Performance

Corel state that the new X6 version is faster than the previous versions. The last version we tested was X4 and it had the same issues as X2 where making any small adjustments would take several seconds to process. Not a lot of time, but it soon builds up. It's this problem that leads us with trepidation into the performance area of the review.

Sadly, it still has the same problem. We tried to reduce the noise on a sample image and it's a couple of issues that Corel PaintShop Pro X6 has that causes this phenomenon. There's no Apply button on Corel PaintShop Pro X6 with actions, so it tries to make the changes instantly. But because it's not coded to deal with using the necessary amount of processing power needed (possibly to allow other computer actions to continue without taking the lion's share), it can't cope and so you're left edging up the sliders one step at a time and it takes forever. Make the slightest error and you're forced to wait while Corel PaintShop Pro X6 X6 applies that error for you to then remove it. It's only saving grace is that if you know you've made a mistake, you can press Esc (PC) to abort the action and that's pretty much instant.

The filters found in the Adjust section of the program take around 10-15 seconds to apply. Our folder contained 180 pictures and to apply just one filter to each picture - not including importing and exporting times - would take us half an hour. That's a long time just to apply a filter to a set of pictures. Unfortunately, if you make a mistake, even the undo action isn't instant. Noise removal is the worse culprit. It takes a couple of minutes, making it slower than a lot of similarly priced systems.

When in the Edit stage, we found that hovering over tools brings up an alt tag (a little white box containing text that describes what the tool does). In itself, this isn't a bad thing, but on X6, it covers the writing of one of the tools if you have more than one available on that button. To make matters worse, the alt tag only shows what one of the tools does and it tends not to be the one you have covered.

Conclusion

The difference between Corel PaintShop Pro X6 and Photoshop is that Adobe don't care what else you're doing on your computer. If you've opened Photoshop then that's what the computer will have to deal with above all else. Corel PaintShop Pro X6 seems to want to politely share the processor with everything. Or it's not as strong to take the power from other systems. What you're left with is a slow program that waits and waits until you're so fed up waiting, you close it down and open up Photoshop again anyway. They do seem to have added a minor delay to the program so it waits to see if you've stopped making changes, but it's a split second and no-one can decide whether they're happy with an adjustment in that time.

If Corel want to continue with this way of applying actions, they need to add an Apply button to the bottom of the window or import low compression versions of the image so that changes are more instant. It's this constant waiting that annoys us.

X6 does look slick and while the overall look of it hasn't changed since X4, it appears fresher. We like the step-by-step approach to editing. It works well and if Lightroom wasn't around, we think that Corel PaintShop Pro X6 would have one up on Adobe.  Ironically, it's Lightroom that made tagging images trendy and a crucial part of editing suites.

We're perfectly happy with all aspects of Corel PaintShop Pro X6 with the exception of the slow and constant processing.  The price is great for what you get. A full editing suite and two other image enhancing tools for £80. That's a tenth the price of Photoshop. You have to at least try the 30 day trial for that price. You may like it, or be able to cope with the waiting. The results of the review are let down because of our issues we've mentioned. However, the rest of the program and value for money means we can still to recommend it.

Ratings (out of 5)
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4
Value for money	5

Your Comments