CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019 is the newest
version available
Welcome to a whole new world of CorelDRAW! You won’t believe how
much has changed since the release of CorelDRAW X7. Our newest, most powerful
version offers an expansive toolbox for graphic design, tracing, illustration,
layout, photo editing and website design. In addition, we have incorporated the
most current technology and hardware compatibility to ensure you deliver
professional results every time. Come see what’s new:
·
Microsoft Windows
8/8.1 or Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit editions), with latest service packs
installed.
·
Intel Core 2 Duo or
AMD Athlon 64.
·
2 GB RAM.
·
1 GB hard disk space.
·
Mouse, tablet or
multi-touch screen.
·
1280 x 768 or higher
monitor resolution.
Top reasons to upgrade from CorelDraw X7
- NEW! CorelDRAW.app
- NEW! Non-Destructive Effects
- NEW! Symmetry drawing mode
- NEW! Block Shadow tool
- NEW! After Shot 3 HDR
- NEW! Straighten photos interactively
- NEW! Adjust photo perspective interactively
- NEW! Apply envelopes to bitmaps
- ENHANCED! Objects control
- ENHANCED! Live Sketch tool
Upgrade now before it’s too late!
Later this year, upgrade pricing (download and
box products) will no longer be available to users on older versions of the
software. There’s never been a better time to upgrade than right now, before
these changes come into effect.
CorelDRAW Graphics
Suite X7 has been
released and many of you want to know if it will run on your computer. In this
post I’ll list the official hardware requirements for CorelDRAW Graphics
Suite X7 as well as
suggestions beyond the requirements. If you have any questions not answered in
this post, please post as a comment to the blog or on the Graphics Unleashed
Facebook page. Do not e-mail me directly! By posting your
questions as a comment, I can respond to your comment with an answer for everyone.
Let’s first look at the system requirements that Corel has
listed for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7.
·
Microsoft® Windows® 8
(32-bit or 64-bit editions), Microsoft® Windows® 7 (32-bit or 64-bit editions),
all with latest service packs installed
·
Note that Windows XP
is not supported as it is more than ten years old. You need to update to Windows
7 or 8 as we have suggested to you in Migrate Your Operating
System to 64-bit. In order to run the
64-bit version of CorelDRAW X7, you do need to have a 64-bit operating system.
·
Intel Core 2 Duo or
AMD Athlon 64
·
2 GB RAM
·
1 GB hard disk space
(for installation without content). Up to 6GB needed to install extra content
·
Mouse, tablet or
multi-touch screen
·
1024 x 768 screen
resolution (768 x 1024 on a Tablet PC)
·
DVD drive
·
Microsoft® Internet
Explorer® 8 or higher
·
Internet connection
required for Membership and Subscription services, installing updates and
access to some features, including the Content Exchange, QR code tools and
ConceptShare
Let’s start with the
biggest hardware requirement. You need a PC. If you have a Mac, you will need
to install Windows on it to run CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7. Mac users, I am simply the messenger so
please don’t shoot me as I have nothing to do with this decision. The
reasons Why You Shouldn’t Expect a Mac Version of CorelDRAW were covered a few years ago. A
follow-up to that can be found at Native Mac Version of CorelDRAW Coming? Don’t
Expect It! If you do run it
on a Mac, Corel will not officially support it. That said, it does seem to work
quite well using Boot Camp, VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop to run Windows.
As I said, you must have Windows. Specifically it will run on Windows 7 and Windows 8. The 32-bit version of CorelDRAW X7 will work on both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows. As mentioned earlier, you need a 64-bit operating system to run the 64-bit version of CorelDRAW. Corel does specify you need all of the latest service packs for Windows. While it isn’t spelled out, CorelDRAW does require the latest release of the .NET services which are part of more recent service packs.
While there is a 64-bit version of CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT, many users will find that using the 32-bit version is a better choice. Read Is the 64-Bit Version of CorelDRAW X6 Right For You? to understand why you may want to install the 32-bit version. If you are unsure how to install the 32-bit version, read Finding and Installing 32-Bit CorelDRAW X6. While both of those posts specifically address CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6, the information is still valid for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7.
