Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Thinking of buying one to have a play
A few questions

1. Does it play H264 1080 smooth?
2. Which model to buy or are they all the same?
3. Am i best to buy a pre loaded xbmc sd card with the device?

Feel free to add anything, comparisons to other media players etc

Hello,
The Ask the Expert forum for Raspberry Pi are for students in grades K-12 who are doing hands-on science projects using Raspberry Pi. There are other sites on the internet where your questions would be appropriate. Thank you.