Adobe & Upgrades - Mac

[jgilbert]

My father-in-law is a graphic designer and an die-hard Mac user. He hasn't upgraded his technology in a long time and is running archaic equipment. He is currently running PhotoShop 3.0, and trying to find out what he can upgrade. He knows that eventually he needs to throw in the towel and buy a new system, but the software for that can be so damned expensive.

I'm not much of a Mac user, but I would assume the upgrade requirements are the same. Does anyone know what he can upgrade version 3.0 to? I believe he is running OS 9, and 8.6 on a 800mhz processor (however, it's an upgrade card so he is still running a 50mhz bus and his 512mb RAM is very slow too I would imagine).

Also, anyone have any advice about gettin OEM software, or cheap Adobe software through some sort of small business discount. He's got a lot of software to acquire, and I would like to find the cheapest, LEGAL way.

Thanks,

J

 

[jmgalvin]

Adobe offers no software that is compatable with any version of Mac other than OSX. Neither OSX nor any Adobe apps will work on the machine you describe. Your only hope for older versions is probably Ebay.

Adobe Creative Suite Pro is probably the best deal out there - Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, Acrobat Pro, and Golive. It's $1200. Even if you do nothing with web stuff, the bundle of the other 4 is a great value for print work.

A 20 inch iMac refurb direct from Apple can be had for $1150 and up. Add a gig of RAM for $100 or so and you have an excellent graphics machine. We have some here.

Go to this pag e and scroll down

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...3GJ/0.0.19.1.0.8.63.0.0.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?98,43

So 1200 + 1150 + 100 = 2450 total to have an excellent graphics enviroment. If you want some more protextion, 2 extra years of warranty on the iMac will run about $170.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[jimoblak]

OEM software is far from getting it legally. OEM software is supposed to be software that is bundled with a hardware sale. If you see OEM software only, you are likely looking at pirated software. You would be silly to pay someone else to provide you with software that either of you could have stolen for free.

Aside from bundle software purchases like the Creative Suite, if the purchaser has an academic ID (such as from a community college), they can get the software at an incredible discount. That educational software can be used commercially as long as the purchaser has the valid educational credentials at the time of purchase.

Beware that no current Adobe software (Creative Suite 2 components and earlier) is compatible with the new Intel iMac and AppleBook computers. You will need to stick with a PPC processor until Adobe releases Creative Suite 3.