Adobe Camera Raw differences between Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements
The idea for Elements is to keep the best of the ACR converting functions, not the editing functions which can be better done in the Elements pixel editor. For instance, to save or print files, you 'Open' in the editor.
Graduated filters: It's convenient to do that in the conversion process, but you can do that with much more power in any pixel editor.
Adjustment brush: idem.
Lens corrections: the raw converter provides the adjustments linked with your camera/lens profile but not the manual adjustments for distortion. Those are taken care of in the editor with the lens correction filter. However, there is no purple fringe correction in the editor.
You can still use Bridge with Elements. If you have a recent camera the raw file of which is not supported in CS6, Bridge will use the limited ('trimmed') ACR version of Elements.
Edit:
Of course, you can download the trial version of Elements (free for 30 days).
Generally, Photoshop users choosing to downgrade to Elements are not particularly happy because they have to forget their old editing routines and accept to make the most of combinations of existing features instead of using hundreds of available options and customization. Conversely, old Elements users who can perform the same quality of edits are reticent to upgrade to CC because of the steep learning curve and the 95% of additional features they will never use.
AdChoices