if you are going to be doing simple things like homework and music i would just get a nice laptop. you can get a Pentium M 1.6ghz, 512mb ram and a 60gb hard drive for $1100 and then just get some nice speakers since you like music. 60gb should be plenty. Laptops are also more convienient and take up way less space. So if you dont play games and you are just the average user who likes music i would say laptop. You wont need anything special or expensive if your just doing average things.