There's nothing wrong with a high-end computer early on, and the Petrel is probably the best dive computer on the market at present. It's simple to use in its basic OC mode, it's extremely flexible in what you can change during a dive, you can adjust its algorithm from 'so conservative you will be far into deco while Suuntos still have bottom time' to 'so liberal it will surely get you bent' (this is only a plus if you take the time to figure out the algorithm), it has a relatively small form factor for the screen it offers, and it eats any AA battery you can find. Dive logs are downloaded and free firmware upgrades are uploaded by Bluetooth, which has always been simple for me (Mac user). Shearwater customer support has been great for me and, so far as I've seen, everyone else who has used it; I liken it to Atomic Aquatics's support...you call or email them, you get a real person and the problem is taken care of fast. A disclaimer: I have two Petrels, so I'm a bit biased.
That said: if you want features like air integration, a heart rate monitor, the ability to look at maps or pictures on your dive computer, and/or some weird algorithm that you'll have neither the hope of nor the need to ever understand...the Petrel is not for you. If you'd prefer a console computer that's still very nice, check out the Atomic Cobalt.
Nobody (outside an eCCR diver, maybe) needs a Petrel. They're more computer than any rec diver needs, even though just in terms of 'how easy is it to use, maintain, and keep functioning/how well supported is it?' you're not going to find a better dive computer. For tech, you can just use a table and a BT. But they're very nice.
So the questions become: what do you want to spend on gear, what gear do you most want to have your own of first, and most importantly will spending that much on gear limit how much diving you can do? If buying a $950 computer is OK for you, and you'd prefer to have the computer for travel because rental BCDs and regs tend to be better than rental computers, and that -$950 isn't going to keep you from doing dives you'd go do if the computer expense was more like -$300... go for it.
