Photoshop CS4 to Have 64-Bit Version... But Only on Windows

[Jimmy 2004]

In the past, Macs were sometimes argued to be better for image editing than Windows-based PCs. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if this was true or a complete myth, but it looks like things may not be like that anymore with the introduction of Adobe’s Windows-only 64-bit version of Photoshop Creative Suite 4. Until now, Adobe has strived to ensure that both the Windows and Mac versions of Photoshop come with similar features. However, due to a choice by Apple not to make the Carbon technology that is used to develop Photoshop available as 64-bit, Adobe has decided it will not be providing a 64-bit version of CS4. Adobe’s product manager for Photoshop, John Nack, said:

We're not going to ship 64-bit native for Mac with CS4. We respect Apple's need to balance their resources and make decisions right for that platform. But it does have an impact on developers.

Adobe’s preliminary testing suggests that the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 will offer a performance boost of 8-12%, with the benefits being much greater for memory-intensive tasks due to its ability to take advantage of more than 4GB of memory.

Source: CNET

[Jimmy 2004]

Thanks to CrackerJack for sending this in.

[jbunch07]

sweet!
anyone know when its release date is?

[xylomn]

its nice to see a 64bit version, serves apple right if they are unwilling to advance its technology. I am aware that carbon is getting on a bit now compared to its newer brother cocoa but carbon is still commonly used by cross platform developers, imo bad move that will come back to bite apple on the arse.

[kylew]

I don't know of a release date, but I know that there is a CS4 Beta. I don't know if it' open or closed, but I downloaded the beta the other day (haven't gotten around to installing it). I won't post the link where I got though as I don't know if it would be allowed.

[Jizzler]

Cool.

Though I hope they mean the entire CS4 collection will be 64bit, not just Photoshop. Premiere and After Effects could use it more than PS.

[jbunch07]

Originally Posted by Jizzler

Cool.

Though I hope they mean the entire CS4 collection will be 64bit, not just Photoshop. Premiere and After Effects could use it more than PS.

very true!

we use cs3 at school on macs and i use it at home on my computer... it works allot better on mine dont know why people think photoshop works so much better on macs

[Azazel]

wow that was quick...cs3 is not that old yet....

[Millenia]

Cool stuff, I'm on a 64-bit Vista with 4 gigs of RAM so this will be a welcome feature

[Necrofire]

Sure, some aspects of speed come from software and the OS, but the main boost comes from hardware. Since you can get some beefier hardware on a pc these days for less money, it's no wonder why people say that Photoshop runs faster than on a mac. They probably have a high-end system compared to the macs they've used before.

[CrackerJack]

Release date is between Dec.08 and April 09. This is the newest date that i can find. If i found more info, i'll let ya'll know.


As far as I know the Entire CS4 Suite will be 64-Bit. They have been working on this since last summer. So surely it will be, but no promise. But the Photoshop CS4 Beta is is ONLY 32-Bit for right now. When I get the chance I'll upload the CS4 Beta on my site. If you already have CS3, I wouldn't worry about it. Not in less you want too.

[jbunch07]

oh ok so we got some time!
thnks jack

[warup89]

I've been waiting for adobe to release something like this!, my machine was made mainly for their software and other editing software.

[CrackerJack]

Originally Posted by warup89

I've been waiting for adobe to release something like this!, my machine was made mainly for their software and other editing software.

yeah same here, now cs4 will allow all us to use it farther.

Here's a screenshot!!!

[panchoman]

OMG!!! It's a freaking miracle that adobe actually went 64 bit... sucks about not getting it on the mac side though... really gay of apple to do it.. i use cs3e on my home computer and cs2 mac/cs windows at school. cs3e is mainly uber cool gui + plus some extra features. ps for windows is something i'd never wanna touch after using the newer ones and cs2 mac is really awesome to work with.. its easier and faster to use gui-wise. of course we have the cheap imacs at are school with nice c2d's but not much ram so they lag with big images and thats where my machine and cs3e really pwn... but i'd really want os x leopard + cs3e on my machine...

what instruction sets does cs3 use up to? sse2?

[A Cheese Danish]

WOOHOO! finally! now i can enjoy photoshop without having to dual boot and stuff like that haha

[Triprift]

Yay i only just get cs3 now there updating with a new one dang oh well 64 bit will be good

[thebeephaha]

Originally Posted by jbunch07

very true!

we use cs3 at school on macs and i use it at home on my computer... it works allot better on mine dont know why people think photoshop works so much better on macs

A Mac Pro still beats my rig hands down. I just can't compete with 8 cores.

[beyond_amusia]

It was 3 years between CS2 and CS3, so I assume we will seen CS4 in 2010 or shortly after Windows 7 is launched so they are sure it'll run. I use Photoshop CS3e and the rest is CS2 still... Not ready to upgrade the whole lot until I learn it better.

[Dangle]

The CS3 macromedia line sux balls. They didn't upgrade anything. Which is why I'm not upgrading Studio 8 until CS4 comes around. I hope it's all 64 bit. WOOT! Poo ON U apple! Here's what I get from macFanboys all the time: "Photoshop is made for apple hardware so it wurkz bettur!!!1!"

[ex_reven]

Originally Posted by thebeephaha

A Mac Pro still beats my rig hands down. I just can't compete with 8 cores.

When I decide to spend $4000 on a tower that only outspecs my two year old $1800 tower in the processor category, Ill shoot myself publicly.

Im using these Pro's at university and they arnt that crash hot as every design teacher and mac fanboy student praises it to be. I was actually looking forward to using one... What a let down lol. I can see from the upgrade options on it that it could be quite a formidible platform though...but stock....the stock package sucks.

As for the 64 bit edition, its good to see them rolling it out in CS4.
Running a 32 bit edition of photoshop on a 64 bit OS doesnt yield the greatest results and I look forward to how much performance/stability improves with this.

Another blow to the Apple team?

[graphicsHorse]

64 bit for Photoshop, After Effects and Premier would be cool indeed.

64 bit wouldn't be much of a use for Dreamweaver, Flash etc though
(but is still welcomed nonetheless)

[ex_reven]

Originally Posted by graphicsHorse

64 bit for Photoshop, After Effects and Premier would be cool indeed.

64 bit wouldn't be much of a use for Dreamweaver, Flash etc though
(but is still welcomed nonetheless)

64 bit anything would be welcomed.
We should be using 64 bit everything, but we arnt because developers cant get their act together. Hardware manufacturers and the lack of 64 bit drivers for various products also holds us back from 64 bit becoming the rule rather than the exception.

[Scrizz]

sweet can't wait for it to come out!

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by thebeephaha

A Mac Pro still beats my rig hands down. I just can't compete with 8 cores.

For the same price you can easily build a Windows Vista x64 based system using a pair of quad core Xeon processors. Never heard of Skulltrail?

Originally Posted by ex_reven

64 bit anything would be welcomed.
We should be using 64 bit everything, but we arnt because developers cant get their act together. Hardware manufacturers and the lack of 64 bit drivers for various products also holds us back from 64 bit becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Using 64-bit VirtualBox myself.