It depends on; *What you will use it for *Does it need to be portable If you plan on playing the lastest games then its going to cost more but perform better all round. But if your only going to use it for homework and websurfing, it isn't going to cost much but wont be able to play many new games if any. If it needs to be portable (ei movede around atleast once or twice a week) then a labtop is going to be what you need, these takes a desktop out of the options. Dell are a good all round company for PC/Laptops, theyre cheap and offer fairly good warrenties. Personally I would go for a desktop, with a decent Core 2 Duo Processor, 1Gb or more RAM (533Hz or better), DVD-RW, a decent graphics card (onbaord is okay if your not planning on gaming on it). As for laptops, if your going to get one look for a dual core processor and and okay graphics card (remember is nearly impossible to change a laptops graphics card, so pick a good one.)