It sounds like you plan to keep the machine for awhile. I don't.
I buy the cheapest laptop I can get that will boot a live CD of Kubuntu
and I use for a year or two, then buy another one.
I always have fairly recent hardware to use and a spare laptop in a crunch. And I get a kick out of returning the Windows DVDs and asking for my money back from the retailer. That reduces the price of the unit even more.
Since I am self-employed I can write-off my taxes any computer purchases. I particularly like the $500 special bundles. I pay $700 (deduct that on my taxes) then file the rebate paperwork. So the unit cost $500 minus the tax break amount of about $200. Then I donate the monitor and printer that I'm never going to use anyway and take another tax break (charitable contribution). I can get a nice machine for about $100 or so.
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