Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw

[Zholl]

if you've got someone who knows what they're doing, definitely build one yourselves. otherwise, I'd say check the Dell outlet as well. I'm a bit partial to Dell systems, at least as far as purchasing a full system goes, and you can pick them up open box and refurb through the outlet for less than retail, and they work just as well as a brand new machine. you might need to pick up a RAM upgrade and a video card, and maybe a monitor, but you're still looking at a pretty good system for around $600-700