Adobe CS5 on Mac to be Intel-only, Cocoa, 64-bit native
Posted by admin in Adobe CS5 Future plans, Adobe CS5 and MacAug 14th, 2009 | 50 responses
Following Apple’s lead of dropping the ageing PowerPC architecture for Snow Leopard, Adobe have outlined its plans for a PPC-free future in a recent blog entry. The next iteration of its Creative Suite, popular among designers and the like, will not only be going Intel-only, but will also be rewritten in Cocoa for 64-bit native support, a requirement for Adobe after Apple previously revealed they had scrapped plans for a 64-bit Carbon.
John Nack is keen to point out that “the very youngest PPC-based Macs will be roughly four years old” by the time the software is released, giving us a timeframe of either late this year or early next year. With certain PowerPCs still competitively performing up against today’s tech, is this all far too soon? Maybe, but Adobe’s (and most likely Apple’s) rationale is that “if you haven’t upgraded your workstation in four years, you’re probably not in a rush to upgrade your software, either”. While support for PowerPC would be nice for those without the funds to upgrade their hardware, costs and benefits have to be factored into development, and it appears Adobe have decided the market simply isn’t big enough to warrant continued development for the platform.
Adobe also hints towards more information regarding its other apps, such as Flash Player and Adobe Reader, in the near future. Hopefully the next iteration of Flash Player will be more optimised for the Mac platform, as the current content player has a reputation for high CPU usage among Mac users.
50 Responses to “Adobe CS5 on Mac to be Intel-only, Cocoa, 64-bit native”
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This is a blatant and ridiculous attempt by Adobe and Apple to drum up business, forcing many design businesses, which are mostly small, to dump their perfectly usable G5s. I think all it will do is force upgrades to be postponed for a year or two. This is written by someone who has upgraded and is using CS4. Looks like CS5 is one to miss.
Finally, a 64-bit CS. I skipped CS4 when I read there was not going to be a 64-bit Mac version. Looks like Adobe is finally getting with the program and coding in Cocoa like they should have when OS X was first announced. CS4 will still be usable on PPC Macs with Leopard for a long time to come; it’s not like it breaks once CS5 is released. BTW, if you are still on PPC then not only is CS5 one to miss, every version after that will be one to miss as well.
David Clare…G5 are you kidding me… A real design company would not have old crappy computers…if you want to play with the big boys you have to step it up.
@David Clare, so for us who have upgraded and running Mac’s with core 2’s or the new i7’s we should shed a thought for cheep users?
I’m sorry, but supporting legacy hardware is what has make Windows the bloated bucket of bums it has become.
I would love to see Adobe apps take advantage of 64-bit (8gb of ram), Grand Central. I have 8 cores (4×4 hyper threaded) bring on the new
At he END,
if the CS5 has same fontless Indesign than inside CS4, it sucks my company for long time. Not everybody has extra money fort Fontfolio (abbros 7000€). It was bad, very bad move from Adobe make the CS4 so font-poor-system. Shame on you.
@Jamie Le Souef
Agreed. I’m running (2)Intel 3.0Ghz Quad-Core Processors and 14gigs of ram. I’m hoping CS5 has more efficiency running multiple suite programs at once, or at the very least improve upon Photoshop’s memory consumption.
@David Clare
Adobe is producing more and more hardware intense software. PPC won’t keep up with the coming upgrades. If you are in any design businesses you should either be updating and replacing iMacs every 2-3 years, or Mac Pro Towers every 4-6.
@Jacob
You can still create very successful designs from established fonts, which are included. Such as: Garamond, Helvetica, Century Gothic, and etc. Also with those established fonts you can modify them in some aspects such as line quality of the lettering. Shame on you for not knowing typography.
WORD OF ADVICE FOR TYPE CHOICES:
DO NOT USE: Hobo, Comic Sans, or Papyrus.
Those are the most commonly used stock fonts and they are horrible design choices.
I’m with Jamie, just fired up the new i7 and I’m all dressed up and got no place to go with this CS4 32-bit Flash jive! I need the speed.
