What are the differences between Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or 8 and Adobe Photoshop CS4?

I purchased a Wacom Intuos4 tablet today and found that with my purchase I have access to Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and two other softwares. I already have Photoshop CS4 myself and wish to pass on Photoshop Elements to a loved one.

After making this decision, I have come to wonder just what the differences are between the “CS4” version of Photoshop and the “Elements” version. The person I am passing this software to will no doubt want to do photo manipulation and I would hate for Elements to hinder them.

In the end, it would still be free software, no matter the capabilities, and you cannot argue with that, but I am still curious about the differences are.