Hi, been wanting a computer for some time now. Finally have the money. Which is right for me?? Just want something I can write my college papers on, internet and downloading music. Pretty much it. I'd prefer anything but macs. Any suggestions? Or good sales going on? Don't want to spend too much, under $500 if possible. Thanks.

We have both. If you are money conscious, you will probably get way more for your money with a desktop. We got our two latest ones from Dell and they seem to be pretty good. They offer very affordable computers too. I hope this helps.

Just short of a year ago I got this Acer Aspire 3610 laptop for $600. I don't do gaming but use some higher end software and it does just great.

$500 is a tough beat. I'd look for what you can get for 500-600 (between laptop and desktop) and pick which one you like for the features.

If features and price matches, I'd choose laptop.

I agree with Rick, $500 is a low threshold for a laptop. That may get you a Celeron M or Sempron processor with a 14 in screen. Probably no more than 512M of RAM and 40-60G hard drive.

It should be enough for writing papers and surfing the Net, but storage space will be small for storing music.

On the other hand, $500 may get you an Athlon 64 desktop with a CRT monitor, and 100G+ hard drive.