I can back ill-matic up on that one: it definately doesn't improve your creativity
However, if you've got a spare £500 knocking around, a newish PC with windows XP and time to learn Premiere from scratch again, then upgrade.
It IS better than 6.5 (real time preview etc), and it's now THE product to use and therefore get a guide for you want to do. But for the casual user? I'd say wait until you upgrade your hardware and get it bundled for a rediculously discounted price.