Next up is the processor. I’m guessing most of your couldn’t name what processor you have so this requirement is a bit of a mystery to you. Let’s forget the processors listed and let’s talk about the real requirement. You must have a processor that supports the SSE2 instruction set. If you don’t, you won’t even be allowed to install CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7. I told you how to find out if you had SSE2 in a post a few years ago on the CPU-Z Processor Information Utility. Just so you know, these instructions have been available in processors for nine years or more. Why is this a requirement? I’ll explain.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7 has support for multiple threads. This means a feature can take advantage of multi-core processors or even hyperthreaded processors to perform a function much faster. A perfect example is the Save feature. As soon as you start saving a file, you can immediately start doing other things as the save is performed in the background. How many times in the past have you sat there staring at the screen waiting for a file to finish saving? I know it happened way too often for me. My computer (described in detail) has four cores each of which can run two separate threads. When CorelDRAW saves, it can now split the load in eight ways. Multi-threading was added in CorelDRAW X5 and the number of functions that use multiple threads has been expanded in CorelDRAW X6 and CorelDRAW X7. As of this writing, you may want to consider the LGA 1150 Processor Is The Heart of a Computer should you be in the market for a new machine.
Next up, it says 2 GB of RAM is required. Sorry, that number is unrealistic. While that might technically be the minimum, I think you need a minimum of 4 GB to even consider using any graphics software these days. Personally I’d recommend any new computer to have a 64-bit operating system and as much memory as possible. For more on this subject, read my post Memory and CorelDRAW. In that post, you’ll notice I talk about the useless Memory setting in CorelDRAW X4. It was removed in CorelDRAW X5 and a few users were concerned that it wasn’t there. As I’ve said many times, it didn’t do anything! With the 64-bit version of CorelDRAW, I’d suggest 8 GB of RAM to be the absolute minimum and I’d suggest you install as much memory as your computer will allow. The 64-bit version can use as much of the memory as needed and isn’t limited to 2 GB like 32-bit software. Read Fill Up Your Screaming Fast Computer With RAM for more details. That said, very few of you will be creating CorelDRAW files anywhere near 2 GB in size! Those who are, probably need to look at ways of optimizing their files.
As we move down the list, the requirements say you need a minimum of 1 GB of hard drive space. If you buy the boxed version, the full install takes around 7 GB of space. So while you can skimp, I sure hope you have a lot more space available! If you want a really fast hard drive, make sure to read Speed Up Your Computer With OCZ Vector 150 SSD Hard Drive and pair it with Seagate Barracuda 3TB Hard Drive.
You have to be able to point, so you need a mouse, tablet or multi-touch screen. We highly recommend you use a Wacom tablet! Corel added touch support in CorelDRAW X5 though this is something very few users will be using as only a small percentage of computers have touch support. You must have a DVD drive as the boxed version includes the software on a DVD. While the downloaded version does not require a DVD drive, you’ll find it much more time consuming to get all the clipart, fonts and other content supplied on the DVD.
The last requirement is Internet Explorer 8 and honestly this is something Corel shouldn’t require. Many users prefer other browsers, such as Firefox, Chrome or Opera. Yet CorelDRAW relies upon Internet Explorer to load any Web content. If you must use the newer versions of Internet Explorer, please read Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 Is Evil and How To Fix It!
Upgrade Eligibility: To purchase the upgrade version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X7, you must own a previous licensed version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, X5 or X6 or CorelDRAW® Premium Suite X5. Please note that upgrade eligibility excludes Academic, Home and Student, OEM and Not for Resale (NFR) versions.
Some users prefer to wait for the Education Edition as it is typically a lower price. Keep in mind that it is illegal to use it for paying work. Also, it often leaves out important features such as support for macros. It is not eligible for upgrade pricing. In saving a few bucks up front, it can cost you a lot more in the long run.
32 Bit
64 Bit
