Since it came out I have been happily using Adobe Creative Suite 5 without any problems. It does everything I need (although TBH CS3 did too) and it works very well on my Macs.

Over the last few years most of the clients I work for have gradually moved over to Creative Cloud. So far it's not been a problem. They package up files for me saved in a compatible version and I work on them in CS5 (mostly InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) and send the finished work back to them. I've yet to come across any features that haven't survived the conversion process.

However I am aware that it's not always the most convenient way to work, and I should be making life as easy as possible for the people I work with - that's hopefully one of the reasons why they keep coming back to me, so I've been thinking about taking the plunge and getting Creative Cloud. Unfortunately this morning when I checked the system requirements, I find that the latest version (CC 2015) requires OS X 10.9 which is not supported by any of my Macs including my main 8 Core 3GHz Mac Pro!

I could get CC 2014 (or at least I assume I could - if anyone could confirm this that would be useful) which is supported, but IMO the subscription is a lot of money to pay if I can't take advantage of all the benefits - upgrades to the newest versions being one of them, and if CC 2014 can't open CC 2015 files directly (can it?) then for me there is even less point in getting it since I know that at least one of the companies I work for is now using CC 2015, and if they are going to have to convert files before I can use them, it doesn't make any difference which version they are back-saving to, it's still an extra unnecessary step for them.

I could stick where I am, but really in order to give the best service to my clients I need to keep up with them and not having Creative Cloud in 2016 is starting to look like a bit of a joke. Unless CC 2015 files will open directly in CC 2014 applications I can see little point in getting Creative Cloud without being able to run the latest versions, and once again being stuck with what will almost definitely be out of date software by the end of this year but paying a monthly subscription for the "privilege".

So if CC 2014 is not an option I need a new Mac. This ought to be straight forward, but my current workflow that I've refined over the last 6-7 years depends on 3 Apple 23" monitors. From what I've seen it might be possible connect 2 external monitors to some iMac models, but I would have to use my existing displays initially to keep the cost down so will this work if I use Thunderbolt to DVI adaptors or do I need proper Thuderbolt displays?

Alternatively I could get a second hand Mac Pro that supports the latest versions of OS X - AFAICS any from 3,2 onwards will, but unsurprisingly they are holding their value very well. I will have the advantage that I can most likely swap out all my drives and PCI cards, although I will need new memory modules if the Mac I buy doesn't have sufficient (at least 16GB) already installed.

I've not even thought about a new style Mac Pro as they are just far too much money and I'd need to buy adaptors for all my peripherals in order to get them to work.

So for those who consider this post to be TL:DR here is what I need to know in a more succinct form:

1. If I get a new Creative Cloud subscription now can I still get the 2014 versions of the applications?

2. Is there any point paying for a Creative Cloud subscription if I can't use the latest versions of the applications?

3. Will CC 2014 applications (primarily InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) open CC 2015 native files without them needing to be back-saved?

4. Will a new iMac support two old Apple DVI monitors via Thunderbolt to DVI adaptors?

5. Or am I better off looking for a second hand old-style Mac Pro which is capable of running El Capitan?

Many thanks in advance!

1 - Yes: Adobe Clickey (info on installing previous versions is about half way down the page).
2 - Only you can decide that one me thinks. Although don't forget that your CC subscription can be moved to a new machine if/when you get one and you'll be able to move up to whatever the latest version is straight away.
3 - Don't know, have never tried.
4 - Should do
5 - Again, that's one for you to decide.
On the one hand, the new iMac's don't go higher than 4 cores (with hyperthreading to give the appearance of 8), on the other they new ones are several processor generations beyond the last full tower MacPros so that may not be as much of an issue.

Thanks for that - especially the Adobe link - as I had info from another forum that I couldn't install versions previous to when I started using CC.

I think the most pressing question is now number 3. If I can open CC 2015 InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop files straight in CC 2014 without them needing to be back-saved first, then I can probably go ahead and get Creative Cloud 2014. However I know that at least two of the companies I do work for have moved on to 2015 so if they are still having to save special versions for me to use even with 2014, I can't see that much point in moving over to CC since CS5 does everything I need from a creative PoV, and I've yet to see any of my clients using CC only features than haven't translated across.

So if anyone can give me a definitive answer on this I'd be most grateful.

Otherwise it looks as though a second hand 3,1 or higher Mac Pro is on the cards. If I don't want one of the very final models then the prices are pretty reasonable, plus it looks as though all my drives and PCI cards will drop straight in. Whilst a new iMac would be nice, I'd need to spend a lot of extra money making all my extra gear work with it. Besides my current Mac is plenty fast enough for what I am doing. Most things happen instantaneously except if I'm working on huge photoshop files and even then it's still impressively quick.

