I am by no means camera guru, but we have enjoyed our Cannon SLR very much. It's the older style that is only 6 mega pixels but it's still going strong and we like it. I have not researched cameras in a while but when I did several years ago here were some of the points to keep in mind:
1) Does it come with the AC power cord (not the AC charger). Cannon's do not, unless they have changed over the years. It's nice to have it when you are downloading 300+pictures.
2) Make sure your memory card is one of the fast write speeds, this is useful for continuous shot modes.
3) Is the battery a rechargeable battery, I would imagine that all of the SLR's are but I know that some of the cheap point and shoot ones are not.
4) Research the price of just the body if you have a specific lens in mind. No point getting the lens that comes with it if you’re never going to use it.

To me I normally think of the SLR's for folks that need a longer/wider zoom and for folks that are looking for lots of settings rather then "automatic".

Out of curiosity why an SLR?