Older Mac Compatibility with Older Adobe Creative Software

Question

Level 1

5 points

Older Mac Compatibility with Older Adobe Creative Software

I'm wanting to create Artwork for a CD cover and with the option for a Vinyl at some point.

I'm a retired creative professional who used to use Adobe Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator for publishing packaging, brochures etc. However it has been some time and I no longer have an Adobe Subscription and the monthly fees are rather pricey for something I hardly use these days.

I do my music in Logic on a modern Mac Studio which I use for general computer stuff as well. I also have a 2 Macbook Air's one of which is an older 2015 model.

I have however found my old hard copy of Adobe CS3 together with disks so I'm thinking it would be easier to get an older mac running and older version of the software and OS. I have my old Macbook Air 2015 (Monterey), but that won't run the installer app. Maybe a newer version of Adobe pre-subscription would work. Any suggestions anyone?

MacBook Air 15″

Posted on Sep 14, 2025 03:18 PM

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Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

23,535 points

Sep 14, 2025 04:52 PM in response to martian68

martian68 wrote:

I have however found my old hard copy of Adobe CS3 together with disks so I'm thinking it would be easier to get an older mac running and older version of the software and OS. I have my old Macbook Air 2015 (Monterey), but that won't run the installer app. Maybe a newer version of Adobe pre-subscription would work. Any suggestions anyone?

The only "newer, non-subscription" version of Adobe CS would be CS6 and the last version of macOS that it could be installed on was Mojave. Even then, the word is that Adobe took the CS licensing servers offline years ago, so you probably couldn't activate CS6 even if you could install it.

BTW, there is the Adobe Photoshop Photography Plan, currently $19.99/month that includes current versions of Photoshop, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic.

If you actually need all the features of Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign, take a look at Affinity (Designer, Photo, Publisher). It's a good alternative. Currently $165 one-time license ... and there is a free trial.

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Answer 2

martian68 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 14, 2025 03:25 PM in response to martian68

Update: I've found a version Adobe CS 5.5 in the CS3 box. The installer won't run on the Macbook 2015 either, but it's widened my options at least.

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

67,638 points

Sep 14, 2025 04:35 PM in response to martian68

CS3 is PowerPC software. At the very newest, you'd need a 2010 Mac running Snow Leopard with Rosetta installed in order to use it. If you could even get it activated, which is very unlikely.

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