This might not be an option on some Chromebooks, particularly budget models and those based on ARM hardware, but anything rocking a Core i3 processor or similar should at least be able to try running Windows apps using Chrome’s Linux powers and WINE or the Android-based CrossOver. One of the other options I tried is running the Photoshop Windows program in an emulator. Since it’s also running in the Chrome browser, my beloved keyboard shortcuts have to be shared across both browser and image editor functions, causing even more headaches. I search on. The ads are rather large and annoying, but you can get rid of them for a lot less than a Creative Suite subscription.īut being web-based, it still requires me to upload photos in a cumbersome file explorer, rather than grabbing them directly off the desktop or (even better) copy-and-pasting them into a canvas for instant satisfaction. I’d be happy to recommend it to anyone who needs a few tweaks on occasion, on just about any platform-it’ll probably even work on a tablet if you’re desperate. While it lacks some of Photoshop’s more powerful, CPU- and GPU-intensive tools, those aren’t really necessary for my work. Anyone who’s memorized a complex set of keyboard shortcuts, only to find that they’ve all moved around in a competing program, knows what I’m talking about.Īnd don’t get me wrong, Photopea is pretty much as good as it can be. I’ve been using Adobe’s visual tools for over twenty years, ever since Desktop Publishing class in high school, and I’m very fast and efficient with Photoshop’s suite of editing tools in particular.

I should point out that it’s very specifically Photoshop, and not just, say, a competent image editor, that I crave. As a tech reporter and reviewer, I need a powerful image editor as part of my daily workflow, either for whipping up a quick header image (like the one you see at the top of this article) or for cleaning a bunch of review photos. And for all that time, I’ve been desperate to get Photoshop on it in some way, shape, or form. I’ve been using Google’s desktop operating system ever since it launched in one form or another, and I always seem to have at least one Chrome-powered laptop or tablet around to keep fresh on it.

Gnu image manipulation program online