CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 Upgrade [DVD]

Very good product, it works well converting .eps files and is great if you work with an engraving machine. I have been using version 10 of Corel Draw, and moving to version 14 was well worth the money.

I bought a new computer, and Corel 8 didn't work with Microsoft Vista. The Corel upgrade fixed the Vista issues, and there a lot of new tools which are helpful - I realy like the grid tool. If you like Corel, the X4 upgrade is a good deal.

If you are a full time, professional graphics artist you're mostly likely using Adobe products which cost many times the price of this graphics suite. If this is how you make your living, spending a few thousand dollars for software is a no-brainer. But what about the rest of us?

This is what I love about CorelDraw. It gives you 90% of the power of Adobe at 10% of the price. The interface is more intuitive and Corel does a brilliant job of making the deep feature set of this product as accessible to those of us who do graphics work on a part time basis.

The deciding factor if you make your living doing graphics is the features and CorelDraw is no slouch. That's why many professionals prefer it over Adobe.

If graphics is a side job for you, then CorelDraw gives you all the tools you'll need, with a intuitive user interface that is much easier to understand and use.

Two months ago I tried Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and was so impressed I decided to upgrade my old CorelDRAW 10. I ordered the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 upgrade and installed it, with no problems, to a finicky Vista Home Premium. That was the end of my positive impressions. It took me 3 days to find any significant difference between X4 and the old 10. When I did find differences, they were to my dismay. Some of my favorite tools were gone. The UI is as clunky as the old version which is quite old by now. Paint Shop has a dark skin option that is very easy on the eyes. I guess I assumed the new X4 would have one too. Stupid. To make a long story short, There is no reason whatsoever, that I can see, to spend that kind of money on this application. I'll be looking at Adobe a little more seriously now.

I'm a professional graphic designer, and I have to use the Adobe Creative Suite. It's the industry standard, period. But after well over 15 years of watching Illustrator and CorelDRAW develop and using both, the bottom line is that DRAW is a far superior, faster, more intuitive vector rendering program. Click on "See Customer Images" by the product image, and you'll find a thumbnail of a vector design ("Matco") that I created from scratch entirely in CorelDRAW in about 4 hours.

Adobe's suite is a MUST for any professional, and the DRAW package is not an adequate substitute in most cases. But once you understand the translation process to Illustrator via PDF, there's nothing you can create in Draw that can't be brought over to Illustrator/InDesign for final file prep.

Even though my professional enthusiasm for CorelDraw stems from its rendering capabilities, I'd be negligent not to mention that this box of software is a pretty amazing Swiss Army knife of graphics capabilities for non-professionals at a great price. Check out Corel Painter, as well.