CS5 upgrade pricing

I am running CS3, but I got a card in the mail from Adobe that I can upgrade to CS5 for $299. I have not been shopping it long enough to know if that's a deal.

So is that a good price? Is it worth upgrading if I have some $$ in my photography slush fund?

I'd think the improved masking abilities and NR would be very useful improvements for processing.

Thanks!
Michelle

At $299 you're getting ripped as the upgrade from CS3 > CS5 is only $199 on Adobe's site. Plus, if you're a member of NAPP you can knock of %15. A lot of it depends on what you do with the program. Download the trial and see if it offers anything to you. I had CS3 and preordered CS5 and haven't regretted it one bit.

D Thompson wrote in post #13004811
At $299 you're getting ripped as the upgrade from CS3 > CS5 is only $199 on Adobe's site. Plus, if you're a member of NAPP you can knock of %15. A lot of it depends on what you do with the program. Download the trial and see if it offers anything to you. I had CS3 and preordered CS5 and haven't regretted it one bit.

I didn't know you could upgrade directly from CS3 > CS5. I thought you had to buy CS4 in between? Gotta go check the website.

Hey Dennis,

Thanks - you just saved me $100! I had no idea CS3 could upgrade to CS5!

Cheers,
Michelle

If you can hold off they aren't far from an upgrade.

mco_970 wrote in post #13005081
I didn't know you could upgrade directly from CS3 > CS5. I thought you had to buy CS4 in between? Gotta go check the website.

Adobe's method in the past has been that you can upgrade from up to 3 versions back, so you can actually jump from CS2 > CS5. You don't have to purchase intermediate versions.

mco_970 wrote in post #13005186
Hey Dennis,

Thanks - you just saved me $100! I had no idea CS3 could upgrade to CS5!

Cheers,
Michelle

Any donations on the savings are greatly appreciated.

chauncey wrote in post #13005208
If you can hold off they aren't far from an upgrade.

Based on the past upgrade times I'd guess that October is the earliest for CS6. Could be longer, never know.

Cool - I think guess I can wait another month or two and see what happens. Might as well jump from CS3 > CS6 if they will let me...

WHen CS5.5 was released Adobe stated that they were moving to a 24-month release cycle (previously it had been approx. 18 months). Since CS5 was released in April 2010 that means that the next version wouldn't be available until 2012.

http://www.adobe.com …dobeCreativeSui​te5.5.html

"This launch marks a major change to Adobe’s product release strategy for Creative Suite, the industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow across print, video, mobile and online media. Adobe now plans to have milestone Creative Suite product introductions at 24-month intervals and – starting with Creative Suite 5.5 – significant mid-cycle releases designed to keep the worldwide creative community ahead of the latest advances in content authoring."

chauncey wrote in post #13005208
If you can hold off they aren't far from an upgrade.

I would estimate that we are still awhile from seeing the next version of the Creative Suite.

Announcement Dates
CS5 = 12 April 2010
CS4 = 23 September 2008
CS3 = 27 March 2007

They normally have thousands of users in a prerelease testing program (their fancy name for beta) and I haven't heard any of this going on anywhere yet. I'm sure some of the big names in photoshop training may have a early copy but it is still early, imo.

It may be interesting to see what they bring in this next version. I've read rumors where they are going to be building more video functionality into the extended version of Photoshop. You have to wonder how much more they can add into it on the photo editing side.

mco_970 wrote in post #13005946
Cool - I think guess I can wait another month or two and see what happens. Might as well jump from CS3 > CS6 if they will let me...

This could be a problem - Don't Adobe usually allow upgrades from the last two previous versions? - Therefore, to upgrade to CS6 you will need to have CS4.

EDIT: - I've just looked HERE and it looks like it's three versions so you should be OK?

Should be okay, and otherwise, there's plenty of notice shortly before they actually ship PSCS6. So you could buy PSCS5 in the grace period...

Well, I downloaded CS5 and now I MUST HAVE IT! Wow, the 64 bit version is soooooooo fast and responsive on my machine... LOVE IT!

Cheers,
Michelle