Well, on the other hand, the free DAZ Studio has 64 bit rendering, AFAIK, so apparently you can also have it without paying more (or anything, in that case).

But this is a quite pointless debate, IMHO. I'm okay with paying for Poser standard and paying again for Poser Pro, if SM makes it worth my money. And while I agree "worth my money " can be very subjective, I think there is a base level we all would agree to.