than you might need. If anything download the trial from Adobe to see if it is right for you, they do have a windows version as well so you can even test it before buying a mac.

 

[junker]

I'm sure you're very aware of these options, but I wanted to bring i up in case not....I'm not sure if you're getting an intel processor or an older PPC, but if it's intel, I would imagine you load windows on a separate partition and just use boot camp to run it. Or check out parallels... with parallels, as I understand it you can run windows programs inside the mac environment without re-booting like boot camp.

And I agree about getting CS3... you should strongly consider investing in it... it's a good deal for such a wide variety of computer graphics programs. One of the most amazing computer graphics programs ever is: Corel Painter.

 

[munson]

I'm sure you're very aware of these options, but I wanted to bring i up in case not....I'm not sure if you're getting an intel processor or an older PPC, but if it's intel, I would imagine you load windows on a separate partition and just use boot camp to run it. Or check out parallels... with parallels, as I understand it you can run windows programs inside the mac environment without re-booting like boot camp.

And I agree about getting CS3... you should strongly consider investing in it... it's a good deal for such a wide variety of computer graphics programs. One of the most amazing computer graphics programs ever is: Corel Painter.

Yeah, you are right about Parallels, but it is very memory-intensive. You have to devote a lot of memory to run both at the same time. Bootcamp is your best bet, really, unless you plan on getting 3 GB+ of RAM