Coreldraw, which version is best?

[Glinda Fabok]

I'm a newbie and I'm in the process of buying a Universal Versa system. I need to purchase Coreldraw and I would like to know if the x4 version is the latest one, and would anyone recommend it?

[Brian Robison]

Hi Glinda,
I have V12 but need to upgrade. I would suggest X4, it's the latest one.

[Mike Mackenzie]

Glinda,

X4 is the latest version, you could probably get X3 at a really good price and there is not much difference. Either version will work fine.

[Glinda Fabok]

Thanks guys, I'll look into the X3 if it will save a few bucks at this point. Glinda

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Glinda,
There are a few new things in X4 that X3 does not have. #1 is the center line trace. This was in V12 but missed X3 somehow but now it is back in X4 and better raster to vector conversions/tracing.

Go look at the Corel X4 website and find the "What's new in X4" and see if there is anything that X4 has that X3 does not and make your decision that way. Or like many others here like myself have upgraded to X4 because we see the benefits.

May I suggest also the following:
if you laser as a hobby, go ahead and get X3 since time is not as much an concern.
If you laser to put food on the table and gas in the car/truck, in other words full time business, then get X4 because it will save you time and can do somethings that X3 can't or not as easily.

Hope this helps and ...

[Andrey Anfimov]

I use only three programs:
Photoshop, AutoCad and Adobe Illustrator.
Practically you can use any program which can print documents and drawings.

From User Manual for PLS (june 2007):
Recommended Software Programs.

ULS does not guarantee software compatibility with any off-the-shelf software program that has
not been written by ULS. However, the following suggested programs are widely used by ULS
customers and are considered to be the most functional and compatible programs to use with the
laser system.
• Vector Graphics Programs (user supplied)CorelDRAW 12 or X3**, Adobe Illustrator CS

• Bitmap / Scanning Software (user supplied) Corel PHOTO-PAINT or Adobe Photoshop
• Raster to Vector Conversion Software (user supplied) CorelTRACE
• CAD Software (user supplied) AutoCAD for Windows
• FONTS (user supplied) Use True Type fonts ONLY. Do not use PostScript or bitmapped fonts.

[Lee DeRaud]

if you laser as a hobby, go ahead and get X3 since time is not as much an concern.

For that matter, you can probably get X3 now and upgrade it to X4 at a later date for not much more than the full version of X4 costs now.
Just make sure your copy of X3 is legal so there won't be issues at upgrade time.

[Bill Cunningham]

One of the nice things I have noticed with X4+SP1 is the 'vast' improvement in the thumbnails you get with windows explorer.. You can actually 'see' what the job was/is.. I use the explorer to sort through my graphic thumbnails, and the difference is astounding..