Photoshop Elements Upgrade
Should you get an Adobe Photoshop Elements Upgrade?
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Adobe is a prolific company - they create and maintain a lot of software titles, many of which are complex market-leading programs. Increasingly however, there is a trend towards very frequent releases of their key titles, which can leave you wondering whether a Photoshop Elements Upgrade is worth your money. Here are a few guidelines to help you avoid frustration.
Know the Update Schedule
If you're aware of the general pattern which updates to Adobe software follow, you'll be able to get some idea of how that fits with your needs. As far as Photoshop goes, these are good approximations:
Adobe Photoshop upgrade versions are released about every 18 months, often in either October or April
Adobe Photoshop Elements upgrade versions are released about every 12 months, often in October
The trend has been for this gap to close slightly with Photoshop Elements - The Photoshop Elements 8 Upgrade came just 11 months after version 7 was released. Often the Photoshop Elements Upgrade for Mac trails behind the corresponding Windows update by a few months.
If you want to see a more complete history of Photoshop Elements Upgrades, take a look at my Photoshop Upgrade History.
When is the next Photoshop Elements Upgrade Coming?
Having seen how often updates are released, now check when the next update is due. Adobe might have issued a release date, but even if they haven't, the updates are regular enough that you can probably predict the next one to within a month or two.
Check whether Adobe have released an Adobe Photoshop Elements Upgrade Notice
Use the Photoshop History to add either 12 months to the last Photoshop Elements release date, or 18 months to the last Photoshop release date, to predict when the next upgrade is coming out.
Obviously if you think an upgrade is due in a month or two, that's a good sign that now is NOT the month to upgrade.
Count the Cost
Adobe give upgrade discounts on Photoshop products ranging between around 70% off and 20% off. Since Photoshop Elements is one of their cheaper products, Photoshop Elements Upgrade discounts are at the lower end of this spectrum. (Please note that all prices on this page are in US dollars, and are subject to change. The Adobe website will give the most up-to-date price).
Currently, you can upgrade to Photoshop Elements 8 if you have any version of Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Album, Starter Edition, Photoshop LE or PhotoDeluxe. A Photoshop Elements 8 Upgrade will cost you $80 instead of $100, so that's a 20% discount from the full version. Not enough to convince most people to buy every version, but a healthy bonus if you're thinking of upgrading anyway.
There's also a discount available if you're thinking of upgrading to Photoshop CS4. You're eligible for an upgrade if you own Photoshop Elements 4, 5, 6, or 7 for Windows, or Photoshop Elements 3, 4, or 6 for Mac. You can buy Photoshop CS4 Upgrade edition for $599 instead of $699, which is roughly a 15% discount. But then after that you'll be eligible for much better discounts when upgrading to future versions of Photoshop - upgrading to Photoshop CS4 from an earlier CS version costs just $199 instead of $699, a massive 70%+ off.
These prices may have changed slightly, or there may be special offers on - Check Adobe's special offer hot-page.
If you're thinking of upgrading to Photoshop from Photoshop Elements, check out my comparison page which explains more about Photoshop vs Elements.
My Advice
For Photoshop CS users, especially those using Photoshop in their profession, I don't have any issue with recommending that you upgrade Photoshop as Adobe releases new versions, and stick with the latest software. Adobe add a lot of value in each new release of their Creative Studio, and so the cost is quite often justified. If you bought CS as a hobby user, you might be happy to stick a few versions behind.
For Photoshop Elements users however, I couldn't honestly recommend that you upgrade Photoshop Elements every year. In my opinion, annual version releases are just too frequent, and there isn't enough added in each version to warrant upgrading each time for all but the most committed Elements users. I recommend you upgrade roughly once for every two versions that Adobe releases.