1. If you select a file and press space, it opens a preview. Not just for images, but for anything that has a registered preview (so, for example, install word, press space on a .docx file and you can look inside without actually launching word). When I have to use Windows, the lack of an equivalent functionality distressing.

2. The home directory usually isn't that useful or interesting to navigate to in practice. I rarely want to go there in my own usage. In finder, if you drag a folder to the sidebar, it will appear in all open dialogs which is handy for frequently used folders wherever they might be (I think I had to do this manually when I installed Sync on my computers but Dropbox did it of its own volition)