Pfft.. Upgrade probably doesn't even begin to describe how much it smokes my setup!
They're both "organizers", but Bridge is
not just LR with a slick interface. That's where you're wrong. For one thing, Bridge is purely a browser type organizer. Lightroom is not. It is database based and managed. It does have the features of Bridge in that you can browse via file tree on the left side if you have folders set up in a hierarchy style, as well as (which you mentioned) being able to sort with various kinds of keywords, tags, flags, color codes, smart collections etc etc.. Bridge has a couple of these elements, but it's nowhere near as robust as the options offered in LR.
I started off using Bridge as well, but LR really does make IT redundant, not the other way around.
Where ACR is concerned, as far as having advantages in terms of batch processing etc etc.. I've found this to be just the opposite in my experience. You're going in between two programs (yeah, they're integrated to a point) when you only need to be in one, LR. It does batch processing just as well if not better.
Again, not true. While the development tools are the same, (with a different face) and can get you the same results, LR does indeed have features not present in ACR. I'm sure you know what those things are though, since you have it. I just don't understand why you'd want to spend time in three locations (Bridge, ACR, PS) rather than just the two (LR, PS) I also find the history panel in LR an invaluable tool, which far overshadows ACR's "snapshot" or "reset" which are obviously extremely limited.
This doesn't even bring up LR's other modules.. but I don't think we need to go there.
I guess old habits can be hard to break. I understand that. just so you know, my workflow has been sped up significantly since having ditched Bridge+ACR, to the point of where I uninstalled the latter. Any extra work I need done, such as heavy duty cloning (rare for me though unless it's architectural or landscape) I simply right click the photo I'm looking at and "edit in". Bing, bang boom.. CMD+S and the tiff is right next to the NEF, ready to be exported, or put in the print module etc..
Hmm... kind of defeats the purpose of being "faster" eh ? But that's cool. It looks like a nice bit of kit for what it does. Does it batch process if you're working with the same model ?
The right choice IMO. Actually, the matte would be easier to calibrate since you'll have no light reflected from anywhere. Though this shouldn't be an issue in the first place, since calibration should literally be done in the dark. I've also got a Samsung matte. Calibrates really well and is a workhorse. Still, I miss the ol' CRT's.
Doug