Colorado State University

This post is marked as Deprecated and therefore contains outdated information.

I often get asked if I can help users out with a copy of Photoshop for their lab or personal computer.  Of course, I cannot – the Department of Biology does not have a site license for Photoshop nor Photoshop Elements.  This leaves the burden of the license cost on the individuals using the software.   The problem with Photoshop is that it is is fairly expensive.  At the time of this writing RAMtech over in the LSC currently has a single computer license for Phtotoshop CS4 running at $185.84 (check their list if you are reading this at a much later date as these prices may have changed).  This is of course an amazing price, as without this educational pricing CS4 runs around $500+.  On the other hand Photoshop Elements runs a mere $48.69 for version 7 (Windows OS) and $32.94 for version 6 (Mac OS).  It comes to my understanding that most users are unaware that Photoshop Elements exists and by default think they need the full blown and more expensive version.  However, when it comes down to the work being done on Photoshop, most would be just fine using the less expensive Photoshop Elements.

I found this informative article on the differences between Photoshop Elements 7 and Photoshop CS4.  It lists the tools included in CS4 that are missing in Elements.  Overall, use this as a guide to see whether the extra $130 is worth it for the full blown version.

http://www.digicamhelp.com/processing-photos/advanced-editing/photoshop-elements-7-vs-photoshop-cs4/