I wanted and got one around the age of 5-6 (1990) for Christmas. It’s a great gift compared to other things that you could get if/when you can afford it. It taught me so much and not too many years after, I was building my own/fixing others
Eh, going freom $400 to 1,000 isn't a huge jump with consoles. at $50 each and extras...You will probably end up spending that much in the consoles life anyways.
xpress200? Yup, its not too shabby(I have it and have used it a bit on my MSI RS480 motherboarD). It may be able to do a few of the effects when Vista comes out as well.