Need help deciding between these two models

In my opinion, no it doesn’t make sense to pay 500 extra for a mechanical groupset. Yes, you get a better seatpost and wheelset with the more expensive bike. But the wheels are still alloy and honestly DT Swiss is not even a good wheel brand especially for the price.

I’d get the cheaper bike and incrementally upgrade it. The better seatpost is just 200 eur.

And if you want better wheels save up for some Hunt carbon rims, they have a set for 1k and they have nice black Friday sales etc. And that actually makes a real difference in terms of aero and weight (600g less than the stock DT Swiss LN).

You can then keep the cheap original wheelset for example for winter usage with some more heavy duty 50 mm tires, and put something faster 45 mm on the carbon wheels. That way you’re versatile and the expensive wheels don’t suffer in the mud.