Okay, here is the deal.
I just bought a second xbox. I plan on using it for the following things:
primarily an XBMC media extender from my pc to tv
secondarily to play a few games, halo 2 and the like, on xbox live

i have no plans at all to do the following things:
play backups
play homebrew
run linux
store movies or games on hard drive

I have no experience at soldering. But any method I see, even the no-solder method, require soldering.
Why? I have a version 1.6 xbox. I figure that I am going into engineering next year, so I might as well buy an iron and learn now.

I do have experience at all the other things to do, like flashing bioses and dhcp and general computer stuff.

So my questions are,
Will the SmartXX LT OPX S.E. work for all that I need it to do?
Is it able to provide an external sign of whether or not it is running, to ensure that I don't accidentally access xbox live with it on? i.e. diff color on front ring light
Also, if you know about these things, how would the xecuter 2.6 ce or 3 ce work in comparison to that mod?

Yup that should be a good choice, just remember to use an _16plus bios from like X2 5035 for that 1.6 Xbox. Most recent bioses disable network access if you click the live tab in m$ dashboard but it's never trusted to do it anyway. Also smartxx does have an option to boot original mode if your wondering.

Lots of info at smartxx.com

Learn to solder it's lots of fun, solderless mod chips can be a pain from what I have read and getting it to work on a 1.6 is much more fun cause it's a little more complicated.