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This probably gets asked a lot. I'm a long time Photoshop user, although I jumped ship a few years back when Adobe went to the new subscription model. But I recently upgraded my Mac to a new MacBook Pro M1 and I'd really like to start using Photoshop again, but I see some bewildering options on Adobe's web site. Option one is the Photography option for $10/month, which includes Photoshop and Lightroom. Option two is Photoshop alone for $20/month. This makes no sense at all. I have no interest in using Lightroom, but I like the $10 price tag better. What am I missing here?
Everywhere I go I see something about the Creative Cloud and how it unleashes my "artistic potential" or some such nonsense. Bottom line is I want to use Photoshop on my Mac. I don't want to use the "cloud" at all. I don't want Adobe software downloading a bunch of crap on my computer, running in the background, tying up rersources, etc. I'm finally willing to rent an app instead of buy it, but I'm not willing to make a Faustian bargain to do so. Can someone please clue me in on what my best choice is here?
It is confusing on the face of it. The Photography Plan at $10 a month is a special package deal outside of regular pricing, which is $20 for an individual application. You commit for a full year. It's been in effect for many years and is by all accounts a huge success, so it's not likely to be removed again.
As for "the cloud", take that with a grain of salt. The desktop applications, like Photoshop, haven't changed at all and work exactly like they always have. The only difference is that yo
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It is confusing on the face of it. The Photography Plan at $10 a month is a special package deal outside of regular pricing, which is $20 for an individual application. You commit for a full year. It's been in effect for many years and is by all accounts a huge success, so it's not likely to be removed again.
As for "the cloud", take that with a grain of salt. The desktop applications, like Photoshop, haven't changed at all and work exactly like they always have. The only difference is that you now have the option to save documents to cloud storage. For most of us, that's completely unrealistic given normal file sizes and current internet bandwidth.
The licensing system is now much more streamlined and convenient. And cheaper if you sit down and check the actual numbers! I've never been able to understand the widespread resistance to subscription. It's really win-win in my book.
Some people have other system problems and conveniently blame it on background CC processes. I have never seen a shred of supporting evidence. A few background processes running is perfectly normal these days and all software vendors do it if you look into it.
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»The only difference is that you now have the option to save documents to cloud storage. «
… and that the license needs to be verified over the web once a month (or at even longer intervals depending on the licensing model).
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Thanks for everyone's feedback. I did end up buying the $10/month Photography Plan. Though the installation process was a bit confusing, I installed only Photoshop for Mac and it works very well. I still have the option to install Lightroom, but not really interested in that right now. Thanks again for your feedback.