James Webb telescope is great and all, but I have to say I think the older image is more stunning and more aesthetically pleasing. Cleaner, simpler, nicer colors, more mysterious looking.
Webb's purpose is scientific measurements, not cool looking images. (Though wallpapers are a nice bonus!)
When it comes to aesthetically pleasing images, I'm consistently blown away by the composite images combining Webb with other devices like Chandra.
There was an article about the older Cosmic Cliffs image the other day which showed some in-progress images.[0]
Compare the final image after all editing: https://i.imgur.com/htJ25jw.jpg
With this version that's a pure stacking of colour layers: https://i.imgur.com/S1wkruc.jpg
The second one definitely has a more old-school 1990s Hubble look (and I kinda wish they'd release that version in high res).
[0] https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/10/16/james-webb-te...
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eagle_nebula_pillars.jpg
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/st...