Darn-it!
I ordered a Dell. Why didn't any of you people stop me? I was going to wait until after Christmas, but my current second machine is giving me trouble and my laptop won't run any of the recent games. I got a 3.2 GHZ processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, 160 gigabyte hard drive, and a 17 inch flat panel all for a grand. Not bad. What finally convinced me was comparing the price to machines I could build myself. I went and priced parts. It didn't come out to much less than the Dell. Particularly the monitor. They started the "free upgrade" thing again which I figure saved me about $150 or so.
I've had good luck with Dell computers. I hope it sticks. The first thing I'm going to do is put another hard drive and DVD burner in it. I just  can't stop myself.