I’m a small business and the i7 is gotta be the best machine for the money if you’re working on design and development. Forget those old G5s.
I think most of us interested in these sort of things already knew CS5 would be 64 bit for Mac after the shock wore off from CS4 not having it.
But, what I really, really want confirmation from Adobe on is support for OpenCL and Grand Central.
If CS5 is missing support for those things it’ll be a downright criminal WASTE.
C’mon, if you have a PowerPC and whine about CS5 not supporting it. If you can afford a CS5 license, you can afford a hardware upgrade as well
I’d be willing to upgrade to this new CS5 suite if it’s 64 bit for Mac & worked seamlessly on System 10.6. CS4 is very buggy and slow. Usually what happens is a good version comes out (CS or CS3) then it is followed by a slow, buggy one (CS2 or CS4) and then the bug fix version is released shortly after. Hopefully, CS5 will follow this pattern and address the speed and memory issues in CS4 which was somewhat a stab in the dark since it contained many new features such as 3D. Also Snow Leopard is more efficient than Leopard and therefore CS5 should be better than CS4. Vista was also a dog, so a CS5 optimized for Windows 7 should also be an improvement.
I have CS3, which works nicely on the G5. I was planning to get a MacBook Pro pretty soon. The only thing which is stalling this purchase is Apple’s indecisiveness over the Blue-Ray issue. Loved the G5, would still like to get another nice used and inexpensive quad core if they’re still available. They’re still very good machines despite what their detractors say and even if they become obsolete. In that regard, SGI O2’s are still spanking machines even tho the original manufacturer was bought out and the old computers are no longer made.
“if the CS5 has same fontless Indesign than inside CS4, it sucks my company for long time. Not everybody has extra money fort Fontfolio (abbros 7000€). It was bad, very bad move from Adobe make the CS4 so font-poor-system. Shame on you.”
My old G5 running OS Tiger and CS3 is able to support all those old fonts because they were written for the PowerPC. Just thousands upon thousands of them.
Yeah, was the reason I didn’t upgrade right away, cuz a lot of the software tools didn’t seem to be in place or available yet. Hardware add-ons as well. Apple said back in 2006 that the transition to Intel from PowerPC was complete. But nearly 5 years later, this has yet to be. Probably 2011 or 2012 more like it when more choices become available.
…No wonder that sales of old CS3 software are still going strong…G5s still have a demand too.
I totally skipped buying CS4, and after trying it out, I’m sure glad I did. Buggy, slow. Heck it was just a cash grab for Adobe. It was a hasty release and they didn’t really think about it very well. No wonder their sales have been slow. Sometimes the public is dumb, but not that dumb. They can smell a lemon when they see one. When it’s a lemon, look like, acts like and is one!
This has got to be a joke, or typo . . . please.
http://www.prleap.com/pr/145047/
partial quote from above link: “When it is released in April 2010, Adobe CS5 will need 64GB of RAM in order to run;”
64 GB of memory NEEDED?
I hope they fix some things in the Mac version while they’re rewriting the whole thing. I’d love to be able to use my arrow keys to up and down in drop-downs (toggling through fonts in Photoshop and Illustration as I do in InDesign, for instance and for blending modes; I know I can use shift + and – for the blending modes, but up and down in a list seems like it should be better and consistent for all drop downs like in the PC version).
I may go all the way and go buy the entire suite if this turns out to be a good one.
For those people complaining about there old and outdated PowerPCs: Update them, G5 are obsolete.
For all Mac users: Buy a PC and install OSX on it! Why pay hundreds more for a Mac/Apples, when you can get twice as much for half the price from a PC! Did you know the new Intel base Macs are PCs?
Macs/Apples are for the slow minded!
Microsoft is going to leave Mac OSX in the dust! I am a PC user and know of, about 100 people in the last year that have switched to PC! Do to cost and performance, plus diversity and choices! Availability of programs!
Live the dream, buy an Intel based PC!
@ Horse:
your mindless fanboy antics have no place on this forum. The topic is Adobe CS5 on Macs w/Intel processors.
