"Adobe CS5 Master Collection is the most comprehensive package of design tools for all types of media, from print and video to digital."
Rosie Khdir
Adobe CS5 Master Collection is the most comprehensive package of design tools for all types of media, from print and video to digital. When you take a look at what is included in the package you can see why it is called the Master Collection.
It comes with almost every Adobe CS5 program including Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat 9 Pro, Flash Catalyst, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Soundbooth.
What we like best
Adobe CS5 Master Collection has, along with its many programs, a lot of great new features. It Photoshop package sees a new Mixer Brush and Bristle tips made available for budding digital artists, as well as the new Repoussé technology which gives you 3D extrusions.
Photoshop Extended has received some fantastic updates in this package and Adobe CS5 Master Collection owners will reap the benefits. It also has an improved edge selection tool that allows select even the most delicate of shapes including strands of hair.
In Adobe Illustrator you can create accurate depth and distance with the new perspective tools and use the Bristle Brush to draw with a variety of materials, from watercolours to pastels.
This software has been created so that users can “design without boundaries” according to Adobe and boy does it deliver! With Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5 you can create functional interfaces without writing any code.
There are also improved tools for web developers in terms of previewing websites in multiple browsers and which helps you avoid buying expensive test hardware.
What we like least
We must stress that this software package is extremely complex and filled with a very comprehensive range of software.
It is aimed more at the business/professional user who needs use of all types of design software, so if you only need software to edit photos, or to design a print publication, this is not the package for you. We say this as it comes with a very hefty price tag, over £2,700 for the full edition.
It will also take up quite a bit of space of your hard drive, 24.3 Gb to be exact.
This is the very best package that a designer could ask for. It comes with every Adobe program you could possible need for design, but to get the very best, you must pay the very most! This software is pricey and is really only for professionals who will make good use out of every program – other designers or amateur should consider buying single packages of Adobe products.
Features
NEW: Design without boundaries with Photoshop's new bushes and paint effects and Illustrator's new perspective tools.
Download or CD
Both
Compatible with
Windows
Mac
System Requirements
- Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II recommended); Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II required for Adobe Premiere Pro
- Processor with 64-bit support required for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 3; Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (Service Pack 2 recommended); or Windows 7
- 64-bit edition of Windows Vista or Windows 7 required for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
- 2 Gb of RAM (4 Gb or more recommended)
- 24.3 Gb of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash-based storage devices)
- 1280x900 display (1280x1024 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256 Mb of VRAM
- Adobe-certified GPU card for GPU-accelerated performance in Adobe Premiere Pro; visit the Adobe Premiere Pro system requirements page for the latest list of supported cards
- Some GPU-accelerated features in Adobe Photoshop Extended require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0
- Some features in Adobe Bridge rely on a DirectX 9–capable graphics card with at least 64 Mb of VRAM
- 7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats; RAID 0 for uncompressed
- Adobe-certified card for capture and export to tape for SD/HD workflows OHCI-compatible IEEE 1394 port for DV and HDV capture, export to tape, and transmit to DV device
- Sound card compatible with ASIO protocol or Microsoft Windows Driver Model
- DVD-ROM drive compatible with dual-layer DVDs (DVD+-R burner for burning DVDs; Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray Disc media)
- Java Runtime Environment 1.6 (included)
- QuickTime 7.6.2 software required for QuickTime and multimedia features
- Adobe Flash Player 10 software required to export SWF files and to play back DVD projects exported as SWF files
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
- Mac OS
- Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support Mac OS X v10.5.7 or v10.6.3; Mac OS X v10.6.3 required for GPU-accelerated performance in Adobe Premiere Pro
- 2 Gb of RAM (4 Gb or more recommended)
- 26.3 Gb of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash-based storage devices)
- 1280x900 display (1280x1024 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256 Mb of VRAM
- Adobe-certified GPU card for GPU-accelerated performance in Adobe Premiere Pro; visit the Adobe Premiere Pro system requirements page for the latest list of supported cards
- Some GPU-accelerated features in Adobe Photoshop require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0
- 7200 RPM hard drive for editing compressed video formats; RAID 0 for uncompressed
- Core Audio–compatible sound card
- DVD-ROM drive compatible with dual-layer DVDs (SuperDrive for burning DVDs; external Blu-ray burner for creating Blu-ray Disc media)
- Java Runtime Environment 1.5 or 1.6
- QuickTime 7.6.2 software required for QuickTime and multimedia features
- Adobe Flash Player 10 software required to export SWF files and to play back DVD projects exported as SWF files
- Broadband Internet connection required for online services
The top notch Adobe CS5: Master Collection is bit of a beast. Every possible stage of editing and design across print, web, audio and video is handled here.
Photos can be imported and arranged in Bridge and Lightroom, and then edited and optimised in the Photoshop Extended edition.
InDesign gives you access to the most powerful publishing software, allowing you to design, edit and layout documents. You can then export them to PDF using Acrobat.
Transferring to web, the Master Collection comes with Dreamweaver to code and build a website, Fireworks to design it and Illustrator to turn images into vectors, as well as Flash Catalyst to animate them.
This is really only for design professionals, and for those who spend their working days designing, building websites, and working in print as well as audio and video. If this is you then the Master Collection is the best and only choice.
Price:
New purchase: £2,303
Upgrade (from 1 version back): £794
Upgrade (from 2 or 3 versions back): £1,302
Upsell (From eligible individual products): £1,270
You can find out more here
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