Adobe Photoshop Elements 4

Pros: Nice looking interface, Lots of Tutorials on the Internet

Cons: Slow very slow

Summary: Adobe elements is a very capable photo editing program at an affordable price. It will do most anything the average user wishes to accomplish with photo editing.

My problem with Photo Elements 4 and previous versions over the years has been it is considerably slower than equivalent programs.

I downloaded the try and buy version of Elements 4 hoping that Adobe had made the necessary adjustments to speed up the program and found that it remains the same as other versions, doggedly slow. Even having over a gig of ram doesn't seem to speed it up much.

At the same time I downloaded Corel's PaintShop Pro X. The comparison between the two products found:

Adobes photo management system is slightly better than Corel's.

Photo editing capabilities were equal.

Paint Shop had an advantage in the help section of the program. It is a very nice intuitive help program, if activated. Additionally Corel's retail program gives you access to over 2 hours of on-line tutorial video's from Lynda.Com. After reviewing these tutorials a new user will be well on their way to proficiency.

Both programs have allot of on-line tutorial help for specific editing techniques.

With almost all things being equal I settled for Corel's product. I liked their intuitive help panel and the availability of the videos on Lynda.com. Most importantly was the fact that Paint Shop Pro X performed at blazing speeds when compared to Adobe Elements 4.