… and since MS has no Creative Suite, your ill-supported arguments are moot.
…but since you asked: If i wanted to save pennies on purchase price for a half-assed OS that wastes innumberable amounts of time and money on maintenance, then surely MS would be happy to sell it to me.
Meanwhile, Adobe CS and Mac OSX are not going to leave my desktop for a long, long time.
I’m a video editor and I’m extremely excited for CS5 to roll around. I’ll get what I need to run it, as long as it’s a mac. I’m currently on a pretty nice MacBook Pro that runs things decently, but I think I might look into a newer iMac since it’s in my price range. I’m just starting out with my own business and doing well, and I can say that coming from a PC prior to owning my Mac, PC’s are horribly inefficient and their fanboy base of consumers have never used / cant afford a mac so they trash talk it. That’s all there is to it, once Microsoft comes out with a STABLE operating system, then they can talk… but, my Mac has not crashed ONCE in two years of owning it and using the crap out of it day after day for intense rendering.
Back on subject: Excited for After Effects CS5!!!
Come on Guys,
I do not own a G5 myself, I am Intel Mac all the way. But to say G5 is crap and anyone who still uses them should upgrade it plain stupid..
There is nothing wrong with the G5, in fact the G5 is a better 64bit design with a lot of 64bit registers that with loads of ram is more than good enough to do a job. Yeah the intel macs may be faster, big deal, its not all about benchmarks, you sound like windows geeks who sit around all day posting your benchmarks and overclocks on forums.
use whatever your tools are to do a good job.
lol David Clare. That was a funny joke. CS4 is castrated because of it’s lack of 64bit support, and half GPU support. CS5 is looking to finally do what CS4 should have done in the first place. 32bit should have been over 3 years ago.
If you can’t afford a new mac.. buy a pc, they are exactly the same these days anyway… and you can install either os on either computer.
@Mike
I think you need to re-read Horse’s comment. He wasn’t saying to switch to Windows. He said “Buy a PC and install OSX on it!” He is right when he said that any Mac you buy today is a PC. They both have intel processors. I recently bought a Dell XPS m1530 which happens to have the exact same processor and video card as the macbook pro but was about $600 cheaper at the time. Honestly the main differences between the two are the motherboard and exterior. I purchased a copy of Snow Leo and it runs on my xps flawlessly, better than Windows did in fact. After a few tweaks and some trial and error or course, it now dual boots between OSX and 7. Don’t get me wrong, I love macs, I own an old G5. But if I were to choose between spending hundreds of dollars more for a logo or building my own, I choose to build my own.
I do disagree with Horse when he says that MS will leave OSX in the dust. OSX is a solid operating system and there’s no beating it.
@everyone
As for CS5… I am crazy excited for it’s release. Flash will have native support for building iPhone and iPod apps… How cool is that?
maybe i’m a bit silly or nieve. but i really like CS4 i’ve used it on a dual core intel I mac and my PC
im glad they didn’t have CS4 as a 64bit system, not becuase of cheapness on my part (well i don’t have much money) but because i was just starting to get into design via college, and I couldn’t afford a great system.
so the decision to stay a 32bit allowed me to get my feet wet in the programs beyond school which makes a big difference when classes are only 60clock hours long.
i do intend to get a MAC BOOK PRO for when i grad and then head over to AIP (art institute of pittsburgh)
i gotta admit if i could swing the money for an i7 i’m just a student. and i like portability.
anyhow i saw some stuff about photoshop thats got me stoke, hope illustrator gets a nice bit of punch to it as well.
Strange seeing the fanatacism between OSes still going on. An OS is a tool to run programs on. Pick which works best for you & run with it. Both OS X & Windows each have their advantages & disadvantges. Both have their problems too, but neither have as many as CS4…
A re-write of the code into ‘64-bit, Intel only’ can only be a good thing as it means new code rather than old code with things that go wrong nailed to it. Maintaining compatibility with everything leads to bloated, complex & therefore buggy code. Which is bad for the older hardware too…
Got a G5? Stick with CS2/3 for now, let the rest of us (on Intels) find the bugs & give them to Adobe so that you can enjoy the product when you get there.
