Adobe's Creative Suite 4 updates over a dozen design and editing tools. The first of our previews examines the all-encompassing Master Collection.

The Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection is made for professionals who need a jam-packed toolbox for multimedia content creation. There are applications for concocting and editing digital pixel and vector graphics, print layouts, video, web pages and animation, and then repurposing that content for mobile devices. Those who don't need the whole thing might consider suites that cost less, such as Web Premium or Standard for web design, Design Premium or Standard with tools for printed media, or Production Premium for film.

The release of Adobe Creative Suite 3 in 2007 was the first to incorporate former Macromedia products, such as Flash. With Creative Suite 4, Adobe has unified the interfaces of all the applications for a more seamless experience. The Flash-based panels within CS4 are more nimble than its predecessors, and handy pull-down menus with preset styles enable you to shift among work space layouts quickly.

The Master Collection will set you back about as much as, say, a Volvo from the 1990s: £1,969 (ex. VAT) new or £795 (ex. VAT) to upgrade. Buying all Master Collection applications individually would cost you just over £5,000 (ex. VAT), or around £1,700 (ex. VAT) if upgrading from CS3 versions.

Prices for the individual applications haven't changed since CS3, but we wish that Adobe would lower the costs, or perhaps allow mix-and-match pricing for more flexibility. Artists who access this software from their workplace or purchase it at an educational discount might skip more than a few meals to afford it. Those on a budget who don't need so many tools might consider alternatives, such as CorelDraw Graphics Suite.

You'll need powerful hardware to run the heavy-duty CS4 applications: Users of Windows XP SP2 or Vista must have a processor of at least 2GHz, or 3.4GHz for working with high-definition video. Photoshop now natively supports 64-bit Vista, while Premiere, After Effects, Soundbooth, Encore and OnLocation are certified for 64-bit Vista.

A 1,280-by-900-pixel display with OpenGL 2.0-compatible graphics card is required, and support for Shader Model 3.0 may be needed, particularly for working with video. Mac users need an Intel multi-core processor running Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or newer, at least 2GB of RAM, and free hard disk space of 26.3GB or higher. Installation comes via DVD. More specifics are available at Adobe's web site.

It took us more than two hours to install a beta copy of Adobe Master Collection CS4 — hours less than with CS3. We've been tinkering with rough drafts of CS4 applications, and will report back with rated reviews once we put the final code through its paces.

Applications in CS4 Master Collection

Applications in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection

CS4 packages

Adobe Creative Suite 4 packages

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