10-08-2011, 06:33 PM

First a short history. I recently took my iMac in to the Apple Store because it was running VERY slow. They erased the hard drive and reinstalled the Mac Operating system, all for free. In the process they moved me up from OS 10.4 to OS 10.5.8 including newer versions of Mac Mail and iPhoto, all very nice considering the zero charge (I was well out of warranty). BUT – here is my problem:

I have become very proficient with Photoshop Elements 2.0. Unfortunately 2.0 needs the Classic environment and will not operate under OS 10.5 (I am convinced that is true after reading through many posts going back several years). I am willing to upgrade to a compatible version of PSE but have several questions:

1) I see versions 2.0 all the way up to v 10 for sale on the internet but have no idea which version(s) will work with OS 10.5.8

2) Amazon sells “PSE 9 (win/mac) [old version]”. What does “Old version” mean?

3) Recommended RAM is 1GB, I have 512 MB. Would it be wise to increase the RAM?

4) If yes to 3) the Genius at the Apple store suggested Crucial.com for purchase of additional RAM. Anyone familiar with that organization?

Sorry for the lengthy post but I don’t want to make an error in upgrading. Thanks for any and all help

John hendrie

10-08-2011, 07:19 PM

1. Here is the system requirements, from Adobe's page, for PSe 10.

Mac OS

Multicore Intel® processor
Mac OS X v10.5.8 through v10.7
1GB of RAM (2GB for HD video functions)
4GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
1024x768 display resolution
DVD-ROM drive
QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
Internet connection required for Internet-based services*


2. PSe 10 is the current version, which means PSe 9 is the old version.
3. Yes. To whatever your machines maximum capacity is.
4. Crucial is the consumer arm of Micron, very well respected memory manufacturer indeed, and frequently recommended here as well.

10-09-2011, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by poppi

First a short history. I recently took my iMac in to the Apple Store because it was running VERY slow. They erased the hard drive and reinstalled the Mac Operating system, all for free. In the process they moved me up from OS 10.4 to OS 10.5.8 including newer versions of Mac Mail and iPhoto, all very nice considering the zero charge (I was well out of warranty). BUT – here is my problem:

I have become very proficient with Photoshop Elements 2.0. Unfortunately 2.0 needs the Classic environment and will not operate under OS 10.5 (I am convinced that is true after reading through many posts going back several years). I am willing to upgrade to a compatible version of PSE but have several questions:

1) I see versions 2.0 all the way up to v 10 for sale on the internet but have no idea which version(s) will work with OS 10.5.8

2) Amazon sells “PSE 9 (win/mac) [old version]”. What does “Old version” mean?

3) Recommended RAM is 1GB, I have 512 MB. Would it be wise to increase the RAM?

4) If yes to 3) the Genius at the Apple store suggested Crucial.com for purchase of additional RAM. Anyone familiar with that organization?

Sorry for the lengthy post but I don’t want to make an error in upgrading. Thanks for any and all help

John hendrie

I currently have CS5 Photoshop Extended on my MBP which is the most current version. I definitely would recommend upgrading your memory to the highest capacity available to you. You can never go wrong upgrading your system. I purchased 8GB memory (4GB x 2) online for only $40! I purchased mine on Ebay without any issues. If you search your serial number on Apple.com/specs it will tell you what memory is compatible to your model. And yes, Crucial is a decent brand. If you are only doing basic design with Photoshop you don't exactly need to spend for the newest version, Photoshop 9 will serve you all purposes.


Britney

10-10-2011, 02:50 AM

Originally Posted by poppi

In the process they moved me up from OS 10.4 to OS 10.5.8 including newer versions of Mac Mail and iPhoto, all very nice considering the zero charge (I was well out of warranty). BUT – here is my problem:

Sadly, what they did was illegal -- and results in issues like this one. And of course you have no backup discs of these things, so if you run into problems ...

I am willing to upgrade to a compatible version of PSE but have several questions:

1) I see versions 2.0 all the way up to v 10 for sale on the internet but have no idea which version(s) will work with OS 10.5.8

Photoshop Elements 9 -- which is a terrific program IMO but TOTALLY different to PS 2 as you might expect -- is the latest version that will run on 10.5.8. All I did to find this out was enter "Photoshop elements 9 mac system requirements" into a search engine.

