Dont buy off the shelf, build you self and save quite a bit of money, learn alot about PC's at the same time and if you like tech its pretty fun as well.
And dont think you need to know computers to build you own, basically all you need is a srewdriver, a pair of eyes or 1 eye will do, some hands and a flash light. Because basically putting a computer together is a simple as unbox the parts, screw here and plug this in and you are done. First thing you have to do is to write down your needs, once you have them go to sites like Intel, AMD, Nvidia and they have easy to use naviagation tools to find what product suits your need whether its gaming, general use to graphical programs or business.
But basically i bet you can get a Intel i5 for around 200-250, a AMD GPU for 200 dollars, 4 GB ram for 50 dollars maybe less, 50 dollar HDD 500GB-1T, 100 dollar motherboard, 100 dollar case and PSU combo. So thats 700 dollars, so you could splash out a get a solid AMD GPU for 300 dollars, maybe spend 50 dollars on a case and 100 on a PSU. and you would still come under 1000 and have some money to spare to buy a OEM verison of Windows 7 for 100 dollars.
And since you know your computer, you know what to upgrade and how to upgrade if you needs require it in say 12-18 months time, maybe even 2 years.
Of Course That's Just My Opinion, I Could Be Wrong
