Edit  I dawned on me when I said "geek stores" you may have thought I meant the actual GEEK SQUAD stores ???   Sorry for the confusion I meant just a local very computer savy guy. My ISP is postage stamp sized store, but size has zero to do with quality and knowledge.  He builds excellent computers extremely knowledgable, and does not talk 15 feet above a person's head.  He's worked hard at quality service and built a good business.

Have you got any local Geek stores in your area?? (no idea where you're at?) 

Here I get my computer ISP, who is also a builder.  Very good, and reasonable. He can build anything a person wants. I can get a 500 GIG internal harddrive, dual core 2 gig processor, 4 gig ram(amd), dvd-rw, cd reader/player, 8-10 usb ports, In other words top of the line, high speed gaming computer. For $800 bucks.  There is more goodies I just can't remember all the krap he told me is in the top line computer.

The secret is with any "big brand name" computer you care to mention is you are getting exactly what you pay for "a big brand name". There is absolutely nothing 'special' about buying a "big brand name" computer unless calling a help desk in India holds some special facination. ALL  again ALL computers use the same parts in them. What you are paying for with the "big brand name" is software that sits between the O/S and all the programs.

Memory is cheap, so 500 gig harddives sound "real cool" truth is there is not a machine build yet that has never broke. Get an External harddrive with a USB hook up for backups.

"fishing data" out of a dead hard drive runs $80/hour. (if you're lucky)  I have a CD-RW and run backups.

Find a local (if available) see how long they've been in business and see what they offer for the dollar.

 This explains computers. (yes you can actually build your own if you wish) I included this so you'll know what to ask for in a computer.

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/