Looking to replace the basement computer. Current model is an XP hand me down that I'm not trusting given recent problems.

Have a monitor already. Surfing the web, minecraft, photoshop and watching videos are primary use.

And suggestions would be appreciated. There are too many options online. Cheaper is always better...

Go to slickdeals.net, in my opinion its the best way to look for PC amd laptops
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Buy a computer with Windows 7... That would be my advice

Just stuck an inexpensive new mother brd and i5 w/ win 7 in an old machine ,, went pretty smooth and cheaper than all new of equal,,, if you like messing with them.... Idea!

don't forget about craig's list for computers for sale
right after christmas ...plenty to be had
that were replaced by a new model from
mum and dad.... and the kid is sellin the old one

Lots of RAM >6Gb, Win7, maybe 1T HD. I recently purchased an ASUS from Newegg (new not refurb) for <$500 and am very satisfied. I added a a video card to permit dual monitors (EVGA 2Gb) for $50. Machine is really fast and quiet.

I second Newegg.Every machine I've ever owned came from them.If you're going the Windows route than go with 7 like everyone has suggested.

Btw that old XP unit will run just about any Linux flavor out there.Great way to experiment with different distros.

Newegg is not bad for components. I have had good luck with them. Recently my son's machine school ( a high end dell laptop 2.5 years old) died. I am going to get it fixed (hard disk...will replace with ssd) but he really wanted a desktop as the laptop is just too awkward to use and gets too hot. (He has a surface for portability)
We looked around and could not get what he wanted and eventually ordered one off ebay. There are a couple companies there that are building custom machines and have a nice pick and choose set up right on the ebay store site. No tax free shipping and you get exactly what you want...case, motherboard, cpu, mem, graphics, cooling, you name it. The price is reasonable and we got a kick ass machine. The fellow we used is http://www.ebay.com/usr/magic-micro but there are several similar compaines doing the same thing. (search for custom pc desktop )I think a lot of gamers must order from them but you can scale it to whatever you want. They build it within 48 hours and then test and ship it within a few days. I think he had it within a week after ordering. So far so good.

Slickdeals.net - get thumbs up or down on name brand machines that had some shred of system integration with them. Most of them have compenents made by Acer anyway.

Spend $1500-2K on a MAC and keep it for 4 years or spend 400-800 on a PC and swap every two years

I recently bought a nexus 7 tablet
It will do everything I need, but I don't think it will do Photoshop or Minecraft