I'm thinking of buying Illustrator or Photoshop. Since Adobe is so RIDICulously expensive I can only get one...which would I get more use out of, being a graphic design student?

There's also something called Photoshop Elements on the apple store, and it's only $80...anyone know what that's all about?

Elements is the non-professional version of Photoshop. It doesn't do as much fancy stuff, but depending upon what you're wanting to do, most of the time Elements is plenty equipped.

Elements is a condensed version of the full Photoshop program. It has a lot of the same features but also lacks a lot of features as well. It's definitely worth the 80 dollars but nothing compares to the full program.

Illustrator is a program that can go hand in hand with Photoshop. It's meant more for Print/Poster design (as well as InDesign), while Photoshop focuses more on web design. Illustrator has a lot of great features that Photoshop does not have (and vice-versa). Also, for certain designs, it's advisable to start a design out in Illustrator (such as a logo design) and then once you get the basic design, pull it over to Photoshop to add depth and more stylistic techniques.

If you're going to be a graphic design student, you should try and get the entire suite. My major is Interactive Digital Design (basically the same thing) and I use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash regularly in my classes.

Thanks for your help guys! I'm finishing up my first design class and we've used mostly illustrator, and done a little with photoshop, so I was just wondering what I'll use down the road. I'd love to get the full suite, but the $700 is a little out of my price range lol. If I can stick it out I'm going to wait a year and do the "buy a mac, get the suite for $350" when my brother orders his computer. Or else I'll probably do Illustrator and the Elements, since thats about the price of photoshop itself.

Arg. I need more money.