This would be a good place for me to say that I really appreciate your blog. You are very skilled at conveying the information the typical consumer needs to make a good buying decision without overloading the reader with details.
I'm really appreciating your posting it here as it caught the attention of Adam Pash at Lifehacker, who will be publishing it today or early next week. I made it clear with him that the audience is mainstream, not custom builders, so hopefully he includes an appropriate preface.
It's funny how some answers to tech questions are really very simple. My entire article can be boiled down to one sentence: If you want a quiet PC for mainstream purposes (no heavy gaming) for less than $700, simply get a Mac Mini or a laptop that has a mobile chip inside from the following chip familes . . .