70k+ here. Key is healthcare, education and parks.
I had one healthcare and school fully maxed out, and small parks and commercial zones between my industry and residential areas, while having larger parks in the middle of my residential areas.
When comparing them it really feels like SimCity have a deeper and more mature simulation going on than SC4.
SimCity is lacking city size though, but that will probably be fixed pretty soon. At least we can hope...
After playing the beta;
+
Deep simulation
Good sounds and music
Good UI
Good information system
Curved roads
Upgrade-able buildings
City specializations
COOP gameplay
-
Tiny city sizes
"Online only"-DRM
Parks must be at roads
Zoning dont show full zone
Bad textures
All in all... a very good game that I will buy if the "online only"-DRM work without problems.