Thanks everybody for your feedback. Everybody’s needs are different and that’s ok. I just tried Photoshop Elements and almost suffered a stroke. Tequila saved me (Cazadores if you’re curious). I’m an average enthusiast; maybe, eventually, the other DxO plugins will grow on me. Up until now, I was mostly playing with exposure, contrast, tone curve, lighting, colors, noise and touch ups. I did buy HDR Efex 2 before Google bought it, but it didn’t want to install on Photolab.
I’m coming from Lightroom 4.4 which now regularly crashes on me when updating Windows and I’m getting tired of it. After trying out Photolab Elite, I feel I would still prefer even the Essential version over Lightroom, especially for its local adjustments (either LR’s brush sucks or I’m bad at it, but with PL, it’s so easy). I could more easily get the results I wanted from Photolab (using only Essential tools, local adjustments, no ClearView, no noise reduction) than with LR4.4. I’ll probably wait for a sale to get the Elite and endure LR4.4 in the meantime.