Help me buy a desktop please...

Hello, would a kind soul help me buy a desktop please? For the past several weeks I've been desperately trying to learn what computer I should buy. The many specifications are all Greek to me! I just read the wonderful buying guide somewhere on your site here: http://reviews.cnet.com/desktop-computer-buying-guide/?tag=rb_content;contentNav , and by now I have a dilemma as to which of these 2 computers to get.

I use the computer for everything EXCEPT games, editing or creating movies, videos, or any other high tech things, BUT (and although I don't have sufficient money) I do want the best and fastest specs WITHIN the general purpose user, if it's possible... :o)

Because the present Dell computer I have lasted me 10 years, I'm looking at Dell desktops again and I found the Inspiron 560 for $500 WITH monitor, keyboard & mouse, but was told some specs weren't so strong. So, back again to searching and I found the CNET link mentioned above, so I'd like to get the specs this link described.

If I may post here the specs of the Inspiron 560, and then the changes I got from that link above, would someone be so very kind as to tell me whether I should buy the Inspiron 560 as I listed here, or, buy just a tower only, with the more powerful specs? I hope I explained clearly what I hope to find! Here is the list of the Inspiron 560, and the proposed specs:

INSPIRON 560 W/ MONITOR, KEYBOARD, MOUSE = $500

1) Inspiron 560 Minitower w/ Black Bezel
2) Inspiron Mini-Tower, Intel Pentium dual-core E5500 (2.80GHz, 2MB)
3) 3GB DDR3 SDRAM 3X1GB
4) Dell USB Entry Keyboard
5) 18.5" Dell IN1910N HD Monitor with VGA cable supplied, 18.5" viewable image size
6) Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500
7) 500GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache
Black Bezel
9) Dell 19 in 1 Media Card Reader
10) Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup
11) DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
12) Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
14) Dell Dock Consumer
15) PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
16) Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
17) Dell Owners Manual installed on your system,click on icon after system set-up to access
1 You have chosen a Windows 7 System
19) DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
20) Dell Connect 2.1 (?) if anything wrong with the compt. they can remotely fix
21) DataSafe Local BackUp
22) eBay Webslice
23) SKYPE VOIP Software Application
24) Dell Logitech USB Optical Mouse
25) INFO,GNRC,PN
26) No modem requested for Dell Dimension
27) ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
2 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
29) Dell Software,Roxio 1.0
30) INFO,GNRC,PN
31) No Speaker Requested
32) McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware firewall,
30) -Days (I DON'T WANT!)
33) Microsoft Office Starter 2010 34 Software, Soft Contracts Dell In-Home
35) 1 Year Limited Warranty
36) No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
37) Warranty Support,Initial Year
3 Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year
39) Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year
40) 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
41) DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB (?) backup
42) To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
43) S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Desktops

THE BETTER, FASTER SPECS THAN THE ABOVE?

2) dual core chip or quad core chip

3) 4 to 8GB of DDR2 SDRAM or DDR3 SDRAM

6) Integrated graphics chip from Intel, ATI, or Nvidia, or discrete ATI or Nvidia graphics card with 256MB to 1GB of video memory

7) 500MB to 1TB hard drive

2 Dual-layer DVD burner


Please forgive the lengthy message, and thanks ever so much! :o) Adela