Another way to increase the performance of the 4SE is to take it out to a dark sky site. And take your time at the eyepeice. Back in '06 we went to Murphy NC for a Jeep Jamboree. We were staying at a campsite on the back side of a mountain from Murphy which was blocking the very little light pollution that was there. I packed my Celesteron ED80 (3") refractor for the trip along with a camera tripod. I was actually blown away by what I could see with it. For the first time when looking at Andromeda, I could see M110 sitting right next to it. Not to mention that Andromeda completely spanned the 32mm eyepiece. The scope has a focal length of 600mm so this is a very wide field view. Next i swung around to Alberio in Cygnus and the amount of stars behind that double was breathtaking. I would definitely keep that little 4 as a grab and go when you don't want to or have the time for big gear. All the stuff mentioned above is good, but a question you need to ask yourself is "what do you want to do with the hobby? Visual or astrophotography? Both?" If the answer is mainly visual, then you might want to look into some of the dobsonian scopes. Bigger aperture for less money. Just a thought.
Here is an interesting article to consider...
https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/TipsToImproveTelescopePerformance.htmlWolf.