I can't find these anywhere on the Canadian Dell site, and the only ones I see on the US site have very lousy starting specs. AMD procs, low-end graphics and none of them have Blu-Ray.
Edit: I took the cheapest one they have on the US site and upgraded the important stuff.
Base Model ($229)
- Upgraded the processor (important for HD movies) ($110)
- Upgraded the OS from Vista Basic to 7 Home Premium ($30)
- Upgraded the RAM (important for Windows) ($70)
- Added Blu-Ray ($100)
- Upgraded the video card (obviously important for HD movies) ($75)
Total comes to $614US without shipping. It's actually $676 when you factor current exchange rate and GST. The only catch to that math is that Dell never uses exchange rates. I'd be willing to bet this same config would run about $800 on the Canadian site. Since the US site won't ship to Canadians, we're stuck waiting for stuff to hit the Canadian site and then paying their "Non-American Tax."
All in all, it really sucks that Apple refuses to add Blu-Ray to their products. The Mac Mini with a Blu-Ray drive would be perfect. The HDMI port is arguable, since the Mini DisplayPort + Optical cable works just as well.
I guess I'm stuck still using my PS3 for media center goodness.
