That's why I'm using all Ultimate and Pro at this point.
BTW WHS works fine as a backup for even Win 7 starter. And if you REALLY want to run an XP machine in a virtual machine there is always virtualbox or put Hyper-V on a cheap box.
If you go AMD, don't spend more than $250 on a CPU + motherboard. It just isn't worth it. Also if you go AMD, you may as well get the 890 chipset with SATA3 and USB 3.
One BIG advantage of the i7 right now is that the expandability is great. Lots of PCIe lanes for add in cards and 6 ram slots for cheap 12GB ram options (which most users won't need).
Another, less exciting option is an i5-650. Cheap, Hyperthreading + Turbo, and stock v. stock faster at handbrake encoding than my Q6600's... oh and idles at <30w (CPU + Mobo + PicoPSU + SSD + 4GB ram).
I didn't know that the AMD 800 series chipsets were even out yet.