At the end of 2003, Adobe's three Collections morphed into two suites: a $999 Creative Suite Standard Edition, comprising the new versions of Photoshop (with an updated ImageReady), Illustrator, and InDesign, and a $1,229 Premium version, which adds new versions of GoLive and the already released Acrobat 6.0 Professional.

What distinguishes a suite from a collection? In this case, it's improved work-flow integration and interface similarity among the various applications, plus two interoperational apps. The first, Version Cue, is a hybrid asset- and collaboration-management program, which provides some version control and file management for workgroup publishing. The second is a series of Design Guides, which lead you through the various tasks of a selected type of work flow, such as preparing images for use on a Web site. Like the first version of any software, they look raw and need some streamlining. However, combining these newborn applications with the veteran products makes them look even greener.

As with most office suites, the allure is the pricing rather than the packaging. For instance, if you currently own just Photoshop, you're eligible to upgrade to the entire suite, getting full versions of all the other apps in the suite as well. Also, if you are planning to buy Photoshop plus another app, it might be cheaper to buy the suite (depending on the other app).

	Full	Upgrade
Creative Suite Premium PC	$1,229 Check prices	$779 Check prices
Creative Suite Premium Mac	$1,229 Check prices	$779 Check prices
Creative Suite Standard PC	$999 Check prices	$549 Check prices
Creative Suite Standard Mac	$999 Check prices	$549 Check prices

Read the full review:

Adobe Photoshop CS	Adobe Illustrator CS	Adobe InDesign CS
Adobe GoLive CS	Acrobat 6.0 Professional