tips and advice for a new compy

Alright, I'm hoping to buy a desktop (to replace the one I have) and a laptop for me in the near future. I say near future because by the time I do go out and buy one it's already lame and plus I don't really have that much money yet

So I was looking at some gaming PC and my friend just bought his desktop at dell for around $1200 and they gave him vista. He's playing medieval 2 and looks like it runs pretty smooth. So I was considering it.

I know theres gonna be people up for MAC but I'm not going to buy a MAC desktop, but I'm considering a MAC laptop, but whichever.

I'm mostly going to use the new ones as a gaming/internet compy, and use the old one for work/archives. The laptop for my portable use.

I wanted to ask if theres a specfic computer that is ideal for gaming with a friendly price tag. We don't mind spending the extra bucks for a real good compy I just don't want to spend a forturne on something I need to spend more on it later.

As for games, if it can play Neverwinter 2, oblivion, the sims2 with hardly any lag or problems then it's cool. (my compy can't handle neverwinter2)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It'd be great to build computers if I'm dedicated that way. I'm no compy genius, and I'd doubt the people that would be using it would appreciate the effort. But thanks for the info. I'll try to hook something up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Dang, thats a hefty loads of info. That's awesome, thanks so much. It'll help.

I did mention I might consider a mac laptop, but I didn't completely dismiss other options, the laptop is mainly to go online while I have other things going on (games) the desktop. So I was looking for a pretty basic set-up for a laptop. The info Digital_divder gave me should give me non-mac laptops to look. I was kinda thinking the pc desktop/ mac laptop combo killmoms suggested, which what my friend have. But it'll probably come down on pricing, availbility, maintence, and what I can lodge into without trying to kill it.

The problem is with the desktop, I'm probably looking at sharing with 2 or more people, and I'm the most experienced one with computers, saddly. So I'm not too hopped up to buy a precious dear compy that I'll take care of it and love it all up just so my roommates can slap it a few times yelling "why isn't it working?"

I'll probably come back later asking opinions on specific items when I find the time to locate it. Again, thanks guys.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.