Good thing is, it appears you will find a number of members who have had both, me being one of them
I have definitely found it to be an upgrade and worth the extra money. Here's why:
Accessories:
You get the Hard Case
Soft leather cover
AC Adapter
These alone could run you around $75
Hardware Features:
Removable battery, you could get a backup battery if you fear long times in between charges. unfortunately Touch Edition does not offer this.
Wireless, I live in Central NJ and signal has not affected me. I subscribe to the NY Post, it is nice to know wherever I am, that morning Pub is loaded in there. I could just as easily connect to my laptop every morning to download it directly, but grab and go with wireless is excellent. PLUS, someone suggests a book? Heh heh I could download it on the spot.
Extra Screen Real Estate, as mentioned over and over, it is really nice to have. I was a little nervous it would add to much to the overall size, but I was wrong. They shortened the hard button area so it only really adds about an inch to height. It really has made a difference in more content in reading area, and less page turns. For some reason, to me it appears to improve the contrast a bit.
Software Features:
Better accessibility to Dictionary, I don't have to tap a word to bring up the small version to activate the full dictionary, it's in there.
Better Landscape functionality, no more grayed out areas on the top or bottom of the screen plus the 2 page view option.
Wide margins, I like that you can fill in the margin spaces with more reading material, or you don't have to so you have that left over space for notes.
More size options plus you can zoom in on areas of each page.
And for your pleasure, here is a little photo comparison thread I put together:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70457
Good luck with your decision......let us know what you decide.