That's an extra $130 USD. A slight CPU increase, a new OS. ION LE is proved to be .inf file hackable into the full ION (for what that's worth), so we're not looking at a real benefit there.

You'd need to add a large HDD, add 802.11n, and provide a decent wireless keyboard/mouse to have that price make sense.

I bought this the day it was available on Newegg. It's a nice machine and much snappier than the 1600. There was less bloatware to remove on this one, and it works great for all of my .mkvs and HD videos after installing the proper codecs. Flash video is better, but definitely needs GPU acceleration to be usable.

The included wireless keyboard and mouse are actually very nice, and include a dongle to connect. I have this in a closet behind my screen, and everything works fine through the wall. HDMI works great for both audio and video, and so far I'm loving it. The speakers are still sitting in the box – they look very cheap.

Of course, when I get around to looking at the item itself, I see:

Wireless Card 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wireless
Speaker USB Stereo Speakers
Keyboard Wireless Keyboard
Mouse Wireless Mouse

So they're hitting everything but the HDD. This is likely worth it, provided you don't already have a wireless keyboard/mouse and USB wireless networking set up.

This machine is geared much more for the HTPC realm than the base version. This is designed to be unleashed from the desk environment, and put next to your TV while you lounge nearby with your wireless setup. The speakers honestly don't make all that much sense, but they're cute and small, so whatever.