I sell computers for a living (6th Year now doing it too)
Unless the person has money to burn or a damn good reason, I never recommend getting the latest and greatest computer technology until about 3 to 6 months after it been released.
One of the reasons is that all computer parts start expensive for the first month or three. Then after about 3 to 4 months, the price starts to slide down rapidly. And then after that the price begins to "platue".
My sister wants to upgrade her computer. I have suggested that she looks at an AMD 64. I have also suggested for her to hold out until June before she makes the purchase.
Classic example was the DVD Burners last year. From about AU$700 ex-GST Buy Price at 12 months ago. The were sliding down by AU$50 to AU$100 each month. Plus the technology matured too. One of my freinds is really pissed off with himself right now as he pay AU$350 inc-GST for his DVD Burner that did -/+. Then 6 weeks later, I told him that i could give him the same thing for 50%, and for about AU$280 inc-GST, I could of given him a drive that does +/-/RAM.
As for me, I can cheat the system. When ever I buy some thing, I make sure there is 2 to 3 year MANUFACTURER's warranty on the goods. I buy, I use it for 1 year or 2 years. And provided that there is 12 months (at the point of sale) manufacturer's warranty, and that the gear is still current, I sell off and trade in for newer equiptment through work.
This only works with Video card, motherboard, memory, cpu and hard drive.
I have not paid full price on a hard drive since I started working here.