I get excited when new software hits the market, especially software that makes my life more creative and fun.  I work on the web and spent an enormous amount of time (not to mention money) looking for the perfect software to create webpages and that perfect “Photoshop Clone” but once it dawned on me that what I needed was Adobe Creative Suite, I stopped spinning my wheels with lesser programs.  Adobe Creative Suite is currently undergoing another upgrade so it is time to check my computer to make sure I have the components necessary to run this powerful money-maker and I have to ask — Are you ready?

Anyone who is not proficient with Adobe Creative Suite believes that the software is too large and confusing to use on their little projects and I will not mention the price but if you make the commit to Adobe you will soon find reason to use every piece of software in this suite every day.  I truly believe that the more you use the software the more uses you will discover.  Adobe Creative Suite will bring out your artistic side and make everything you touch a little more creative.

So what hardware do I need to have in order to run this suite and make my life a little more creative?  In all honesty, you need top of the line components but most of these components are probably in your computer already.  If not, the more projects the better, right?

1. Intel Pentium 4 Processor.  Most CPUs that you purchased or upgraded in the last year are powerful enough to run Adobe Creative Suite.  You do need a lot of processor speed and power to run this suite at it’s full potential.  Trust me, there is nothing more frustrating then having a creative flash and having to wait for your computer to catch up.
2. 1gb of RAM.  Ok, so you probably have at least 1gb of RAM already installed in your computer which means you are covered on the RAM.  But if your really a DIY geek and you are going to be upgrading components anyways, install more memory. 
   
3. 22gb of hard drive space.  In all honesty, when I first found out that Adobe Creative Suite needed twenty-two gigabytes of hard drive, I thought I misread the box.  But were talking about five different programs and in today’s software world that is only 4gb per program. Of course you also need space for your projects and if you are going to edit videos Adobe does recommend a separate hard drive for storage of the files.  Hard drives are so cheep these days, you could have two or three drives installed in your computer ready to go within 15 minutes.
4. 1280x1024 monitor.  You need a wide screen monitor to really get beyond the basics of this program and let me tell you this, once you go widescreen you will not go back.  If you do nothing else, treat yourself to a widescreen monitor and you will find an entirely new world of creative endeavors opening up to you.
   

I’ve got some upgrading to do in order to prepare.