It seemed like a good idea at the time

I already have Photoshop Elements 2 but now that I am a student I thought I would take advantage of the huge student discount on software. What better splerge than on Adobe's Creative Suite Premium! I ordered the software and also a new piece of hardware - a Wacom Intous3 Tablet! The Tablet is plugged in and is amazing. I first used a tablet in the early 90's at school in art class and I fell in love with it. The new Tablets are much more responsive and my own Tablet that is sitting next to me is absolutely gorgeous and I love it.

I will be able to use my Tablet with Photoshop Elements but I really wanted to get the Creative Suite as it comes with other software in the bundle pack that looks just as amazing. I've bought a Classroom in a Book by Adobe to learn the basics of Creative Suite and how the various programs link together. I've already looked through the book while waiting for my parcel of goodies to arrive in the post, and the stuff they take you through will be such good fun to practice.

So after waiting 6 days, my package finally arrived. It was like Christmas and I couldn't wait to start playing with me new toys. The Tablet was so easy to install, almost a case of plug n play, the software was a different story.....
I was so excited about using it but then read the system requirements. I had bought the Mac version, check. I am running 10.4.3, um, well, actually no I'm still running 10.2.8 I still have Jaguar running on my Mac. OK, I can hear you screaming "what!!?" but I've never seen the point in upgrading my OS. It has, up until now, always done what I've wanted it to and the newer versions haven't offered me enough to make me upgrade. I've finally taken a look at Tiger which is already up to 10.4.8 and it looks alright, but I've seen the previews of Leopard and I must say that that upgrade looks well worth it! I'm finally excited about an upgrade to my OS but sadly Leopard isn't due out yet :-( Rumours by analysts say that Mac may realease it towards the end of March which would be awesome but according to Mac's website it is going to be mid 2007.

So do I wait and have software I can't use just yet, or do I opt for Tiger now and then upgrade to Leopard towards the end of the year? I'm gonna go for the latter option, pointless having software sat there if I can't use it and my OS is many years old so it should get upgraded anyway.

And then we come to RAM, 384MB to run one creative app and a recommended 1GB to run multiple. OK, slight problem here as well as I only have 256MB! Again, I have never needed to upgrade my Mac because until now it has done everything I've wanted it to and more. But I guess I have neglected him seeing how he hasn't had any changes apart from software apps and a 320GB external HD. According to spec I can upgrade my RAM to a total of 1GB but I think that the shipped 256MB RAM can't be removed? Will be going to the Apple store in Chatswood on Saturday but I don't expect them to know! They'll probably try to get me to buy a new Mac, which would be nice but my old iMac isn't ready for the knackers yard just yet thank you very much! So researching via the internet it is.

And, yes there's more! I also need to get a USB hub as I have too many USB devices and not enough ports. So in total I'm looking at $200 for new OS, over $100 for new RAM and probably around $50 or under for the USB hub, and I've still saved over $1000 on the software. Yay!

Nothing's ever easy is it :-)