I was worried about this also when I was ordering my 25P recently
What I found was this...............
I tried this config
25P
X2 4200
7800GT
2Gb Gskill ZX
2* 250Gb Seagate 7200.9's
DVd drive (had problems with Pioneer DVR-111BDK on booting from original Windows XP disc for install purposes but was just unlucky i believe)
I found the above config ok during the day but too noisy at night due to vga fans - changed to a Leadtek GeForce 7600 GS SILENT 256Mb and its now perfect in the dead of night , completely inaudible with chassis fans set to ultra low.
I havent tried gaming or even playing a dvd, but for music playback and browsing the web its great - will be taking pics this weekend and using it a little more arduiously but I cant fault it.
Admittedly I had the X2 4200 and the 7800 laying around spare after recent upgrade, and will be hopefully selling the 7800 soon to make some money back on this but over all I am very happy
Currently using a Dell 1905FP 8ms tft, but shortly going to demote that to a 2nd display and use my LG hdtv as primary when I set it up (mainly as a dvd display but may try and see how 7600 performs in some games)
I would also like to add that while I havent seen a 26P in the flesh I wouldnt say the 25P looks horrendous at all, quite the opposite, but as the above says its personal opinion (-: