Assuming that you will be developing using this new computer then i would advise going for an even faster hard disk i.e. 10,000 rpm. There is a huge amount of disk activity going on when you load, save, search etc big projects and it will be the hard disk that is the bottleneck. obviously this might be out of your price range and i realise that it is not on your short list but i thought it worth mentioning... ;P

I'm currently reading 'Head First Design Patterns' and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone wanting to know about the main patterns out there. its full of great examples, diagrams and it is genuinely an interesting read. my girlfriend (a non-programmer) has even commented that it doesn't look like a software book! i.e. it looks fun and it is fun - remember that its not always easy to read a 600 page technical book and stay interested, but im steaming through this one! check it out on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Design-Patterns/dp/0596007124 good luck ;) Joe