Transition from PS7 to CS6

[Ademordna]

Quite a leap, I'll admit!

But I have, perhaps stupidly, been using PS7 for many years and have only recently felt the need to upgrade. I use the software to create digital art, collage and painting with a Wacom Intuos 4, and save the majority of my work in PSD and JPEG.

Will I experience issues upgrading to CS6 if I want to open my files which were created in PS7? They open and function just fine in the Photoshop Elements which I have installed on my macbook pro for web use.

I am a bit scared of this upgrade for obvious reasons, and would prefer to purchase CS5 (for mac/UK) but can't seem to find it for sale. (Don't wish to use creative cloud, for I only work with PS).

Any advice?

 

[jeremy h]

You shouldn't have any issues. To be honest most of the features I use most in Photoshop have been there since the late nineties. They're all still there you just have to sort of sweep all the new clutter out of the way!

I've ended up going back to CS4 from CS5 due to a bug - but that seems to only affect those of us on Power Mac towers of certain types. I don't think it's in CS6 but I guess at some point I'll find out!

Do check your OS though - I think the latest stuff needs at least 10.6.

 

[Ademordna]

Thanks!

I am ready for a thorough upgrade, so am hoping to purchase one of the new iMacs this month.

Would love recommendations for RAM/HDD. I was initially intending to go with the 21.5' iMac with 16Gb RAM and default HD, but have been advised to add the Fusion.

 

[fig]

Photoshop is photoshop, you're just going to find it's slower and more cluttered now

As far as system I don't know that I'd go with a Fusion drive personally, the concept is fantastic but I want them to be out in the wild for a bit before investing. I'm getting a Mac mini sometimes in the spring and I'll probably go for the SSD.

 

[Ademordna]

Slower????!!

Is there any way to purchase cs5 without the cloud?

I do like what cs6 has to offer though.

 

[chaosbunny]

Slower????!!

On an Intel Mac CS5/6 should actually perform better than Photoshop 7 because the newer Software doesn't have to be emulated via Rosetta. And without an Intel Mac you won't be able to run CS5/6 anyway.

 

[Ademordna]

Makes sense.

I'm still confused about the Fusion drive though: most of the advice that I have been given states that the 5400rpm hard drive won't be enough to run PS efficiently. I am looking to buy the 21.5" so there are no other options, apart from Fusion.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Makes sense.

I'm still confused about the Fusion drive though: most of the advice that I have been given states that the 5400rpm hard drive won't be enough to run PS efficiently. I am looking to buy the 21.5" so there are no other options, apart from Fusion.

As I understand it, the point of the Fusion drive is that your current and frequently accessed files are written to the smaller, but much faster, SSD.

Worth mentioning that I'm running the CS6 suite for print design on a MacBook Pro with a 5400rpm HDD quite satisfactorily.

 

[Ademordna]

As I understand it, the point of the Fusion drive is that your current and frequently accessed files are written to the smaller, but much faster, SSD.

Worth mentioning that I'm running the CS6 suite for print design on a MacBook Pro with a 5400rpm HDD quite satisfactorily.

Thanks, that's really good to know!
There's so much conflicting advice, it is difficult to know where to start.

 

[blanka]

I have the feeling that the bloatfactor and its performance decline of CS5.5/6 roughly matches the Rosetta hike.
OK, CS6 beats the crap out of an early 32-bit one when you are into 100-layer 2Gb files, but as long as the file size is reasonable, Rosetta is pretty powerful too.

offtopic: does anyone know how to select the area to zoom in PS 5.5/6? Command-space has some fancy-pants zooming instead of the faster and more accurate rectangle zooming of the past.

 

[Jim Campbell]

offtopic: does anyone know how to select the area to zoom in PS 5.5/6? Command-space has some fancy-pants zooming instead of the faster and more accurate rectangle zooming of the past.

Zoom tool options -- uncheck 'Scrubby Zoom'. Took me ages to find that, and it was driving me insane.

Cheers!

Jim

 

[velocityg4]

Makes sense.

I'm still confused about the Fusion drive though: most of the advice that I have been given states that the 5400rpm hard drive won't be enough to run PS efficiently. I am looking to buy the 21.5" so there are no other options, apart from Fusion.

Personally I would get an aftermarket SSD and pop it in there and use it for your Boot Drive, Apps and scratch disk. Then use the 1TB as an external. If you will be creating a lot of large set the 1TB aside to reinstall for warranty work and get a 7,200RPM 3TB hard drive or external RAID 5 for even more capacity and faster read/write.

By the way I can open files I made in Photoshop 3.0.4 in the mid 90's.