Well drawn maps all the way.
Tiles are to be used at the GM's discretion. It looks too cheap and out of place when reading an adventure. The same goes for the VT.
I would say you only need one of the "Heroes of the..." books to play 4EE. Which cuts entry cost into 4E to 20$ (13$ @ amazon).
The Essentials Core Rulebook is more on the GM usage side, since the class books already have the very basic guidelines.