The bottom ends are not the same, though I too suspected they were when the 700 first came out.
As for the EFI, compared to what? The Edelbrock doesnt flow enough for a 5 valve head, let alone a supposedly better flowing 4 valve. Stock carbs need help too, even if you did adapt them. So unless you're sitting on a pair of FCRs or lectrons with a very efficient and lightweight method for putting 2 carbs into 1 intake manifold port or a huge single carb (which is still going to cost money and weigh something) then I still think EFI is the best option as it will make significantly more power on a built top end than stock carbs and can flow or be modified to flow more than pretty much any of the off-the-shelf single carbs.