I ended up buying a $5 game to get my fifth and final credit. Still, considering I only ever bought two things, those five credits really are free.
I bought the deluxe so that it would be able to hold the few games I download, my save files and extras (like more rockband songs) I might purchase without having to get more memory or an external storage device. Mainly, though, I bought it because it was black. I'm happy with that choice.
About the same reasons I wanted the Deluxe as well. I actually had an opportunity to buy a Basic for $180, but declined because it just isn't worth it. Even though it says it's 8GB, actual usable space on a Basic is actually something like 3 GB, compared to around 25 GB of usable space on the Deluxe. 3 isn't enough for most retail games, let alone save data and updates and stuff to go with that. With the unexpected free retail games I've gotten though, I am close to filling up that 25 GB. If I get another free retail game for something, I'll probably have to delete one of the ones I have now.
I don't have an external/portable hard drive, so I didn't want to have to get one as that would be an extra cost, not to mention the hassle of setting it up and having it hanging off the system. Having that internal storage was worth something to me. Not only that, but I also preferred the black to the white, though both are boring. I got the Zelda bundle though so at least my GamePad has some gold trim. And, I also wanted the GamePad stand that comes with the Deluxe, something which I actually have used as it's handy to set it up in front of me with games that display maps, or even to poke at in NSMB to make blocks appear. With the digital deluxe program added on top of all that, the Deluxe really was a better value than the Basic for me.