Software Bundle Testing
AIW Radeon X1800 XL and AIW Radeon X1900 customers get copies of Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 and Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 with the hardware. Bob remarked in his evaluation of ATI Radeon X1800 XL for HEXUS.lifestyle that to buy both bits of software separately would run you in the region of £90 in the UK.The Elements versions of Photoshop and Premiere are cut-down and restyled versions of those software packages, largely aimed at the home user rather than the photography/image editing and video editing professionals that would use full Photoshop or Premiere.
While I'm no video editor, and as such I can't pass complete judgement over Premiere Elements 2.0, it is head and shoulders above the free Windows Movie Maker. The task-based interface of Premiere Elements holds the novice's hand enough to get them used to using the application. Premiere Elements 2.0 can also burn created movies to DVD disk for standalone playback.
In short, it seems great for first-time and novice movie makers trying their hand at the task on a PC, and with the plethora of AV input options provided by the AIW, you shouldn't be short of video to work with.
Photoshop Elements 4.0
I do know my way round Photoshop, however. And while Photoshop Elements 4.0 (PE4.0 from now on) does indeed bundle much which makes the current Photoshop CS and CS 2.0 great, it has some serious short comings.
For an application with an interface like PE4.0, where use of keyboard shortcuts is pretty much essential to get serious work done at speed, the ability to remap the standard shortcut keys to your own liking is essential. PE4.0 doesn't let you do so, much to my chagrin. For web work, the default Save to Web shortcut of Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S is guaranteed to have you swearing after a while, and other similar shortcut disasters are abound.
So unless Adobe have moved access to that functionality somewhere other than the Edit menu, which is where you'll find it in CS or CS 2.0, I find it hard to recommend PE4.0 for a project that's more involved than simple touching up of a digital photograph. My workflow in CS precludes me switching, at least.
There's lots to recommend if that won't bug you, though. PE4.0 bundles a decent replacement for Windows Image Acquisition, when hooking up a memory card full of pictures from a digicam, or the digicam itself, and as mentioned previously you also get much of the editing and creation power of the CS parent.
There are easy-to-use wizards for performing the common digital photograph touch-up operations many will want to do, although you'll also find similar tools in other free or low-cost image editors. You also get the on-save optimisation engine of CS and CS 2.0, which has options and preview tools specifically for web work (which I make massive use of in CS).
Free with all shipping X1000 AIWs, PE4.0 is worth the investment to learn, especially if you're no keyboard jockey like I am. Goddamn Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S, again, though. Try pressing it yourself with just your left hand, accurately, especially if you have any kind of classical typist training!