Using software written in 2007 doesn’t mean you need to design as if it were 2007, and your printers/publishers are going to stay compatible with the output of the older software, so does it really matter what version you’re running?
Bloatware (the Microsoft never-ending compatibility retention system) and stagnation are not the way forward if you want a better product, even if you can’t use it yet.
Lol Kennon. I use Macs at work everyday doing web & print design and it is actually refreshing to come home and use my Win7 PC. I can use it for work and games (gotta love GTR2 sessions in-between work) and I don’t need any silly setup to watch Blu-rays since I also use my comp as a HTPC. Oh I also love emulation and Macs are lacking in that area. On top of it I have extra money to spend on better things. Sure… if I had loads of money then I’d buy one for the heck of it but I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything by not having one now.
So sure Macs have their place in the professional business world due to ease of maintenance and certain specialized areas but they are kind of boring outside of the office arena to me.
And about the topic… It’s about time!
The new CS5 is going to be amazing! But I’m not going to lie, for those of us using After Effects and Premiere I have to say it runs 100% better on a PC. I love Macs all the way but like Ben Jones said, 32-bit and the GPU support really killed the CS for Mac.
And for all you Mac haters and Windows haters, don’t trash something you’ve never used. I have Mac’s and PC’s and use them both for different things (poor people aren’t the only Windows users, Kennon). 3DS Max for Windows. Final Cut and Logic for Mac. There’s pros and cons to both. And I’m pretty sure you can buy comparable PC’s for almost half of what Mac’s cost, Mike. Not saying my next computer won’t be a Mac, but I think it’s preference.
to: Jon Curwen
Does it seem that the article you referenced is confusing 32/64 bit addressing with 32/64 GB of ram? You certainly will not need 64 GB of ram to run CS5. What would that cost? $6000
Amazing what one can find by thinking about something that has yet to be released ..(vaporware)…LOL
I couldn’t resist adding some commentary to this string though. I have used Macs at times over the last 22 years, but I started with DOS 1.0 Jobs shot himself in the foot when he refused to license the Apple OS in the 80’s, but anyways…
CS4 works fine for me and I do use the hell out of Photoshop at least. The 64 bit PS CS4 is decent and runs a lot faster then CS 3
…despite what the harshest critics say…a modern day PC can hold its own against a Mac in most any respect…
Windows has been stable since Windows 2000; I used the aforementioned with Dual 933s and never had a Stop Error
…Macs are better for those who do not wish to have to deal with OS underpinnings, but PCs are more cost effective due to their much greater usage…
If a program took 64GB of RAM to run…that would be one hell of a computer…
…Design shops have been forced to deal with many more people using Windows versus a Mac..Macs will probably always be around…but Windows has 90+% of the desktop market…
…THere was a time when only MACs could do DTP….but that hasn’t been the case for 15 years or so…(Ten if you want to start from Windows 2000)…
…If CS 5 can add more speed to its suite of prgorams….that would be nice…but don’t hold your breath…it took them long enough to decide to make a 64 bit PDF Printer module…
I took the Photoshop class from Jason and am taking his InDesign now. Jason is a superior speaker and teacher, as well as expert in the software. It
wow… you’d really think this forum was for a PC vs Mac shoot out! WHY must every forum on the web that mentions the mac, degrade in to the age old flame war of ‘i am smarter then you cuz i chose OS brand X vs your dumb brand B…. WHAT THE FUK EVER!!!! WHO CARES!!!
trust me… the world is a better place because there is more then one OS out there!
some people like tinker toys… others like BMWs… its all good! use what you want.. and stop acting like children! fuck.n a!
can we just stick with the subject please!!!!
