CS & D600 downloads - - help!

Question

I have ols CS2 and new Nikon D600. Can't open NEF (Raw) photos. I have tried to "download"
Camera Raw 7.3 and DNG Converter 7.3. After download was also told I needed to also
download Adobe Application Manager 6.2. Not sure if I have the correct downloads or have to
change the order I download them in. I have had CS2 for about 8 years nad have done fine but
computers are getting more complicated, is there an A-B-C solution?  I just got the camera and
new computer for just photography, much to learn. Also thinking of getting Lightroom 4 or
Elements 11. Photo quality is most important, storage can always be done.....which would you
suggest me buying. Would use either on new computer and even on the old since I took
Photoshop CS2 off my old computer---- lack of speed and memory!
     Thank you very much for your help, keep up the work and great products!   Kevin    

Answer 1

LR 4.3 RC and ACR 7.3 RC will support the raw format of your new D600 camera.  Both are in public-beta phase, now, which precludes using Elements until ACR 7.3 goes into production in a few weeks.
To get started doing something right away, get Lightroom 4.3 RC from Adobe Labs and try that on your new computer, and use Edit In Photoshop (with LR Adjustments) to do things beyond what LR will do.  LR 4.3 RC will expire in a couple months, but that should give you enough time to get comfortable with it or decide you don’t want to use it.  http://labs.adobe.com/
Once ACR 7.3 is released to production, you can download and try the PSE11 trial and update it to ACR 7.3.  As Noel says, the raw-processing user-interface exposed in Elements doesn’t give access to the more sophisticated adjustments that LR and ACR with PS-CS6 would and PSE also doesn’t have nearly all the functionality of PS, either.
Of  course if resources are not too much an issue, the PS-CS6 starts at $600 or a monthly fee of $50 for a Creative Cloud subscription and you could also use it with the ACR 7.3 RC beta from Adobe Labs.  Your CS2 is too old to quality for upgrade pricing.
As someone who has both LR and PS, I use LR most of the time and occasionally use PS for finishing touches.