[lbjensen]

I'm getting a MacBook Pro soon, and was looking to get Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite CS2. I know that I can install and use the programs because of Rosetta, but I have heard they won't run well. Anyone have experience with the new Macs and these programs? Is it better to wait for the new versions of these programs? Any idea when the new versions are being released? Thanks for any advice you can give me.

[JKT]

Office runs fine from what I have read - not as fast as a native app would be, but not so slow that it is painful to use. Excel calculations etc will be slower so if you do a lot of this, then it could be a pain. No idea when a new version will be available as MS hasn't said anything about it. My guess would be that they won't release anything new for the Mac until they have released Vista and the new version of Office for Windows to tie in with that. So don't expect anything for the next five years (j/k).

CS2 - again slow but not painful unless you make your living off it. CS3 is due to be released sometime early next year.

[lbjensen]

Thanks...also I was just thinking about this...does anyone know (or think) if when the new, native versions of these applications are released, will people with the old, non-native versions be able to update to the new versions and have them run like they're supposed to?

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Rinzu

Thanks...also I was just thinking about this...does anyone know (or think) if when the new, native versions of these applications are released, will people with the old, non-native versions be able to update to the new versions and have them run like they're supposed to?

Not without buying them, no. Adobe are not releasing a point upgrade to CS2 to make it Universal, and I very much doubt MS Office is going to do so for Office 2004 either. You will get upgrade pricing for e.g. CS2 to CS3, but it won't be less just because you have an Intel MBP rather than a PPC PowerBook.