2) Amazon sells “PSE 9 (win/mac) [old version]”. What does “Old version” mean?

It means Photoshop Elements 10 is out.

3) Recommended RAM is 1GB, I have 512 MB. Would it be wise to increase the RAM?

You should have upgrade your RAM a LONG time ago, so yes you should upgrade it ... preferably as far as that machine can go (you never actually said if you're on a PowerPC machine, but that's the only reason I can imagine why anyone would stay at 10.5.8, so I'm assuming that's what you have).

4) If yes to 3) the Genius at the Apple store suggested Crucial.com for purchase of additional RAM. Anyone familiar with that organization?

That was a good recommendation. They have a fine reputation here, as does Other World Computing (macsales.com) and (for Canada) CanadaRAM.com.

10-10-2011, 11:00 AM

Thank you Chas for the quick and detailed reply. To answer some of your questions:

You should have upgrade your RAM a LONG time ago, so yes you should upgrade it ... preferably as far as that machine can go (you never actually said if you're on a Power PC machine, but that's the only reason I can imagine why anyone would stay at 10.5.8, so I'm assuming that's what you have).

Sorry, I should have included that info in my query. I have a iMac G5 (iSight) 1.83 GHz Core Duo 512 MB 667 MHZ DDR2 SDRAM. The RAM is permanently attached and there is one RAM slot capable of receiving up to 2 GB for a total of 2.5 GB RAM. The Apple specs mention a PC2-4200 but Crucial sells a PC-5300. Would that be a problem?

That was a good recommendation. They have a fine reputation here, as does Other World Computing (macsales.com) and (for Canada) CanadaRAM.com.[/QUOTE]

I will check out the other sites as well

Again thank you very much for your help. You can infer from the above that I am not real savvy in this area and your help is very much appreciated

10-11-2011, 05:20 PM

Well, I'm still not sure what machine you actually have, since there is no such thing as a G5 and a Core Duo at the same time.

If as I suspect it is actually an Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz (ie this one), then yes a PC-5300 will work fine. You can also upgrade the OS as far as Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x) for $30 and "get legal" plus you have the option to buy the latest version of iPhoto for $15. You could conceivably even run the latest PSE, but really versions 8 or 9 would work fine and might be found cheaper now that 10 is out.

10-12-2011, 09:49 AM

Sorry for the confusion Chas, I am not very knowledgeable and the Apple sales receipts are not very helpful. I tried the link you offered and got a "Cannot find" message. Here are the data from my "About this Mac:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM41.0055.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.1f5
Serial Number (system): W86270RWU2N
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CB8EA304

It was purchased in July 2006 and is a model with iSight. Does this narrow it down?

As far as upgrading the OS to 10.6, can I do that for $30 if the 10.5 I have is "illegal"

I really appreciate your help as I don't want to make any mistakes in upgrading the RAM or Photoshops

Thanks again

poppi

10-13-2011, 04:37 AM

Originally Posted by poppi

It was purchased in July 2006 and is a model with iSight. Does this narrow it down?

Yes, it's the one I thought it was.

As far as upgrading the OS to 10.6, can I do that for $30 if the 10.5 I have is "illegal"

Yes.

10-16-2011, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by poppi

I have become very proficient with Photoshop Elements 2.0.....

John hendrie

If you like the feel of Elements 2, I can report that Elements 3 is basically the same and works on everything from 10.4 Tiger to 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. It uses Rosetta so won't work on 10.7 Lion.

Elements 3 has a few handy improvements over version 2, no drawbacks that I have found, and no authentication scheme. Highly recommended if you don't like the newer versions for some reason.

10-26-2011, 05:35 PM

UPDATE - I have upgraded my iMac to 2 GB Ram and it is faster than lightning. I also invested in Photoshop Elements 9 which leads to another question.

Of course the PSE 9 comes with no manual and I find I need a book for reference. I have read a lot of good reviews on PSE 9 All in One for Dummies (Barbara Obermeeir) but there is one serious complaint in the reviews - it heavily stresses Windoze and is weak on Mac instruction. If that is true I know I know I will not like it. Another with good reviews is PSE 9 The missing manual(Barbara Brundage) but none of the reviews say whether it is mac friendly.

Anyone out there familiar with either book or can recommend others?

Thank you

poppi