But what if it happens to be made by a company that presses you into buying their HDTVs by not supporting VGA monitors... thereby making any HD movie advantages the console has for this particular individual irrelevant?

Like I said, is all a matter of opinion. I for one, cannot make use of the HD capabilities of either my PS3 or 360, as I have a kicka$$ RCA TV from the 90' s. However, you would still need to buy either a VGA (which PS3 doesn' t support, unless said monitor is Hdmi) or and HDTV to make use of said qualities. And both cost money. In the end, depending on what kind of equipment you go with to make full use of either console, there still gonna be a ton of money involved and I think the best inversion varies by individual, like you said.

By the way, congrats on your 5000 . I' ll be at 500... someday