Photoshop CS4 is a disaster

>Yes, CS4 does run better on Vista.

Then why on earth weren't we told this up front?? A simple "Vista recommended" would have certainly swayed my buying decision.

I have an Asus gs1 laptop with an nvidia 8600m, I installed the latest drivers from Nvidia. I upgraded to cs4 from cs2. I love cs4 but it constantly crashes and the cursor keeps blinking and bridge wont open from within cs4. Adobe advertised cs4 as being able to use gpu's. They should of tested it more, because it doesnt work with mine. I hope they will have a fix soon. Cs4 is too expensive for these type of problems.

Derrick: just to confirm, you are seeing worse performance with images when tabbed vs. floating (traditional)?

If so, I'll add that to my list.

Thanks for your response, Chris. So Windows XP with Direct9x isn't the problem then? I am using the trial awaiting the upgrade I ordered. I called because my floating windows don't redraw after dragging them to a new position, I have to click them to restore the photo.

Yes, CS4 does run better on Vista. Microsoft did fix a lot of issues in Vista related to graphics, and cursors, and file IO, and...

I'm not sure if you misunderstood it, or if the tech support person got it really, really wrong.

Hmm...I just got off the phone with a tech and here is what I learned. In order to have the features that use opengl work correctly you have to have Windows Vista as the operating system because Vista exclusive DirectX 10 is needed. I was so shocked to find this out I asked the tech to explain it twice.

Now I have to say that isn't listed in the system requirements section on the web site where they are selling CS4, my computer matches or exceeds the requirements listed there. Here is my question, why list XP as operating system choice if it can't fully run the program? I am not going to put Vista on my computer ever...I have been forced to use it at work and it is horrible. Perhaps there will be a work around for XP users with DirectX 9.

If my understanding of all this is wrong, please let me know as I would love to be able to use CS4.

Finally, an update...

I may have identified one of the root causes, but now I need your help to make sure that the change I'm testing actually fixes the problem for *you*.

So, if you're experiencing a "lag" in performance when using CS4 on Windows, even with all OGL features disabled, and are interesting in helping me test possible solutions, please email me directly at travlin_adam at yahoo dot com (my non-adobe email addy). I'm interested in all Windows OS, but especially newer systems running Vista Sp1.

Also I'll make this request again, if you are seeing a performance lag with CS4 and live in the SF bay area, please contact me directly.

-Adam

I picked up on the earlier references about those that just watch and don't speak up.

I have had the same issues with CS4 which sparked this thread, although I can add that importing 3d files provides only vertices and selecting any other render settings makes the model dissappear altogether.

I find the whole issue frustrating and tending to lift the blood pressure after two weeks of fiddling with this and that. I will be reloading windows later this week, in one last attempt to make some difference. If that fails (and it has for several friends). I'm just putting CS4 back on the shelf and listing it as too hard and too expensive to spend any more time on. It will be back to CS3 until (or if) it ever gets sorted out ... or if enough time passes before I buy a new system (say 18 to 24 months).

Not angry, just unhappy and poorer for the experience. I hope the issues get sorted quickly but I'm not holding my breath

XP Professional SP 3

Intel Pentium Dual Core 3.2 GHz

3.25 Gb Ram

(Leadtek)Nvidia Quadro FX 4500 512 Mb with Release 178 (178.46) Nov 08 driver

Steve B

> Several people have installed CS4 successfully on a shop-bought system (Dell in my case) and everything works fine straight out of the box.

Dell Precision Workstation T7400 here with nothing added but an additional drive. Installed the trial version of CS4 last week. Had to update the NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 driver to address the incomplete brush cursor effect. Since then, nothing but pure delight, (aside from the trial-nag screen once per session).