If your going to buy a new computer, dont buy one with a 500 series Pentium 4. (unless its the special version with EMT64) You'll need the 64 bit extensions in the future. I recommend a 630 P4 or better, but for what its worth, I recommend something with an athlon 64 and at least 1 Gig of ram. 512 will get you by for now, but you have to think about the future and 512 isnt gonna get you by with Vista.
For what its worth, Sams club has really good deals online, and they have a very good warranty. Even covers power surges.
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