Is Photoshop CSx overkill?

i use alot of CS3 but think its excellent if you can afford it.. if not PSE is fine, Im getting LR2 soon to see if its anything id like to use, I tried the original version but really didnt care for it.. just because the things it did that PS didnt do, I really didnt care about.

Just thought I'd throw in here: Get the trial version of Elements... kick the tires, and see if there's anything you miss.

Also, a few posts back seemed to imply that Elements doesn't do RAW at all... it does. It uses the same ACR plugin that CSx uses. Its just Adobe has disabled some of its tools for Elements users. But as OP states he uses LR, I think it would be a no-brainer to use LR for your initial editing of images and go on from there.

David - I had planned to download a trial of Elements 7 (it's not available until the end of the month) to 'kick the tyres' as you say. Of course, I could always stick with my CS2, which does everything I want it to. One slight possible problem is that I am soon to get a new laptop and, as it's only available with Vista, I am not sure of the compatibility regarding CS2.

There are apparently some "minimal" issues with CS2 and vista (apparently some plugins fail, and some other issues.) [QUOTEs are from an apparent Adobe reference]

Try googling CS2 and Vista and you should find a few links on the subject.

Thanks David.

I have a 20D and don't use all the capability every time. Over time I'll probably upgrade to a 50D or 5D before I use all of my 20D's capability....

But some day, some day I may just use them all.

And of course, CS4 has just been released.