Photoshop CS3 left-click is extremely slow/delayed

Question

I recently purchased a new 2011 Macbook Pro 15", 2.2ghz, 4GB ram. I'm running photoshop CS3, and I'm experiencing a very odd problem.
Specifically in my layers palette, and my layer styles dialog, photoshop lags for about 3-5 seconds when left-clicking things. For example, I can right click a layer, and go to 'blending options', and the layer styles dialog comes up almost immediately. However, when I double-click the right end of the layer (the way I typically bring up layer styles), it takes about 5-6 seconds for the dialog to appear. Similarly, if I use keyboard shortcuts to navigate through selecting different layers, the change in layer selection happens almost immediately. However, when I simply left-click a layer, it takes about 4-5 seconds for the layer to be selected. It almost acts as if I'm holding the mouse button down for those few seconds. This same delay also happens while selecting various layer styles within the layer styles dialog, as well as selecting a color from the color picker, which makes it almost impossible for me to pick a color, because if I've moved my mouse within those 4-5 seconds as it's lagging, the color will change to wherever my mouse is currently.
I'm not experiencing this problem anywhere else on my computer, nor anywhere else within Photoshop. Clicking all other tools and options works just fine. Photoshop is set to use 65% of my system memory, and it's set to use 2 cache levels. I've tried disabling 'tap clicking' on my trackpad, as well as use a standard usb mouse - nothing has fixed it. This problem is experienced no matter how large or small the document I am working on is.
Does anyone have any idea of what this could be??

Answer 1

Boilerplate-text:
Are Photoshop and OS fully updated and have you performed the usual trouble-shooting routines (trashing prefs by keeping command-alt-shift pressed while starting Photoshop, 3rd party plug-ins deactivation, system maintenance, font validation, etc.)?