Adobe today unveiled its long awaited update to the Creative Suite line of graphic design products, and gave users a sneak peek at their new web authoring tool, so far named “Apollo.” The new Adobe CS3 is fully compatible with Intel-based Macs, which subsequently ushered in the sound of a million Macintosh fans breathing a sigh of relief from their fears that either Apple and Adobe would never heal the rift that was reportedly opened when Apple made the switch to Intel hardware, and the fear that Adobe might never release the widely anticipated update. Wired News got their hands on CS3 good and early, and has reported significant sucesses with it that should make Mac designers mouths water.

CS3 is a Universal Binary, meaning it’ll run equally well on Intel-based and PPC-based Macs without the need for Rosetta, Apple’s translation engine that seamlessly allows old PPC-based software to run on Intel Macs. The benefit of the Universal Binary, among other things, is that the removal of the need for Rosetta makes the application suite significantly faster, and able to take full advantage of the Intel-based hardware under the hood of all of the new Macs. Scott Gilbertson of Wired News has a glowing review, saying that CS3 so far is faster, more stable, and a significant improvement in not just speed from its predecessor, but also in features and functionality.

[ Wired News: Inside Photoshop CS3: Faster, Better and Easier to Use ]