I've assembled desktop. Duel core, 500 GB hard drive, 3 GB RAM, DVD drive, LG 17 inch. monitor, wireless Logitech mouse and Microsoft keyboard
I have a MSI A6000 laptop....a Black Friday special from Fry's last year. Pretty decent specs, not LIGHTNING quick but I did drop a SSD in there and it whips along a lot faster after I did that! Our desktop is in serious need of an upgrade though, vid card esp. I bought it through Tigerdirect, a brand that lets you customize through them, "Systemax". Has worked really well but the mobo is pretty basic. you can forgot about OC'ing it!
I'm using dell inspiron. My wish list is alienware. Gonna get a very high end laptop so that I can do everything from surfing, design, 3d up to video editing. Hmmm perhaps end of this year.
they have one called Area 51 (desktop) $3,500!! but it's loaded beyond belief! of course you could build your own for less than that but got to love their stuff