Which Adobe Creative Suite for my Mac Mini?

I have a mid-2011 Mac Mini: 2.3GHz, i5, 500GB, 8GB RAM.

I need to install and run a version of Creative Suite on it (not the whole suite but specifically Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat).

Hoping someone can give me advice on which version of Creative Suite will work best with my Mac's specs. I probably don't need the all singing and dancing CS6 (not even sure if CS6 would run well on my Mac Mini anyway?).

Thanks

Go to Adobe.com...and review the hardware requirements & OS requirements for all versions of Adobe Creative Suite and/or the individual programs you need (that are still currently available for purchase).

Then decide.

Generally speaking...the older the version the faster it will run. But at the same time...the older versions won't have the latest & greatest features.

- Nick

p.s. There's also the new Adobe CC (Creative Cloud)...where you pay by the month for apps.

pigoo3 said:

Go to Adobe.com...and review the hardware requirements & OS requirements for all versions of Adobe Creative Suite and/or the individual programs you need (that are still currently available for purchase).

Then decide.

Generally speaking...the older the version the faster it will run. But at the same time...the older versions won't have the latest & greatest features.

- Nick

p.s. There's also the new Adobe CC (Creative Cloud)...where you pay by the month for apps.

Click to expand...

I agree one should always check the Manufactures website for compatibility. But if your looking for real world results, I use LR5 and PS CS6 on my Mac Mini and it runs like a top. Yours is only a model older, your results should be similar.

Thanks for replying.

I have looked at the various CS system requirements and looked elsewhere online for additional info but am still confused - probably down to my lack of knowledge! As Exodist has said, I'm after 'real world results'.

Having all the latest features of CS6 isn't necessary for what I need to do so I've looked at the CS5 system requirements, as here:

Adobe - Creative Suite 5 Master Collection : System requirements

It says ''7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats''. Does that mean i only need a 7200 HD for video work - which I won't be doing - or that I need that speed HD to be able to even install CS5? (my Mini only has a 5400 HD).

pod said:

It says ''7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats''. Does that mean i only need a 7200 HD for video work - which I won't be doing - or that I need that speed HD to be able to even install CS5? (my Mini only has a 5400 HD).

Click to expand...

You don't really "NEED" a 7200rpm hard drive. A faster HD just means things can be done faster.

- Nick

pod said:

Having all the latest features of CS6 isn't necessary for what I need to do so I've looked at the CS5 system requirements...

Click to expand...

I think that you need to let your wallet do the "talking". The CS software (any version) or individual apps aren't cheap.

Procedure:

- verify that your computer meets the system requirements (whatever version you are considering)
- then decide what version to purchase (newer usually means more $$$)
- newer is usually better for newest features
- older is usually better for faster performance

* Nick

''I think that you need to let your wallet do the talking"

In which case I'll have CS2 please ;-p

I'm worried that I'll fork out for CS5/6 and my mini is not capable due to the HD Graphics 3000 processor which makes me think perhaps CS4 might be a better option but if I've understood what I've read, that is for PPC machines? I'm getting a headache ;-p

pod said:

''I think that you need to let your wallet do the talking"

In which case I'll have CS2 please ;-p

Click to expand...

Now you're just being a "cheapskate"!

pod said:

I'm worried that I'll fork out for CS5/6 and my mini is not capable due to the HD Graphics 3000 processor which makes me think perhaps CS4 might be a better option but if I've understood what I've read, that is for PPC machines? I'm getting a headache ;-p

Click to expand...

Some easy answers here. The "oldest" OS your Mac-Mini can run is OS 10.7. In order to use CS4...you would need to run Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) or older...and your Mac-Mini cannot run Snow Leopard. Which also means you couldn't run CS2 either!

CS5 and CS6 are your options. That's why I said "let your wallet do the talking". CS5 is probably less expensive (although I haven't checked for sure). Plus like I mentioned. With Adobe apps....as they get newer...they usually require more processing power.

