When I played recently, I sometimes got load times of 3-4 seconds and worse. Never as much as 15, but 10 or so on occasion. It's probably a case of different setups and hardware on our computers, but it's not as "absurd" a claim as you say. Still, it wasn't a significant issue at all.

A load time of 3-4 seconds is not a load time of 15-20 seconds. And I don't believe it has anything to do with hardware: over the years I have played BG on numerous different computers with numerous different operating systems, and I have never seen anything like those times... ever. However, the current trend of playing in BGT and/or TuTu with a myriad of mods installed may have something to do with lengthened load times. That being the case, then you CANNOT compare the original games to the EE version. No way.

I have both BG 1+2 from GoG and EE 1 from Steam, and while I was looking forward to all the additions in EE 1 I have to say the additions are not worth the headaches that come from dealing with all the bugs that never got ironed out. BG 1 is playable even without mods and even then is better than Steams EE imho. Do yourself a favor and save your money, but if you absolutely must try the EE then wait until it is on sale for around $5, it is hardly worth even that much unless they do some serious fixing

Since no-one else has raised this, it's worth noting that EE has "activate-on-install" DRM which means if Beamdog's servers go down and they don't release a DRM-free patch (which could well happen if they went bankrupt - an unhappily frequent occurrence in the gaming industry) then everyone's copy of EE will stop working once re-activation is required (typically with a hardware change).

The GOG (and other DRM-free) versions of BG1/2 have no such issue.

Actually that is incorrect. When you first download and install it, yes it uses an online authentication, but once it is installed, there is a perfectly executable version there that you can backup and reinstall without getting online again. Its not widely promoted, but its there and pretty easy to use.

Not according to Trent Oster:

"You can copy the files to a new computer, but it needs to authenticate the new computer via the internet to finish the install."

That can only happen if BG:EE maintains (and continually validates) a hardware checksum, which means existing installs need to re-activate if hardware changes. Beamdog's system (and activate-on-install DRM generally) would be completely ineffective without continual (per-run) hardware checks.

In any case, with both those versions there is DRM. There isn't in GOG's versions. Even if that was the only difference, it would be enough for me to not consider buying the EE.

Let's also not forget that the only way to apply patches to EE is through EE's own online interface, and if you're mid-game with any mods installed, tough titty; they're (mods) all removed at every update. No exceptions. Let all the reasons and/or excuses be told, this is DRM plain and simple.

I tried the EE and erased it after testing for a while. You only get 2 things better than in the original + mods:

1) The UI
2) You get the totall rolled points when you create your character.

The second one is a nice touch, but pointless actually. The first one, even if nicer and more useful, is not a deal breaker, since you get used to the classic UI when you are playing, even with a 1080p monitor. The new arena mode gets old at lightning speed and the new characters are considered swallow.

I would say it's not worth your time and I wouldn't pay more than 1$. With the mods you can get a experience as good as the "enhanced" edition (even if the UI is slightly worse), but you can play both the original and the enhanced experience, customised to your likings, which I find nicer than getting some features that I don't really care about.

I played and enjoyed both, but I think this is because of my past with BG games, let me explain:

Until very recently I've only had BG1. In the past I checked some modding sites, but I barely spoke English, and I was having a hard time understanding the install instructions. So I gave up on modding, and just played vanilla. A lot. (the only "mod" I used, was a fan-made translation, without that I wouldn't have been able to play at all)
(+ as far as I know, in order to mod BG1 you need to have BG2, which I didn't have, so even if I spoke English, it wouldn't have been much of a help. Correct me if I'm wrong here^^)

I haven't played BG1 in a long time, until the EE came out, which I bought and played. Since I had no experience with mods, for me any new content was welcome.
I played the original BG2 for the first time very recently, and I'm going to play the EE now, when I have time. Again, since I have no experience with mods, I'm happy with any new content I get.

I tried to check modding now, but I'm kind of a noob, and for someone like me, who can't even install plug-and-play TES mods without hopelessly crashing the game, BG mods are just too complicated @_@ Maybe I'll try later, but definetly not now, when my real-life is just too busy to be bothered with video-game mods.
(Ok, I have a confession to make: I did use *one* copy-paste mod for the EE: An interface retexture mod, because that blue interface gave me eye-cancer ._.)

So I, personally, liked both the original and the EE. Except the blue interface. It was a pain to my eyes. It had got to go. ASAP.

Laden or unladen?

Oooh. This just proves how much I don't know about mods and modding :)

Yes, i heard almost all of them are gay.
If you need a gay-sex simulator, buy it. I can recommend Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, if you like those.

Here's a good read on the original vs enhanced BG2 topic:
http://www.haeravon.com/blogs.php

This guy wrote enormous guides for both games in both editions, so he clearly knows what he's talking about.
I also highly recommend all his FAQs.