Is a Rigol MSO4014 identical with MSO4054 hardware wise?

[pascal_sweden]

Are both scopes identical in hardware?
Has it been tested that the patched version really can measure up to 500MHz?

[pascal_sweden]

I like to re-activate this post, as I have not received any feedback yet.

Basically I want to verify if the MSO4014 would be the cheapest possible option to get a scope which can be hacked to the most expensive scope from Rigol out there (except the DS6000 series of course).

What are the negative things about the MSO4000 series? Will they deliver a new major SW update this year to fix all these issues?

[salvix]

Are both scopes identical in hardware?
Has it been tested that the patched version really can measure up to 500MHz?

Yes. Yes.

[Mark_O]

What are the negative things about the MSO4000 series?

Cost, and bugs.

Will they deliver a new major SW update this year to fix all these issues?

There's no one here who can answer that question, and Rigol isn't saying.  But it's pretty safe to assume, based on prior history, that the answer to that is "no".  They've had plenty of time with the 4000 to address anything they think is worth their efforts, and issues still remain.  Now some of those issues may be of no importance to you, but others may be critical, and void the large investment in $$$ the 4000 requires.