NX2 or Lightroom

[eternalforms]

There seems to be several discussions regarding NX2 pros and cons vs. other RAW converters ... much of that goes right over my head.  Sorry!

I have been using NX2 for processing photos taken with my Nikon D90.  They seem to work very well together, but I always have to use another program to process them further to get results that I desire (nothing too fancy as I'm new to photography and haven't invested a lot in software - I use Paint.net, Gimp and Photoscape).  Problem with NX2 is, the 60-day trial expires today and I'm left with the choice of purchasing it for $129 or some other software.  I've never used Lightroom but it seems to come highly recommended.  From what I can tell, the latest version of Lightroom supports D90 RAW files (NEF), correct?  Is there any advantage to having NX2 over Lightroom?  Any suggestions?  Thoughts?  As a student, I can get an education version of Lightroom for $90.  I think this is a fully-operational version, I could be wrong... There seems to be a large camp of members here that believe NX2 is superior at least in terms of conversion, but Lightroom seems to have a lot more features, but probably a steep learning curve as far as my experience level goes...

[jdemott]

In terms of raw conversion and editing capabilities, the two programs are fairly close but I would give the edge to NX2.  NX2 can handle Nikon-specific features like auto D-Lighting that LR doesn't.  Adobe has updated the raw conversion engine of LR so that the quality of the conversion in terms of color fidelity and rendering of detail is now very close or equal to NX2.  NX2 has more editing features, notably the masking capabilities of the control point interface.  LR has better sharpening capability.  Both programs have a lot of very powerful features that take a long time to master. 

More people seem to prefer the user interface of LR (at least judging by the volume of online comments), but I put myself in the group who find the interface of NX2 to be quite easy to work with.  Where Lightroom really shines is its file management capabilities--NX2 isn't even close.  If you need to manage a large number of files, such as a pro photographer would, LR is the way to go.

There is a free trial of Lightroom so you don't have anything to lose by trying it.  I believe the educational version is fully functional.  On the other hand, if you know how to use NX2 and are satisfied with what it does , the price difference doesn't seem like enough to justify a switch.  Is there something in particular that you want to be able to do that NX2 isn't doing for you?