Installing and activating Photoshop CS4 Extended

[banjoboy54]

I have Photoshop CS4 Extended disc, student license, serial number. Have already used disc to install on several Macs, some no longer functional. I am planning to buy a refurbished MacBook Pro from OWC Eclipse with El Capitan OS, exclusively for using CS4 Extended. Have no way of knowing if CS4 was ever installed on the machine. Will be requesting several upgrades on new MBP so don't know if 90-day warranty will be honored if CS4 installation/activation fails. How likely is it that I can install and activate CS4 on my proposed purchase?

I see some CS4 for sale on ebay, with serial number, etc. One "new, sealed" for $400. Are these more apt to work than disc I have? It may be apparent that I don't know much about this stuff. Thanks.

Banjoboy

[D Fosse · Accepted solution]

CS4 activation servers have been shut down (along with CS2 and 3). Even if it installs, you can't activate it. This is software from 2009, fifteen years ago.

The Photography Plan subscription, PS + Lr + Br, is $10 a month. That subscription can run for many years before you even get close to break even. If you do the math, subscription is cheaper than perpetual licenses were.

[kennethj42517513]

Cabin someone please advise how and why remote servers are even a factor in preventing my ability to use CS4? I fail to understand  how remote servers can lock down my copy of CS4 which was purchased as a perpetual program. It worked fine until just about 2 weeks ago. Now get a pop up advising my license has expired. What is a perpetual license if Adobe decides somehow to lock down all my previous work?

[Lumigraphics]

Don't bother with either the old MBP or CS4. Spend the money on a much newer, supported Intel MBP if you absolutely can't afford an Apple Silicon Mac. If I was in the market and low low budget, I'd look for a used M1 Mini or Air.

[banjoboy54]

I am about to buy silicon MBP, and I have newer MBP, but it won't run CS4. Older MBP I have been using won't boot (Mac store has tried). I am accustomed to CS4 and want to run it.  It suits my purposes (processing macro insect images, nothing else). Don't want to learn new Photoshop. I would think that many  CS4 fans (perhaps elderly slow learners like me) are in this same boat and thought someone might have a solution. Many CS4 are for sale on eBay.  Sellers must not know they are no good or must not care.

Thx to D Fosse and Lumigraphics and all who read and considered my problem. 

Off topic: How easy/difficult might the transition from CS4 to modern Photoshop, for my humble purposes and abilities, be? 

[D Fosse]

The basic tools and functions, the core of the application, is the same. Obviously a ton of new functions have been added since then, but you can ignore those for now. You'll recognize everything you're used to.

CS4 was 32-bit native code on Mac (the Windows CS4 was the first ever 64-bit native Photoshop version, Mac followed with CS5). So obviously CS4 performance is severely limited by today's standards.

[ds_7709]

I guess I can summerize that as. It's not at all in adobe's interest to allow you to continue using perfectly fine and expensive tools from 15 years ago. Its time to either jump ship or pay up.