So:

- CS5: Is probably less expensive, would probably run faster than CS6, may not have the latest features in CS6.
- CS6: Is probably more expensive, may run more slowly than CS5, would have the all the latest features.

* Nick

Here is an option that MANY folks don't consider...and it really depends on how small the budget is...and how much newer Adobe CS features are required.

If someone can source an older version of Adobe Creative Suite (such as CS4) for a good price (and doesn't need all the newer features found in CS5 or CS6).

A much lower cost option is:

- Purchase CS4 at "the good price" (e-Bay possibly). Probably MUCH cheaper than CS5 or CS6.
- Purchase a used dual processor Powermac G5 for like $100-$150 with OS 10.5 (Leopard) already installed on it.

CS4 will run great on a Powermac G5...since it will run natively on this PPC Mac. And a dual cpu Powermac G5 was the fastest PPC Mac (other than the quad-core Powermac G5). Which few folks owned.

Just something to think about,

- Nick

Checking around on Amazon, both CS5 suite and CS6 suite seem to be about 1000 and 1500USD respectively. Which his ouch.. So glad they don't price LR like that..

For what its worth, CS6 runs good on my wives dual core MBA. Its only 13" screen so I haven't put it in any large file stress test. But she runs LR almost daily on it without any issues.

IMHO, its not that CS5 or 6 will not run. Unless something is wrong with the computer. They should run just fine and correctly. Mores Law prohibits me from guarenteeing anything.. LOL but in all honesty. They should run the way they are supposed to. What it really comes down to is how patient you (the user) is in letting the software complete its task when rendering something. PS will use the HD3000, keep in mind that not all the features in PS make use of the graphics card. Heck most of the software still does not use the GPU yet.

7200RPM -vs- 5400RPM, really this is just silly. They will write data at very comparable speeds. The faster RPMs only really helps seek times. 4.5-6ms -vs- 8-10ms. See my point. Seek time, being how fast it finds your data.

Only issue or not even an issue here would be if the images or files are so large that the system slows way down due to running out of RAM. Which can be upgraded very easily.

I can throw 20,000 x 8,000 px panorama into PS CS6 Pano Merge on my system with 8GB of RAM without a single bit of hesitation or lag. And, its normally done in 10-20 secs stitching them together.

So its not that it want run, if Adobe says it is compatible then it will/should work. It boils down to how patient the end user is.

pod said:

''I think that you need to let your wallet do the talking"

In which case I'll have CS2 please ;-p

I'm worried that I'll fork out for CS5/6 and my mini is not capable due to the HD Graphics 3000 processor which makes me think perhaps CS4 might be a better option but if I've understood what I've read, that is for PPC machines? I'm getting a headache ;-p

Click to expand...

I had a 2009 white MacBook with 2GB 2.13GHz and a 250GB HD and i could run PS CS5 on it without a problem. You can run quite a bit more on Apple Hardware Specs than the equivalent Windows Specs. I ended up putting 4GB in it, to help out a bit for swap files and it never hiccupped so i think you will be OK with CS5

Thanks again Exodist... and TattooedMac for your replies. CS5 it is then.

Now... about that SSD ;-p

In case anyone comes across this thread in the future, I have now installed the full Adobe CS5 Master Collection on this Mac mini and have used Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator: not for particularly complex or large files as yet but so far everything is running well and faster than I imagined it would.

Good to here

pod said:

In case anyone comes across this thread in the future, I have now installed the full Adobe CS5 Master Collection on this Mac mini and have used Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator: not for particularly complex or large files as yet but so far everything is running well and faster than I imagined it would.

Click to expand...

Told ya so ;P lol Good to hear
But in all honestly, i knew it would. Its just the way that Apple integrate THEIR OS in THEIR hardware, and this is like most App. They all seem to run a lot better on a Mac than a Windows System with the same System Specs.