Angela,
I've been in the technical world since the early 1980s and have supported and both Macs and PCs since the late 1980s. The overall cost of Apple computers, and not just the hardware, is much more due to the higher cost of the applications. This is especially true for people in the graphics and CGI community which I supported for many years.
As far as PCs go, there are all kinds of things you can do and all kinds of paths you can take. Like any purchase think about this carefully. Yes, I know you've been doing some homework and I saw your post. I was traveling at the time so I couldn't respond the way I wanted to. Typing on a tablet PC is very difficult!
To be honest I wouldn't visit one of those big box stores. They tend to have over zealous sales people that will try to sell the air out of a blown up balloon. In the end they'll sell you a machine with an unnecessary amount of extra baggage, and the machine will never be quite what you'll need. These pre-built machines also have limitations built in. Instead of using the better power supply, they'll put in the cheapest under powered unit they can find. With video cards, they'll go to the bottom end of a famous brand. This will sound great but the results will show when you go to use it. This list goes on with what they'll do.
When I'm building, or recommending a machine for someone else, I ask these questions as I'm determining what is needed for the right job.
1) What do you really want your machine to do?
Is this going to be a wiz-bang gaming machine where you need the latest and greatest hardware with super cooling and high speed fans?
2) Is this a general-use computer?
One where you'd do office stuff and browse the internet.
3) One in between?
What you don't want to do is go about this based on price only. The office machine is the cheapest initially based on cost. You'll have built-in video, or low end video and graphics and a small power supply. This is enough to browse the web and do email. For most home users this is okay.
What you don't want to do, which we've seen here so many, many times, is purchasing the office/home quality machine and expect it to run graphics intensive programs. It's the same as purchasing a car with a 4-cylinder engine and expecting it to tow a big trailer behind it all the time. In the case of the PC, you'll actually spend more money reconfiguring the basic box as you replace the paltry under powered video card and power supply. You'll probably have to add more memory, and a bigger hard drive as well so in the end you would have actually spent less with better hardware to start off with.
In the end, this is based on how much you have to spend on the machine. Coming from the corporate world, I've always set a budget for projects such as this. Having an open purse is lovely, but as we know this isn't the real world.
So set a budget and we can work with that. This also helps determine which path you want to go in so I can help you get the best value for your investment. The better the investment in the beginning means a longer return on your money spent. You don't want to have to upgrade in a couple of years. Instead you want to get at least 3 years out of the computer. In the old days it was at least 5 years, but things have changed quickly since the old days.
So having said this, PM me and I'll work with you on your purchase. I have done this with a quite few people over the years, and all of them have had successful outcomes. I have some other UK-based mail order suppliers that I think can build a machine you'd be interested in. This is in addition to Malc's source as well.
John
