Let’s face it: most people who think they need Photoshop don’t need Photoshop. Unless you’re a professional who constantly uses dozens of Photoshop-exclusive features, you can save several hundred dollars and go with Pixelmator Team’s Pixelmator ($30/$60) instead. We’re only comparing it to Photoshop for reference, but the title really stands on its own—it was just updated to version 2.0 this morning, and is now an even better value, especially if you get it before the price hike.
Pixelmator is a full image editor, giving you a lot of the core tools that more expensive packages offer. It allows you to work with layers and has plenty of tools for color correction and other enhancements. This new edition adds quite a few really valuable features: drawing tools and shapes, a healing tool with content-aware fill, a new type tool and more. Plus, it’s optimized for Lion. Really, there’s no downside here. Pixelmator Team hasn’t said when the price will go up, but there’s no reason to wait on grabbing it if you’re looking for a nice image editor.