How much would I give up buying an older PS ? [2019]

[mangurian]

I can't afford CC or CS6.   Is there a humoungous difference between CS4 and CS6 ?

I can afford a used copy of CS4.  Many thanks for any guidance.

I ask because I am a PS newbie and would like to follow tutorials for learning.  Would CS4 have most of the tools used in tutorials?

Thanks,

[Barbara Ash]

Take a look at Photoshop Elements. It has most of the same features as Photoshop, is much less expensive, and you can get a perpetrual license (no subscription). Elements is an excellent value.

You can download the 30-day trial to try it out. https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements/free-trial.html

[Nancy OShea]

I realize this is an old topic from 2019.  But by way of an update for anyone who lands here from web searches, CS2 - 4 are end of life and no longer available.  CS5 - 6 are on life support.  Adobe stopped selling Creative Suite products in Jan 2017.  They are not legally sold by ANY vendor, retailer or in country. 

As @Barbara Ash said, Photoshop Elements or Premier Elements (approx $100, no subscription needed) are good options for occasional photo/video editors and hobbyists.  They lack all bells & whistles of pro-level tools but the learning curve is fairly simple.
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan (approx $10/month for 12 months). Includes the following:

• Photoshop CC and Photoshop on iPad
• Lightroom on desktop, mobile and the web
• Lightroom Classic
• Portfolio website + hosting
• Creative Cloud Express (free starter plan)
• Bridge
• 20 GB cloud storage (upgradable to 1 TB).

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

Premium Creative Cloud Express ($10/month).

• Creative Cloud Express app (web and mobile)
• Premiere Rush (video editing on desktop and mobile)
• Photoshop Express (mobile)
• Spark Video (mobile)
• Spark Page (mobile)
• Adobe Portfolio website + hosting
• 100 GB of cloud storage
• All premium templates and design assets including the entire collection of over 160 million royalty-free Adobe Stock photos.

https://helpx.adobe.com/express/using/express-overview.html

Creative Cloud All Apps (51 + apps & services) and Single Apps Plans
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

[War Unicorn]

Ay, I remember when the Photography Plan was first introduced. We can all thank Thomas Knoll for that; if I recall, he fought Adobe to get it implemented. It ended up being the most popular plan...for reasons that are obvious. 10 smackers a month to have the granddaddy of all image editors---including new features, fixes, etc.---in one's hands? Yes, please.

[Trevor.Dennis]

You can bet that the Photography plan has made a lot of money for Adobe.  I know Just from the Camera Club I used to belong to that people who had been using pre CC pirated versions, suddenly found they could afford to pay for up to date Photoshop and Lightroom.  Jim, from Pro Design Tools says that 26 million people paid for a CC subscription as of January this year and I bet a lot of those people have the Photography plan.  If just half those people have the Photography plan that's $1.5 billion dollars a year they might not have otherwise been earning.

I don't think that those people who insist they are OK with CS6 and earlier realise how much has changed with Adobe products in recent years, and I am not referring to cool new features, but how incredibly well old tools like selections have improved.  If time is money, then a working content creator could not afford to stay with CS6 because Select Subject now does with one click, what might have taken an hour before. That's just one feature that Sensei has improved by miles. The only downside I can think of is that AI might develop into Skynnet, and we'll have Terminators killing our asses.