Photoshop vs. Photoshop elements

[D-50]

My photoshop 7 official died and I am not enough of a computer wiz to fix it I like the ease and ability of PHotoshop and find other programs like GIMP to not be up to par. I am thinking of buying Photoshop elements and am wondering the difference in functionality considering the large price difference. Is extracting in Elements as easy as Photoshop 7? Can I stilll Drop shadows and change my image into gradients and does elements have the same photoeffects that I can apply to individual layers as in PHototshop 7? Is selective coloring as easy? What are the main differences? Thank you to anyone who can shed some light on this, Also what is better Elements 4 or 3? I assume 4 but you never know