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New computer shopping - had PS 5.5 - new and old version question.

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 26, 2020
5 replies
630 views

I am purchasing a new computer (current one is 7 yrs old and running the no longer supported Windows 7). Not a pro photographer but photo enthusiast and long time user of my old faithful Photoshop 5.5. Debating a laptop running Windows 10 with separate monitor or an iMac 21.5". From what I can tell, 5.5 will not work in either MacOS's or Windows 10 so also possibly looking at Photographer's subscription package of Photoshop. Concerns are: 1) Will photoshop run seamlessly, and continue to run seamlessly for years to come, on an iMac (I am reading about incompatibilities, certain features not working with MacOS yearly updates); 2) I have a ton of images and projects edited and saved from my Photoshop 5.5 as photoshop files for future manipulation (i.e. greeting card templates, label designs and other photographs). If I purchase a subscription to Photoshop, will the newest versions recognize my saved Photoshop 5.5 files. It would be horrible to think I would lose all of them in the transition. And 3) Generally speaking, does photoshop work equally well in Windows 10 and MacOS? Or is one better than the other. Thank you to any of you who can give me some feedback on this before I take the dive into a new computer and the newest Photoshop.

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Peru Bob

Community Expert

I moved from CS5.5 to CC on Windows 7 and then Windows 10 a few years ago and haven't had any issues.

L

LSP55Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks - that's good to hear. I hope I have the same experience with Photoshop 5.5! Appreciate your input.

Jeff Arola

Community Expert

For the most part your files should be recognized fine by the newest photoshop 2020.

I work with and find that photoshop version 3 and newer have very few issues when their files are opened in the newest photoshop versions. The only major issue is that older mac photoshop versions didn't save file extensions by default, so that can sometimes cause issues when opening the files on a windows computer.

As far as whether mac or windows, it's a matter of personal preference, since photoshop works just as well on windows as it does mac, although windows usually has more backwords compatibily as far as running older photoshop versions go.

If you have photoshop 5.5 from circa 1999, then there is no activation, but getting it run on windows 10

could prove a challenge, so i would go for the subscription and just keep your old computer in case you

need to use ps 5.5 until you get up to speed with a newer photoshop.

L

LSP55Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your help. I had a Windows 7 and bought a new one with Windows 10 - sounds like there may be some lips but all of these comments are somewhat comforting that all will not be lost. Thank you so much.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

"1) Will photoshop run seamlessly, and continue to run seamlessly for years to come, on an iMac (I am reading about incompatibilities, certain features not working with MacOS yearly updates); " It depends what you mean by seamlessly. Apple's system upgrades are a big deal; this year they blocked every app over a year old, and many that were brand new still needed updates. Your subscription includes updates, but the updates may not be available on day 1. So always check for compatibility and wait a couple of months before letting Apple upgrade your system.

" If I purchase a subscription to Photoshop, will the newest versions recognize my saved Photoshop 5.5 files."

Actually, I'd expect the answer to be yes in general. Certainly the PSD and PSB files will open. I seem to remember that some kinds of text layer may reflow, but perhaps someone can fill in the sort of thing you can expect.

Quote "Photoshop runs crap on Windows in general because it ignores the Gpu and only cares about the chip." I don't think this is correct in general. Photoshop runs with a list of supported GPUs in Windows. Of course PC buyers can choose from thousands of graphics cards, and some will be useless for Photoshop, so always check. Apple only use a very limited number of cards so Adobe can easily (?) support all of them.

L

LSP55Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks very much for your input. It sounds like my .psd files SHOULD open but there could be issues. I detest migrating to something new - I know photoshop 5.5 is ancient but it suited my needs. I am savvy enough to navigate around the new one but I don't like the uncertainty of what wil and will not open. I have a small card informal card business and have done many small family projects on my photoshop but left some of them in psd format to use as templates for similar projects in the future. Guess I will just have to take my chances that everything will run smoothly. What I will like with the new versions is its ability to read jpegs from my iPhone - my 5.5 version stopped being able to read my iPhone pictures and I had to convert them twice so they could read them. Thanks so much for your help.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

no
maybe some of them but in general no you will have some work to do getting them to carry over
no, Photoshop [all Adobe software for that matter] is designed on Mac... Photoshop runs crap on Windows in general because it ignores the Gpu and only cares about the chip... of course, i7 [don't touch i5] Windows laptops are much cheeper than any Apple product so bang for buck always = Windows

L

LSP55Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you for your response. So when you say the new versions of photoshop will not recognize my saved photoshop files, is it because the newer versions save work in a different format? That is so disappointing that it is not one universal format regardless of the version no matter how old. May have to rethink Photoshop altogether then - maybe it is not worth the subscription. I am getting a windows computer - will have to hunt for different options then. Disappointed but appreciate you're taking the time to answer.

Ussnorway7605025

Legend

So when you say the new versions of photoshop will not recognize my saved photoshop files, is it because the newer versions save work in a different format?

to be clear,

files using only Photoshop i.e, no Fonts, plug ins, macros etc have a much better chance of working... thats why I said maybe
even then such things as actions, licenced content like Stack | Stock images and models + again Fonts are likely to break when you update a Photoshop file i.e, updates breaking things that worked before is the norm for Photoshop
as for Photoshop is fine... just take a quick look at the first few pages of this forum and you will have no trouble finding people regreting Photoshop updates, which as a rule, break more things than they fix

I do a lot of 3D work and Photoshop is my goto software but its not the best tool for every job now days and I advise you do your homework

Chuck Uebele

Community Expert

Is that PS 5.5 or PS CS 5.5. If it's the earlier version, you won't be able to activate it.

L

LSP55Author

Participating Frequently

Yes I understand that might be the case - I love my old version (very used to it) and heard there may be workarounds but by the certainty of your response I am guessing I will be stonewalled. The other response I received also mentioned that newer versions may not recognize my saved photoshop work (templates for greeting cards etc). Very disappointed. I had hope that if I paid for a subscription it would recognize my files regardless of the age of the program since they were photoshop files. Not sure a subscription then is worth it. I am disappointed that I may now lose everything I had worked on. Thanks anyway for your response. Appreciate it.

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