Need Help Getting CS5 on my New MacBook Pro

[defaultmahj5jd3t5l8]

Hello, 

I had CS5 on my old Macbook Pro, which was running 10.13.6. My new Macbook Pro is running version 12 and I need to redownload it on my new mac. Can you help?

[Conrad C]

If your new MacBook Pro uses an Apple Silicon processor (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max), even if you find a CS5 installer, it is absolutely not compatible with macOS 12 or Apple Silicon. The installer won’t even run.

The reliability of CS5 went down dramatically after macOS 10.13. In 10.14 and after, to get Mac apps ready for Apple Silicon, Apple made more and more basic changes to macOS. Any applications that were not updated for the new requirements, including CS5, simply stopped working by macOS 11.

[defaultmahj5jd3t5l8]

Hi Conrad, Thank you for your message. Yes, I have M1 Pro. So what are my options? Are there any photoshop softwares that are curretnly compatible? Do I need to pay again?

[Conrad C]

Your options depend on the level of work you need to do. If you were intentionally staying back on old CS5 because you just don’t do image editing that often and don’t need any of the latest professional features,  then you probably don’t need the current version of Photoshop, because it is probably far too powerful and expensive for what you do.

If that is true, then you should explore these options:

Adobe Photoshop Elements. This is the consumer version of Photoshop, and it has several things going for it. It is only available as a buy-once purchase, no subscription. It is often available from other stores for well under US$100, especially if you watch the sales around the holidays. And unlike CS5, it is current, so it has many newer features you won’t find in CS5, and it is also compatible with the latest operating systems.

Non-Adobe alternatives. The Mac has a wealth of inexpensive (US$20–50) image editors that work very well and are kept up to date. They are generally nowhere near as powerful as the full subscription version of Photoshop, but some are actually more powerful than CS5 was. If you want to look into them, those applications include Affinity Photo, Pixelmator Pro, Acorn, and Polarr. Some of them can open and save layered Photoshop documents. If you want to primarily edit camera raw files, there is a different list of alternatives.

[defaultmahj5jd3t5l8]

Thank you for this, very helpful. Yes, I don't do image editing that often and don’t need any of the latest professional features. I use CS5 for cropping, enhancing color and mainly the color match option. I'm assuming Elements has it all?

[Conrad C]

Elements has cropping and color controls, but I don’t know if it has the Image > Adjustments > Match Color command, if that’s what you mean. But Photoshop Elements does have a 30-day free trial so you can make sure before you put down any money. It may also have more recent features that do something like Match Color, but again I’m not familiar with it.

[John Waller]

My new Macbook Pro is running version 12 and I need to redownload it on my new mac

You'll have to subscribe to one of the Creative Cloud plans to run your Adobe apps on your new MacBook Pro.

Or just keep using CS5 on your old MacBook Pro.

[defaultmahj5jd3t5l8]

Hi John, Thank you for your message. Are there any photoshop softwares that are curretnly compatible? Do I need to pay again?