Hmm, I don't know about that. I've got the CC Photography bundle but I haven't actually tried installing any previous versions. I can have a look and see what happens if you want though.

I happen to have a MacPro 3.1 (Early 2008) going spare but it's the 4 core base model and IIRC it's currently got 8GB of RAM (I think I've actually got 12GB of FB-DIMMS in total for it but the Apple RAM seemed to have religious objections to working with the extra stuff I got from Crucial) so would probably be a bit of step down in terms of speed if you've got an 8 core 3GHz version with more memory. Does have the Radeon 5770 upgrade in it mind.
You'd probably be better off going for a more recent 'Pro tbh but if you're interested drop me a PM.

Checked with my copy of CC and it certainly shows the previous versions as installable options right back to CS6:



Didn't actually try to install any of them right enough but I have to assume if they weren't available they wouldn't appear (but this is Adobe so who knows)

Many thanks for your help.

My current feeling is that I'll be getting a second hand 3,1 Mac Pro 8 core - either 2.8 or 3 GHz, as they are a lot more reasonably priced than the later models whilst still being able to run El Capitan.

I didn't know you could install earlier versions of CC, but appears so. I had thought Adobe would only offer the latest edition.

Bear in mind, though, that the 2016 versions may be released soon which might change the goalposts in regards to back saving and compatibility with earlier versions.

Your best bet would be to upgrade the Mac to a more recent model, if not new. Do you actually need a Mac Pro? We have the Core i7 iMacs at work with 16Gb RAM and they run the latest CC great, do you actually need the extra grunt? What kind of files are you working with? I regularly open 1Gb+ Photoshop files with no problems, and that's with Illustrator, InDesign and 4 or 5 other applications open as well. Latest versions of OS X are better at handling compressed memory.

The iMac, together with an external monitor via Thunderbolt connection, is still a powerful and very usable workstation

CC 2015 only came out at the end of last year, so if I can up grade to a Mac Pro capable of running El Capitan I should be good for a decent amount of time.

The iMac was an option I was looking at. However I have too much invested in a Mac Pro type setup in terms of internal drives, PCI multi-channel audio interfaces (I do music on this Mac as well as graphics) and FW peripherals to make getting a iMac a realistically affordable option without making too many compromises.

Just a thought:
Are you thinking of selling the old kit to go towards the new stuff?

If your music making stuff still works, and it does what you need, why not keep your present system just as a dedicated music machine?
Personally, I'd be looking at a modern 27" iMac with a bunch of RAM.
You'll get a gorgeous 27" display, and with one of these one of your displays can go with it.

On my mid 2010 iMac (I've just dropped an SSD and the period correct i7 in to it), I'm running CC quite happily.
That said, I can't see any options to install the older CS6 etc.

At work, we have CS6 on all the iMacs.
The students all run CC.
We do run into compatibility problems if they've brought work from home in.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed information.

It looks as though the answers are:

1. Yes you can install older versions of the applications (apparently all the way back to CS6) even if you have only just bought a subscription.

2. Probably not. For me definitely not as I have found out that since I started this thread two of the clients I do a lot of work for have moved on to CC 2015 and in light of the answer to the next question, unless I am using the same versions of the applications they will still have to save special versions for me to use.

3. It depends. Some of the CC applications will open files created by newer versions although there is a risk that anything using a newer feature will be lost or changed. Others require you to save the files specifically in order for an older version of the application to open them.

4. This is the only one I haven't had a definitive answer for. The best I got was that it should work, but no-one has actually tried it. However using Thunderbolt to DVI converters for 2 extra displays would use up all the available Thunderbolt ports on the iMac which means I wouldn't be able to take advantage of them for any new peripherals I might get in the future. Also, for me buying a new iMac would involve having to upgrade too much of my other hardware to be cost effective at this time.

5. This looks to be, for me, the best option. A 3,1 (or newer) Mac Pro will run El Capitan and therefore the latest versions of CC. It should be possible to use everything except the memory from my old Mac. Looking on eBay a suitable replacement will be around £500, and after I've sold my old Mac will only have cost me a couple of hundred pounds overall.

A new iMac would be nice. I've just done an install of one for one of my clients and I was very impressed with the speed and the quality of the display. However I don't really have room to run two systems - especially since I need multiple monitors for both graphics and music.

I'm still using CS3. However, I have learned that this is likely to be the last OS that will support it as the Jave engine it relies on is deprecated. Now, it may be possible to get it to use the newer Java engine, but it seems that the jury is out in that one.