@Nate:
Your computer should be able to run the whole CS4 suite without a problem, my core 2 duo (2.16) macbook with 1GB of ram only bogs down when I run PS and Premiere simultaneously, (looks like it’s time to upgrade XD )
@horsey,danny,jerseyjamie, and adammoose
To say that one must own the newest products to be a talented designer or own a successful design agency please choose below the best answer that defines the real you:
A.) Has his computers paid for by boss…
B.) Works at kinkos, staples, or anyplace that requires a name tag.
C.) Lives in mom’s basement.
D.) Desperate for talent…
E.) works at starbucks, but knows all the creative guys that stop by…
F.) Got caught pretending to have a conversation with someone on your cell phone when it rang for real…
G.) or all the above… heheheh
A successful design firm requires more than just processing power and the latest pos; it actually takes a talented “creative” team. I guarantee any one of the crew here can design circles around you guys with a used Atari 2600..
My G5 ~ cs4 suite…is fine~ i dont need to upgrade…the first midnight offering of any product will be your job…I will allow you to waste money as the beta r&d consumer tool for new technology; then one of my guys will see your ad on ebay and buy that same computer and go back to our jobs being creative…
But ill stop in real soon for my dose of nonfat, extra caramel, upside down, tall caramel macchiato and a bagel, thanks… how much?
Agree with Michael Darque (and funny diatribe there BTW, Michael!). I’ve been involved in graphic design back to the days when “Cut and Paste” was performed with an XActo Knife and hot Wax. Other than the now antiquated Linotype machines for typography, the computer wasn’t a factor in successful or good design…and brainpower and creativity remain the number one drivers.
That being said, I am a G5 user and get plenty of speed and power from my machine. And I am self-employed and pay for my family’s health insurance, so cost of a new computer must be weighed heavily before an investment is made.
I’ll stick to my G5 and CS3 (go ahead, call me antiquated) for now, with an eye toward upgrading to a new Intel Mac and CS5 perhaps next year.
Yeah I’m interested to know whether I need to upgrade my iMac. I have the first Intel Imac.
With Duo-Core but not Duo-Core2 I have a feeling I might be lucky and be just the right side of the threshold as far as system requirements are concerned. I would Like to know however if this machine will perform adequately running CS5 or is it time for an upgrade?
@madina
unless your heavy rendering 3d or video i would bet youll be just fine…
Gosh!…wouldn’t it be amazing to be a celebrity like that. So much skill and probably plenty of money, too!
i’m excited about the cs5. however using, my MBPro 2.4 -4GRam, i’ve noticed in cs4, my intuos4 has been having pen lag problems which is irritating. i’d love to get my hands on a cs5 but not having to mean that i’d have to dig into my pocket for an unscheduled hadware upgrade…
Cool…great to find out more about my absolute favorite celerbrity. Thanks for the useful update. Kudos!
People bashing the G5 as an outdated slow dog likely never used one themselves. I have a Quad G5 but have access to recent MacPros, iMacs and MacBook Pros as well, so I know the difference.
The Quad G5 is still a strong performer, in many cases still faster than many core2duo Intel Macs. Where it performs poor, it is always not the hardware being inferior, but the application itself, which is optimized for Intel processors only and no more for PPC. I.e. that is the case for a lot of video apps, that rely on ffmeg, like Handbrake etc.
I’ve once read a sarcastic comment about dropping PPC support in Mac OS X, that IMHO is really dead on: Snow Leopard is finally the OS, the Quad G5 was originally designed for. Sad, the Quad will never be able to run it.
we need change to grow! and I think this apple/adobe/cocoa 64bit is gonna change everything design in terms of productivity. PPC, G5s yeah… but didn’t you go Leopard? Snow for that matter? c’mon people… upgrading is a petty price to pay compared to what you’re gonna get in the future of apps!
Cocoa butter totallysaved my wifefrom stretch marks. It wouldn’t have made a big deal to me, but I know she would have been very self-conscious.
so, just to confirm. (i’m a freelancer and money is tight.)
i have one of the first (2007) intel iMacs with 2gb ram, running OS10.4.11 and CS2.
to upgrade to CS5: i will have to upgrade to 10.6 and then it should run fine? or should i also add ram too?
i mostly do print and photoshop work.
