I did it. Finally. The one I described in the post below. Got $100 for the educational discount, which was cool. Added 180 gigs for a 500 gig hard drive, which should be fine over the course of hopefully the next 5 years or so. Plus with the 20-inch screen I can actually watch DVDs on it when the other TV is occupied by Jess. I feel like an old person getting call waiting.
I know I'm way behind on this shit, but alas.