Basically it's usually best to build your own, but second best from what I hear is dell. With that price range you could get some really good stuff built on your own... with dell I think you'll prolly be able to get a decent system. Just be careful when ordering though, because machines like those tend to have integrated everything (sound and video cards and often nic/lan/ethernet cards as well). Best thing you could do I suppose if you are to buy from dell is to ask somebody before buying it, or post it here for multiple opinions but a bit slower response time (not that bad unless you're in a really big rush to order). My only computer experience is 2 HP computers (STAY AWAY! LOL) and one self built one... well sorta two self built one sbut I don't use the other unless I need to print something... and when I need to print i gotta fix all sorts of problems cuz my parents fuck it up so badly, lol. The biggest plus with dell is that you'll have a legal copy of windows, lol. Otherwise you're spending quite a bit of cash on an OS or using a pirated version. Anyways it's all up to you.