Sloane--
If you're buying a PC (Windows Box), to do everything YOU want to do on a PC (you're not a gamer trying to buy a high end expensive smoking box), to get the best and some of the newest features, I'd definitely head over to Fry's--tell them your price range and have them help you pick out the best pcs in it including their sales--they have more space and a far better selection than usually Best Buys, Microcenter, or the websites like Tiger Direct, New Egg, and Pricegrabbers which are limited by shelf space or in the case of the popular websites I just named they have a pretty small inventory. They have a big sale on Labor Day Weekend.
When you go to a place like Fry's at Alpharetta or Gwinnett with a good selection and a lot of sales especially on Labor Day weekend, ask them to show you pcs with SSD Hybrid technology which allows you to put the files you want in a situation where speed is a lot greater without having to pay the big bucks for a full blown SSD (solid state drive). Also solid state drives have come down considerably in price this fall.
If you have your heart set on a Mac on a limited budget, refurbished Macs are often a good deal and perform like new and essentially are new for all practical purposes. You can Google/Bing for a zillion sites, but apple sells them at sites like
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac Most of the "refurbed Macs" were returned very soon because the buyer decided they wanted something else or something newer--they run like new and they're backed up by a warrantee.
They have a one year warrantee, free shipping, and an Apple Care Protection Plan that will fix or replace it much like on the iPhone or iPad.
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/apple_certified.html BTW "Mac Rumors" is one of my fave fangirl/fanboy sites for covering/explaining all things Mac, and this is their buying guide--they have everything Apple makes covered the best.
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ _______________
I'd check out these links for PC Buying Guides with the newest features in your price range, then I'd go over to Fry's--show them some of the models you found and tell them to plug what they have into your price range.
For PC Buying Guides, check out these reviews:
Windows PC Buying Guide
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/buying-guide From CNET at www.news.com (a great place to keep up with the PC industry and electronic toys)
CNET Buying Guide
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-57536310-220/windows-8-buying-guide/ PC Magazine Ten Best Laptops
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369981,00.asp Storage Pricewatch: Get out your wallet, hard drive and SSD prices have dropped:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/164677-storage-pricewatch-hard-drive-and-ssd-prices-drop-making-for-a-good-time-to-buy Good luck