At the time of writing this blog post, support for Windows 7 recently ended for consumers with paid extended support lasting 3 more years for business users. The Embedded Standard edition has until this October with Embedded POSReady 7 having until next year before the OSes go EOL. In case of Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model machine, it uses Windows 10 IOT which might be a smart move.
The machine has an additional screen which is a touchscreen replacement for the effector sliders, LCD Marquee and Keypads. It has Sound, Settings and even News menu with the latter being added recently.
You can adjust the turntable resistance and even adjust the headphone and effector volumes on the touchscreen area as well as to bring up the Keypad area as physical keypads are removed. The same removal goes for the physical effector sliders. The physical buttons for Start, Effector and VEFX are arranged due to the introduction of the touchscreen. Other exclusives for the Lightning Model include its exclusive songs and Eisei Dan which is a bigger challenge.
Another unique thing is the usage of 120Hz monitor for Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model which may pose another difference in timing but you do get a smoother gaming experience. I don't know how smooth 120FPS is compared to 60FPS when it comes to rhythm games.
One more thing, if you try to look up "Rhythm Games in 120Hz" online, you can see the information about Razar Phone 1 & 2 having the official list of games supporting 120Hz/120FPS and Groove Coaster 2 is one of the rhythm games to have that. The other smartphones will have 120FPS but there's no way to know if the games will have 120Hz native support or not. I don't know what the experience is like since most of us have the devices that run at 60FPS but if I see the Lightning Model cabinet in the local arcades, that is the closest way I can experience 120FPS.
Lastly, the headphone jack is officially available in Beatmania IIDX Lightning Model and that should be in every Beatmania and Beatmania IIDX cabinets in the first place in my opinion. Also, someone had the guts to use the VEFX feature on the Lightning Model to turn on and off the effects while playing the game like he's DJing or something so maybe the touchscreen feature is the improvement. It might seem fun that way but it can increase difficulty that way. Your best bet to do what that person did will be to play the songs in lower difficulties while turning on/off the effects at the appropriate time
Useful references:
https://www.androidauthority.com/razer-phone-120-hz-games-827605/
https://remywiki.com/AC_HEROIC_VERSE
https://twitter.com/smallghostK/status/1209502233772969984
