I have been trying the beta version for windows and first impressions are very good. That is taking into account that it is still under development. The mac version costs £39 and the company say the finished windows version will retail for the same and have exactly the same spec.
There are still some bugs that need fixing but hopefully these will all have been addressed by the time the finished version goes on sale. If you are used to Photoshop then the learning curve is quite small. In fact in most respects its a lot more intuitive.
I would encourage anyone who doesn't want take out a monthly subscription for Photoshop CC to give it a try.
You can still buy Lightroom 6 outright, which I feel has better raw development and batch processing. The two together look a good prospect. It's much more capable than elements, being aimed at the pro market. The beta version is free so you have nothing to lose by trying it out.