Layout Designer: Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

The latest update to Intuit's small-business bookkeeping software is finally here. But once we spent some time with QuickBooks Pro 2007, we had a hard time stifling our yawns.

The flagship feature is the Layout Designer. Previous incarnations offered a few pedestrian preset designs for printed documents such as invoices, estimates, and statements. This update offers a way to pretty up your QuickBooks forms while allowing the accountants to maintain control over the default layouts.

The Layout Designer is essentially a rudimentary drawing program with simple tools for layering, arranging, and coloring the layout objects. Sadly, the graphics handling left us wanting. Bitmapped images degraded upon import - bad news for anyone who wants to add a logo to a document - so it's best to stick with vector-based images. While it's a much-needed addition, the Layout Designer's execution lacks refinement.

QuickBooks Pro 2007 is now a Universal app. It can also print deposit slips in much the same way that it's always printed checks, and it includes more icons for customizing the toolbar. One thing that hasn't changed is Intuit's pricing policy. Whether you're buying for the first time or faithfully upgrading for the fifth time, it's still going to cost you the full $200. So much for loyalty.

The bottom line. QuickBooks is the industry standard, but if you own the previous version, we don't see a compelling reason to upgrade.

COMPANY: Intuit
COMPANY: www.intuit.com
PRICE: $199.95
REQUIREMENTS: G3 or later or Intel processor, Mac OS 10.4.7 or later, 256MB RAM, 100MB disk space
Universal binary. Prints deposit slips.
Layout Designer is underdeveloped. Poor value for those who are upgrading.