A couple of years ago Corel launched the first edition of Essentials; it certainly was an essential purchase. Now at last Essentials 2 is available is this just as essential?
Buy Now...
I have used CorelDRAW since version 1.2 it was great then and now provided you have a reasonably powerful PC it is superb now. When Essentials was first launched it was a version behind, it meant people could use Corel technology at a reduced price. Now although the current version of CorelDRAW (11) has been out sometime it is still the current version so Essentials is even better value. No doubt its release is political to get extra turnover to please the potential new owners. For a mere users point of view it is great news.
You do not get all the products normally supplied with CorelDRAW but you do get the main DRAW package that made Corel what it is. Being Corel you also get extras, namely a copy of Corel Photobook and Corel PhotoAlbum both packages are normally sold standalone and also Hemeras Big Box of Art, 100,000 images. The four CDs in the box are completed by a tutorial CD great for the novice user.
Anyone with any graphical ability will love what can be produced with CorelDRAW, they were the first that gave the ability to smoothly draw a curved line, fonts were another feature, more fonts than you will ever want all come as standard in the package. Effects, be it fills; shades or images can be so easily incorporated into your image, font or whatever.
I installed CorelDRAW, PhotoAlbum and Photobook. The stated minimum hard disc space on the box is 160MB, during the installation a slide suggested 390MB, my hard disc was 424MB down after the installation, however this by todays bloat ware standards is small, having recently installed the new Microsoft Office at over a GB.
The total separate selling price for the Hemera 100,000 images and Corel Photobook and PhotoAlbum must be close to £100 while you cannot state a definitive price for CorelDRAW - as it is sold with other products - it has always been the main component of the CorelDRAW suite that is around £350 so with CorelDRAW essentials being around £57 work the value out for yourselves.
For many years they ran a design contest and some of the entries produced still look impossible to design now and probably still are in some other products. Today many other packages are on the market, every year the various companies vie to produce new killing features however CorelDRAW is still at the top and the chance to buy a copy for £57 or less should not be passed by. This is certainly a gadget, an essential gadget.
Link: http://www.transaction-one.com/gs/html/vgs/f4/en/home.jsp?pubid=1929
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