1 gig should be plenty. I would chose Vista or a least Media Center as your OS. Be sure that you have a card reader included. Vista is a big leap for operating a Media Center.

Dell sucks big time. They have lost huge market share by not keeping up. Chose your own cards and a build your own. It will cost more to build your own but the experience is priceless. That way Dell want be able to slip crap in with the feature's they hightlight. HP has a decent product and have moved ahead with price and quality.

My .02
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