OK my special lady,
I'm going to go backwards from most of the posts and my first knee-jerk reaction. I too gasped at the doubled price that IS the normal retail/assemblers procedure, at first blush. After a little walk around to a different prospective, you haven't done bad at all for what I believe YOU want and need.
I'll give you a 'Lixy type answer' to a 'Lixy type question' because I like to sit next to you and peek up, I mean, talk about your new puter.
I'll give you a link to the component you're 'upgrading' to so you can poke around and do some of your own comparison shopping. You already know opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and mine is as worthless as everybody else's, so here it is.
First I agree with you about the Ford-Chevy views of these sellers. The biggest difference is that unlike the auto makers, Compact, Gateway, Dell and the rest, all manufacture NOTHING! They all are primarily sales organizations (like car dealerships) that buy ALL the components and assemble balanced and matched packages (one of the PRIMARY factors for you) for resale. Buying from one of them eliminates all the mess that the Silicon-Heads run into like the hot-rodder trying to put a ford fuel pump on a 427 Chevy engine. There are as many horror stories as praise for any of them, but they all put together a basic package that is hard to beat price wise, then they make their REAL $$$ with the add-on, like buying parts from the dealership instead of the car parts store.
I agree with Casper on the pricey processor upgrade. That "additional" $188 isn't a bargain for what you get and what you want to do. All of the 64 x2 processors are well matched for your Operating System and will handle all the new software that will be coming down the pipe for quite a few years. There isn't much bang for the buck in the upgrade here, in my opinion.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...me=Athlon+64+X2
I'll go with you 100% on the Vista OS. There is a little of the same horror/praise stories here, but there is no question this is going to be the system for a long time and to have a legitimate, installed copy, that MS will keep you updated on is the way to go now. You are not the geek 'looking' for the glitch that
might be there for some convoluted application. I do believe there is a combination of historical computer development that has been constantly improving over the past couple decades and the change-resistance syndrome that is part of all of us.
No contest for the 2Gb of memory. That will keep you
slightly ahead of the curve and at a good price for the upgrade.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...me=2GB+(2+x+1GB)
This is the place I think is going to blow you away, Lady! I think you have (at best) a 17" CRT now and I know it's been giving you grief for a while. YOU ARE GOING TO BE SO HAPPY with your new monitor. When you turn that on, you are going to think you went to the drive-in.
There isn't a lot of specs given on the Dell site about each component, but this is one place you may want to wade through some details as you are going to be looking at it for a long time. Here is a place I would take $90 of that over-priced processor money and even move up to Dells 20" 'Ultrasharp'. Good deal either way.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1318&name=20%22
I'm not as impressed with the video card upgrade for something that IS going to already built into your motherboard. Again, the bang for the buck isn't here. (put it into the monitor
)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9611&name=256MB
No big deal either way on the hard drive. Today storage is so cheap for what it is. 250Gb is a shit load of space and 320GB is just a bigger shit load for less that 2 $20 bills to have over half again as much. You can't go too far wrong here.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...e=250GB+-+320GB
You need a 3-1/2" floppy drive today like you need a 5-1/4" floppy drive and leprosy. Enough said.
The network card is what you'll plug your "phone line on steroids" into and the fax/modem is probably already on the board. You're set.
The Adobe Software is something you get for free online, download and install in less than 3 minutes. NBFD if they already did it or didn't.
The 16 x burner is actually about as slow as you can find today and for $30-$35 I wouldn't get any of their choices, but they don't give you that option and again, it'll be installed with the software, so you're fine with that.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCate...rners-RW-Drives
Unless you're planning to set up a digital sound studio, you are spot on with what you're getting and going to do on the audio portion of your new setup.
DON'T pay an extra dime for any Office application! I know where you can get a super deal on the current BIG BUCK$ Office Pro.
Your antivirus. Here is the one place that I will have everybody up in arms with torches and pitch forks. I'm not only WITH Casper on the free versions of Avast or AVG, I would
prefer either over McAfee or Norton. I have one 'associate' that is very much a Silicon-Head that says he would rather have a virus than Norton antivirus. lol In an effort to show something that warrants their cost, they have become akin to Homeland Security. These Big Two have good antivirus programs running in the background but have coupled in in-your-face "maintenance and warning" that really hampers additions and updates of hardware and software, legitimate downloads and operation of some programs to show you it is there and doing the job. I get the same (or better protection because I personally believe that more hackers write for these popular defenses) protection with my AVG and a LOT less annoyance and complications. *ducks airborne vegetation* :doorslam:
You are right about the warranty 'deals' being the same as the one on your washing machine. You are covered with the basic to find any QC problems that may have gotten through and the cost for a 'maybe' down the road isn't worth it.
The rest of the package is going to be crammed in there, like it or not, and you may wish half of it wasn't already activated, but you don't have much choice.
The last item I have a thought about is that $30 PC Mover program. You will still have your old system (keep it set up in the corner for a couple months) and with a 2GB USB thumb drive, you will have a super-simple and very controlled way to transfer any data to the new unit and still have something that is very useable afterwards. I think you may be a little uncomfortable with something that going to just start moving a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff from the old system to the new one and not knowing what is happening. If I understand it correctly, it is a data version of PC Ghost and is going to require a special $10-$20 cable to make it work. You can web search that program alone to see exactly what it is and how it works if you really have question about moving your old files.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCate...USB-Flash-Drive
This was important enough for me to give a "Lixy answer" because it is important to you. When I took my second look at what I believe you want, I had to think of it as myself shopping for an $8 berry pie and having somebody gasp when they know you can buy a bag of flower for $1.50. There is no way in hell it will EVER be a bargain for ME to put together a pie, regardless of the ingredients cost.
I think you are looking for a package you can take out of the boxes and plug up for the next few years. My experience is that you can be running in the front of the pack for about 3 years with an good, new setup. You'll be very functional for at least 5 years and work around the road blocks for a couple more after that. When I figure I am going to pay at least $25/mo for just my internet service, my 5-7 year investment is a good deal.
In summery, I think you are doing fine and not overpaying at all. When I ran your system on the Dell site with the options I mentioned, it came out to $1140.00, and with the 25% discount that automatically popped up, it was $852.95. When you figure at least $100 for shipping that you are not paying, it sounds like a hell of a deal to me. You are doing good girl
(if you get this puter, I WILL send you that web cam and buy MYSELF a new 22" monitor 
)