@lisa:
CS2? Ancient!
Damn, How do you get stuff done with such an old Adobe Version.
CS3 was probably the greatest release yet with live colour, and then CS4 with smart guides!
CS2, Wow, you are so behind in everything.
You wont know what to do with CS5. . . . .
I like all the little college babies talking about how a design shop would not have an old G5. Maybe when you stop sucking at your Mom’s teat, and have to actually pay $4000.00 for a computer for your own business, you will change your mind. Having to replace a perfectly fine computer every 4 years because of software upgrades is ridiculous!
In the real business world, computers are expensive to replace, unlike when you are in school and everything is magically done for you.
We cannot afford, in this economy, to replace computers just to
run new, and questionably useful, software versions.
ADOBE, YOU LOSE OUR BUSINESS ON THIS “UPGRADE”.
I thought PPC stood for Pay Per Click….until I read this article….I then Googled PPC, and Pay Per Click came up as the premier interpretation of the abbreviation.
Soooo this would suggest to me that the PowerPC architecture is already fading into popular memory.
LOL, just kidding!
Enjoy All!
Evelyn
I think the main thing to keep in mind is that if you have some money to spend, you might get a lot more out of upgrading your computer rather than upgrading the Adobe Suite… it’s pretty awesome in some respects but overall it’s not going to make you a better designer or change things all that much. Just skip a few suite versions and save a bit of money. Adobe obviously needs to go 64bit to stay competitive, but there’s nothing wrong with the older versions
I’m on a Intel Macbook Pro 2,2 with 3 GB RAM and tested the new CS5.
The performance sucks! It’s worse than the CS4 Version. The worst thing: In Indesign I can not move objects smoothly.
Maybe it’s because I don’t have one of the newest macbooks but it shocked me!
Instead of integrating new features they should work on this performance issues.
I just bought the new intel i7 Macbook Pro and now running CS5 on it… it’s not anything special at this point, things are still beach balling and illustrator hangs sometimes – I was hoping these so called “upgrades” would makes things faster, unfortunately my expectations are sadly unfulfilled. I am not sure what the deal is. I threw down good dollars for the system and the adobe product and I am not that impressed with it, nor do I recommend the switch over to any one else. In retrospect I should have just stuck to my old mac system which was/is just as fast.
Do you guys really think that running a PC w/OSX installed is just as good as buying a MAC?
So does installing OSX on a PC take away all of the virus vulnerability, or is there still a embedded version of DOS or whatever running behind OSX/Unix?
I have always thought the difference is in whats running behind the shell(OSX vs. Win7/whatever)OSX having UNIX and Windows having A DOS-like underpinning).
If Im now incorrect…please educate me.
Thanks
Sometimes the best tool for the job isn’t the fastest tool you have. There’s some programs that I actually need an older system to run, and I have two older Macs to run them. For classic stuff (as in Mac OS 9.2), I have my Cube with a GeForce 3Ti video card and a 1 GHz processor card. For OS X stuff that doesn’t run right on an Intel processor, I have a Quicksilver 2002 G4 with a dual 1.6 GHz processor card and a modified GeForce 7800 GT (G70 core). In some respects, I like these machines better than my MacBook Pro and my Hackintosh; namely the fact they’re both silent and never have problems. However, there are times where they show their age, but that’s a given with an 8 and a 10 year old computer.
Back on subject, I downloaded a trial of CS5 and can’t say that I’m overly impressed with it. There’s some improvements in Photoshop’s 3D tools, but I think I’ll stick with CS2 because I can live without those tools (and if I’m going to render something in 3D, I’m probably using Maya instead). I’ll try it again in a couple of months to re-evaluate my position on it.
Just installed PS CS5 on my Intel MAC operating OS10.6, 8 GB of RAM. None of the popular plug ins work on the 64 bit version. In 32 bit, available RAM is less than CS4 (2 vs 3).
Adobe got my $$ but I wonder why! CS4 seems adequate till the 64 bit support catches up.