How about buying  Compaq Presario C751NR, since u r a  student its just for 449.99 .

Here are its specification

 Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core T2330, 1.6GHz, 15.4" WXGA, 1GB RAM, 120GB, Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW, 802.11b/g, Windows Vista Home Premium

Fair enough huh...1 GB RAM should be enough for vista if u r not using any heavy duty softwares on it, or else  u can always switch to XP later.

Here's the link where u can find more info abt.

 http://www.deals2buy.com/computer.htm