Review by A. H.

I’ve used Corel’s PaintShop software since the X4 edition. Corel keeps tweaking the software to improve it.

This latest iteration offers a pure 64-bit version. The features of the 64-bit version are generally the same as those of the 32-bit version. However, it makes much more effective use of extended memory. I ran this on a machine with an Intel Ivy Bridge i7 processor and 16 gb of DDR3-1866 memory, and it runs like butter even on the largest RAW image files. The software seems stable – I didn’t experience any odd bugs or crashes.

I’ve used Adobe products and have PhotoShop CS5. This software can do just about anything the Adobe program can do, and it does it for a fraction of the price. That said, Adobe is more of an industry standard, so you’re more likely to find people using that solution.

In all, this is powerful photo editing software at a reasonable price. As with any powerful software, there is a learning curve. But there are aftermarket books that will help you with that if you’re interested.

I dock it one star because Corel has a bad habit of intrusive marketing, with various ads popping up from time to time when you load the program. I could live without that aggressive marketing, which seems amateurish and, frankly, a bit desperate.