Here's a big question I've been wondering lately-- how much do you really NEED Photoshop (ANY version, let alone the latest)??? I have currently 3 different photo-editing programs on my PC, and none of them are the full Photoshop: I have an older Corel PhotoHouse that is a "knock-off" (which I used to use frequently, but not so much lately), GIMP (which I have only used twice), and Photoshop Elements 2.0 (which I use almost exclusively). I have found that PS Elements can do pretty much everything I want to do, so I have never given serious thought to buying the big one.
It seems to me, though, that everyone who posts here uses Photoshop-- even those who are not (or don't purport to be) professional photographers or artists. So I ask you: why buy Photoshop when you can get something like Photoshop Elements? Is there one big reason, a hundred (thousand?) small ones, or no real reason at all apart from the "status".
Let's be honest here-- do you really need the full version of Photoshop?