Question on dell Zino as a DVR

[picabooze]

I'm looking to drop directv, since I really only have it for the dvr.  I have the cheapest package and don't really watch anything but network tv.  Anyways, because I don't trust myself to be able to build one from scratch myself, I'm contemplating getting a Dell zino, or something of the sort, since I don't think my HP dv6000 would be powerful enough (2gb memory, AMD Turion 64x2 1.6 ghz).  The goal is to record over the air hd signals, preferrably two channels at once.  I also have an Asus laptop with 4 gb of memory, Intel core duo t6600 @2.0ghz which I use with my WD TV live.
So, I could buy the Zino with the hauppage usb tuner, or use my Asus in conjunction with WDTV live (or abandoned HP laptop- though I'd have to use an external hd since a bigger internal would be more costly) with a usb tuner. 

I have NO idea what sort of specs are required besides a lot of storage, but of the three options am guessing the Zino would be my best bet.  I'm just not sure which processor to choose of the upgrades, nor how much memory I'd need at a minimum.  I assume I'd want to upgrade the video card to the ATI Radeon HD 4330 512 MB... but again, not sure, same with the upgrade for soundblaster over the Integrated 2.1 High Definition Audio.  This would more or less only be used for the purposes of recording and playing tv.  Since my annual satellite charges are a bit over $700, I'm aiming for spending under that, but I'd prefer to be around $500. I haven't decided yet on the software I'd be using, but if I could use Windows Media center (I have a remote that came with my HP for the vista media center... no idea if that would be compatible with Win7 media center) I'd probably go that route.  I have attempted to look up the min specs to use the Zino as a dvr, but I think it's ending up confusing me more. 

Any help and/or direction for this confused girl would be much appreciated.

[Miller]

Are you planning to use the Zino for playback as well? For recording the specs are very small. Your computers listed would be fine for recording things. I think the Zino would work for HD playback as I recall, but do you have a link and we can check the specs. I'm not sure what kind of upgrade options it has though.

[picabooze]

Well, I guess I would be using it for playback... I guess I really don't know what I'm doing.  I want something to record the shows so I can watch them on my tv via wd tv live, if it supports it, anyways.

[Miller]

If you build a computer I don't think you need the WD live. The computer would handle all playback duties. I think the Zino would work, but a couple of the upgrades you might want to think about are a dual-core instead of the stock cpu, 4GB of ram if you want Win 7, a larger hard drive if you don't want to store your shows to a server somewhere, and the 4350 for video. The stock 3200 for video would probably be ok, but for $75 I'd take the 4350. You would also need some sort of external tuner.