Which 360 for me?

Local H Jay

I have a paycheck for $477, and I've decided to buy my own 360. To this point I have played at friend's houses, and my dad's house, but I feel now is the time to own one myself.
Here's the thing:
Premium or Elite?
I don't really need the HDMI since the only HD tv in my house has no HDMI port. And the space is nice, but I don't need it. To be perfectly honest, I only want it for the black finish, and to be say, "Yeah, I've got the Elite." while stroking my ego none to subtly.
But I save some hardcore moneys by going Premium...I could buy 1-2 games with that cash.
To be clear, i already have games and Xbox Live. I have about 8 games, some at my dad's house, others at friends houses. So games aren't an issue.

So, what do I do?
For the hell of it I'll post the games I own and you can suggest more to me.

Gears of War
Dead Rising
Halo 2
Overlord
TH Project 8
Crackdown
Tomn Raider Legends
Rockstar Table Tennis

tardcore

I'd go with the premium. If you want to decorate it, just grab a faceplate later on.

taliosfalcon

I have a premium and wish i had en elite..but thats only because i'd love to be able to plug it into my tvs hdmi and free up the ocmponent for other things..If you dont even have HDMI, and don't plan on having it any time in the near future i'd say go with the premium, and if you buy a new tv just make sure its one that can do 1080p over component

rannelvis

when faced with the same predicament, I went ahead and got the elite. with all the games on xbla I've been downloading, plus all the music I put on, I've already burned through 20 gigs. luckily I have like almost a hundred gigs left. and the black controllers don't look as dirty when given a thorough beating

also, pick up project sylpheed. I've been playing it non stop since I got it. so awesome

WuckFarcraft

How much better does the HDMI port look better then the High def cables that come with it? That would be the only reason I would consider buying the Elite.