Choosing your hardware is the very first thing you need to do to build your HTPC box (the second really if you count having to choose between LinuxMCE, Mythbuntu, Mythdora, Freevo and so on...) , is it really an easy task? What I think is really easy is to get overwhelmed with all those options you find.
Update: Fiire is not really an option, because then you wouldn't really be building anything, would you?
What I really think LinuxMCE lacks (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is a very basic, affordable and specific hardware configuration recommendation (2 or 3 kits, combos, packs or whatever you want to call them, with brands and models, stores with best prices or something like that) maybe in the form of a step-by-step installation guide, put whit a link on the very first page of it's website, and I don't mean a Minimum Requirements sheet or a Compatible Products forum full of interesting threads which I know it already has, but a very basic known-working unexpensive list of hardware that wouldn't lead us (newbies) to confusion or frustration, if you are like me you don't want to read a lot of pages about working hardware.
I think that's why Mc Donald Combos do exist, too many options bring you to confusion, you go to a place like that just because you want to eat, you don't want to know about all their products on their list before you choose your meal, then you wonder
"Combo 1, 2 or 3? ...Yeah, 3 is the one for me", if you want something extra like a sundae you order it, but the very basic was already picked, that's something that I think we IT people generally don't see, that's why Microsoft and Apple have such a big market shares, because they have whole departments that care about those topics.
But don't believe me, that's just my opinion, I would like to know yours