I don't relish the monthly outlay for CC much, and thankfully I'm not in s position where it is required. In fact, the client most likely to do so is looking at alternatives (deeming CC as "not value for money"). I'm settling in with Affinity Photo & Designer quite well, and they both accept and save Adobe compatible files.

I expect that if it was a necessity, that I would need to pony up for CC, but I don't like the idea of a monthly sub to access my files.

If you really need the extra displays, then getting a Mac Pro sounds the better bet, but you won't get any Lightning - if you go with an iMac with 5K display, would you really still need both external displays? (And yes, I use 2 or 3 displays on my Surface Pro 3.) You also have the ability to upgrade the video card with the Pro.

I don't know how the current OS X version of CC works with graphics cards, but I know with CS5 that it was lagging a long way behind the Windows version, when it came to using the graphic card(s) to render filters in Photoshop and other graphics and video editing tools, but as I don't use CC on a regular basis, I haven't kept up with how it has evolved on the Mac. But a relatively cheap way to improve power on the Windows side is to slap more powerful graphics card(s) into the existing kit. The main processor doesn't play such a dominant role. I also remember, that the Mac graphics cards were much more limited in what is available and they used to be very pricey, compared to using he "identical" (apart from BIOS) Windows version of the cards.

I know it is a Mac thread, so please don't shoot me, but have you thought about a Windows system for running CC? You would get a lot more bang for your buck, because of the graphics card issue. I switch regularly back and forth between OS X, Linux and Windows, so for me, I get the most cost effective tool for the job; but if you are a dedicated Mac user, this probably doesn't come into question, but it was just a thought as you seem to be tight on budget.

If you are sticking with CC on the Mac, I would be tempted to go with a loaded iMac with 5K screen, if I could afford it; otherwise I think the late model non-trashcan Pro is probably the best bet.

Thanks big_D. Unfortunately your reply comes a little too late. I've already bought a second hand Mac Pro 3,1 of the same spec (but with more memory) to my current Mac Pro 2,1. By the time I've sold on my old Mac it the over-all cost of the upgrade will have only been £100 or so.

Can you explain how a faster graphics card speeds up things? I can see how this would work for previews and for small files, but when the average size of the Photoshop files I work on is 500MB those previews still need to be rendered to RAM and then to disk which would still be a bottleneck AFAICS.

I'm afraid Windows was never an option for me. The last time I used a Windows machine in anger was back in 1989 with Windows 2. Since then I have been a 100% Mac person. Besides some of the other software I use is either Mac only or has no cheap or free cross-grade option. My main music software for instance is Logic which I have over 20 years of experience in. I've had a couple of goes at alternative DAWs but found the experience massively frustrating since I spent far too much time trying to work out how to do what should be very simple things rather than getting on creating something.

Looking at the amount of new extra hardware I would have needed to buy in order to make full use of a new iMac or MacPro, these options never really made financial sense right no; and in light of the fact that speed-wise there is absolutely nothing wrong with my current Mac, then IMO the option I have chosen makes the most sense.

I'm not sure how it works on the Mac, but under Windows the video card (which these days have between 2GB and 8GB of onboard RAM) are used to process the filter - it isn't just used to display the preview, it actually does all (or most) of the calculations for the filter. That is because video cards are optimized for video and image generation and can transform the pixels according to the filter many times faster than a general purpose CPU like the Intel Core and Xeon processors can. The finished filter information is then fed back to the application.

The nVIDIA version is called CUDA, AMD uses OpenCL (not to be confused with OpenGL). And the graphics processor is no longer a GPU, but a GPGPU (General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit). The nVidia Quadro cards are much better tuned for double precision math than the GeForce range, but AMD seem more open to the concept and their standard Radeon cards are just as powerful as the FireGL cards. nVidia also has an expansion box used solely for CUDA processing, it has several GPGPUs running in parallel, but it cannot be used as a graphics card - it is also ridiculously expensive, costing several thousand pounds, but has near mainframe performance for complex mathematical tasks.

nVidia certainly has Mac specific versions of some of their high end Quadro cards - most recently the Quadro K5000 Mac edition but thats several thousands of pounds of graphics card and would be some major overkill for Photoshop. It would also be somewhat throttled by the PCIe gen 1 slots in the Mac Pro 3,1 so not really a worthwhile investment.

I doubt they will be making any more Mac specific Quadro cards given the latest Mac Pro can't accommodate internal graphics.
I may be wrong of course - Thunderbolt 3 may be sufficient for viable external graphics solutions but that assume Apple bothers to make a newer Mac Pro that support it.