Photoshop Elements 4.0 on the Mac, like the current version of Photoshop on the Mac, is not a Universal app. It'll still run on your Mac, but it'll be running in Rosetta compatibility mode, rather than running at full native speed on your Intel chip.

This technically means that there's a bit of a performance hit, but in practice I don't think it'll feel that bad if you're doing relatively basic stuff.

The alternative, as you mention, is to run your Windows version of Photoshop in Parallels. This is like Virtual PC, but rather than emulating an Intel chip it just uses the one in your machine, so you get Windows at near-native speeds.

Basically, none of the 'pro' graphics/design apps are Universal yet.

If I were you (IANY), I'd hold off buying Photoshop of any description until the Intel versions are released. It won't be long - I've been using the Intel beta version of Photoshop CS3 for a month or two now. It's *much* quicker than the older, PowerPC version on my MacBook and the Intel iMac I use at work.

Additionally, if you're going to be using Photoshop on a Mac Mini, I'd recommend that you get some additional RAM installed - find a local Mac dealer (not necesarily a branded Apple Store, who will rip you off for the chips) who knows how to install it, since opening up a Mac Mini if you haven't done it before is a bit iffy.

Thanks :)
I got it with 2GB of RAM when we ordered it (I saw the article with the putty knives and decided to let them do it).
I may go ahead and get the PSE, though...it's only $80 and I doubt I'll mind the speed. The machine I currently have is a dinosaur.

Well, bah...maybe I won't. Reading the reviews at amazon, it seems like it may have issues with the newest version of Tiger (which I assume I'm getting on the mini). I guess I'll just try out iPhoto for resizing and stuff and then bounce the files to my PC for any serious editing for now and then will get the proper PS when they come out.

That said, if you can afford it, and you're dealing with photos specifically (rather than, say, design work), Aperture is a Universal binary, and it's an amazing piece of kit, and $299 ain't bad at all.

There's a 30 day free trial on Apple's Aperture page.

I think the speed hit in Rosetta is overstated. I'm using CS2 daily on an iBook and a 500 mhz G4 and while they're slow, they're usable, even for files hundreds of MB in size -- and for the web work that's my bread and butter, the files are considerably smaller than that and there's no lag at all.

Any Intel box running CS2 in emulation will be considerably faster than my years-old computers. The upgrade to CS3 will be a further speed boost. The only reason why I'd recommend holding off on CS2 is that if you can stand to wait, purchase CS3 when it comes out and save yourself a few hundred dollars for the upgrade fee.