What are the recommended specs for a new computer?

I'm a high school student and I'm getting a new computer. The computer will basically be for surfing the web, uploading photos, word processing, and other high school related things. I am looking for a HP or a Compaq computer. The price range should be from $300-$550. Things I'm looking for in the answer is: proccesor speed, RAM size, Hard Drive size, processsor, graphics card, audio card, Windows Vista, and other basic things.

Answers:
If all you're doing is web-surfing, photos, etc., a run-of-the-mill HP/Compaq should do. Your processor speed would be in the neighborhood of 2 gigahertz. 2 gigs of RAM will be great for photos (they are memory hogs). Most machines come with about a 180 gig hard drive or around that. Your computer will have onboard graphics; though higher-end ones will have something like ATI's Radeon X1300 or NVIDIA's GeForce cards. It'll be loaded with Vista Home Premium (the standard). Hope this helps!
About "average" nowadays (the MINIMUM for all things that are coming out, like software) is at least a dual core, 1 gig of RAM, at least 250 gigs hard drive. The minimum other cards should come with it. They usually range around $600 though, if you're looking for the bare minimum.
These are the recommended specs for a new computer.

For Windows XP:
Intel Pentium 4 processor
256 MB RAM
80 GB hard drive (bare minimum: 10 GB)
modem (optional)
network card (optional)
sound card (optional)
video card
4 USB ports (optional)
CD burner (optional)
DVD burner (optional)

For Windows Vista:
Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo processor
1 or 2 GB RAM
300 GB hard drive (bare minimum 20 GB)
modem (optional)
network card (optional)
sound card (optional)
fast video card such as
NVIDIA GeForce 7000+ or ATI RADEON 1900+
6 USB ports (optional)
CD burner (optional)
DVD burner (optional)

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