Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual

Appendix A. Installing Photoshop

Photoshop’s an awesome program, but it’s not worth a darn until you install it. Whether you’re holding an actual Photoshop DVD in your hand or you’ve downloaded the program from the Web, the Photoshop CS4 installer includes everything you need to get up and running fast. If you’ve got a relatively new computer, the whole process can take as little as ten minutes. If you have a vintage computer, it’ll take a bit longer.

Tip

After you finish the installation, put your Photoshop DVD and serial number in a safe place in case you need to reinstall it down the road. If you downloaded the program from the Web, be sure to back up the installer file.

Check Your Setup

Before installing Photoshop, make sure your computer has the right equipment to run the program. If it doesn’t, you may still be able to install Photoshop but it’ll run like molasses. Here are the minimum requirements for Photoshop CS4:

Mac OS X Requirements

• PowerPC G5 or multi-core Intel processor.

• Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) or Mac OS X 10.5.4 (Leopard).

• At least 512 MB of RAM (memory).

  Note

  Even though Adobe says you only need 512 MB of RAM, don’t even think about running CS4 with anything less than 1 GB of RAM, as Photoshop is the biggest memory hog on the planet. Buy as much RAM as you can afford—the more the merrier! See the next section (at the bottom of this page) for more info.

• 2 GB of free hard-disk space for the program to use during installation.

• A monitor that can display at least 1024 x 768 resolution ...