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| CorelDRAW X4 | 
 enlarge | From: Corel
Category: Software
List Price: £386.58
Buy New: £304.84
You Save: £81.74 (21%)
Buy New/Used from £259.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  (39 reviews)
Sales Rank: 818
Format: Dvd-rom
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista
Media: CD-ROM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.7
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: CDGSX4IEPC
UPC: 735163117073
EAN: 0735163117073
ASIN: B0012Q08AS
Release Date: February 22, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Brand New - Full UK Retail Boxed - Exactly the same as amazons - Price includes VAT and invoice supplied.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 A great graphics package January 1, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Corel draw has been one of the best vector graphics packages available for a while and this new version hit the mark as usual. The user interface is simple to use, even for a non-graphically minded person like me. The ability to produce simple and great looking vector graphics for use in web pages and software applications makes this a perfect addition to any developers tool kit. It provides a greater degree of flexibility than Microsofts Expression Design (Microsoft Expression Studio) whilst keeping the application straightfoward to use.
The photo editing software included is quite good but realy is not match for the superb Corel Paintshop Pro (Paint Shop Pro Photo X2). Power Trace is a great bitmap to vector converter which enables this product to easily compeate with Adobe illustrator and certainly win in terms of usability for the no graphics designer.
There is one fly in the ointment, there is a problem with this program when it is installed on a machine with SQL Server 2008 installed the application fails to run. There is a fix availbale from the Corel Web site to correct this issue.
One of the best graphics suites around December 23, 2008
This little Gem is one of the best graphic suites around. It is very comprehensive and covers lots of very useful tutorials for creating all sorts of graphic images. You'll find it is aimed at the semi professional due to the cost and range of applications and is quite easy to get used to. I'm used to using Paint Shop Pro but liked this very much
Adobe should start worrying December 23, 2008
Okay, I'm going to be honest. I owned Adobe CS3 which did everything I wanted/needed and had no intention of going back to Corel Draw until I got a review copy of their Graphics Suite X4 from Amazon.
But whatever my reason for trying Corel, I am now glad I did. I was impressed even before I installed the software on my computer because it came with a meaty manual and a spiral-bound catalogue (in full colour) illustrating the supplied clipart and other graphics items as well as the OpenTyype fonts. This is amazing, considering that with the much more expensive Adobe CS3, you get just the installation DVD and nowt else (Adobe please take note!).
The marketing blurb boasts of a revamped interface but in truth you shouldn't expect anything revolutionary. There are new-look icons and redesigned toolbars and a tabbed Welcome Screen but users of previous versions should feel instantly at home with this latest incarnation.
There's improved file format support. You can now import MS Word 2007 and even MS Publisher files. What I was really pleased about was that the import and export of Adobe files (PSD and PDF, for example) seemed a lot smoother (the process is quicker and almost crash-proof).
There's a lot more to like about this suite. With its improved drawing power and text handling, it can now rival Illustrator. CroleDraw provides enough tools to use it as a fully-fledged DTP (and in many cases it's more flexible than InDesign). PhotoPaint is a capable image editor but not yet as sophisticated as Photoshop (perhaps in the next version!).
I've been using this suite for over a month but I'm feel I've barely scratched the surface. it's packed with power and delightful features just waiting to be discovered. Persevere with it and you could be creating print publications every bit as impressive as those that can be created with their Adobe counterparts - but much more cheaply!
Now, if only Corel could release web design and video editing applications. Then, Adobe would really have something to worry about ...
 Failed at the basics December 20, 2008
I'm not a professional graphics artist so I'm afraid I will not be able to comment to any worthwhile extent on CDX4's advanced editing functions. My typical use of images amounts to resizing screenshots then saving them as JPEGs (for uploading to the internet) and touching up photos. My problem though isn't with the complexity of CDX4, but with its quality.
The minimalist, mostly-transparent buttons don't work well with the grey colour scheme. Worse than that, for some reason I can't fathom the buttons are extremely small. I don't have my screen on a huge resolution - 1280x1024, which is actually at the small end by today's standards - so I can only assume that for some reason Corel did it on purpose. Not fun if your vision isn't perfect.
Given that this is a 300-ish investment, you'd expect it to be absolute overkill for basic image editing. Unfortunately it actually _failed_ one of my rudimentary usage tests. When resizing a computer game screenshot (from 1024x768 to 800x600, for posting on a message board), this package wrecked the image making it a pixellated unreadable mess. By contrast, the _free_ GIMP image editing program actually works quite well. Obviously CDX4 can't be expected to compete with the more expensive Adobe Creative Suite, but for it to produce such a ghastly result in a task that even free programs can handle is unforgivable.
CorelDRAW the secret classic December 18, 2008
One of the best graphics suites available, rivalling photoshop in many ways. Illustration is it's strong point, anyone using a tablet or similar device will be amazed by it's ease of use and intuitive interface.
Output files are industry-standard and it has all the options you would expect in a package of this price.
Excellent manuals, you get what you pay for it seems.
I would buy this if I ever needed an alternative to Photoshop and it's application suite.
Recommended.
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