Unless you like a black paint job then there is no real reason for you to get one. I'm pretty sure you can buy the 120Gb hard drive separate. The Elite is nice because everything comes together in one package deal. It's "convenient" and I have no regrets buying mine .. and I like black
Keep in mind that HDMI just isn't for video signal it also carries digital audio. So if you have a receiver with HDMI, you can pass that signal over it. Less cables the better... but its more than likely that won't matter to you either.
And .. I've had my Elite for around 3-4 months now, with no RROD *knock on wood*.