bottlerocket

The Core Duo 2 is a better processor than the X2 4200+, especially if you want to overclock it. The main advantage for the one at Staples is its bigger screen. If you need the extra processing power, go for the one at BB. If not, Staples.

The $400 Compaq at Best Buy sounds good for you. It's in your price range, and it definitely has enough power for a bit of gaming on the side, too. If you're into more graphics-intensive games, you might want to get a cheap PCI-e graphics card to put in it for better performance. One of the cheaper desktops honestly might have enough power for awhile, but the problem with that lies in fighting the rabid hordes of BF shoppers. I can't say I'm too up to snuff on the lower-end desktops, so I'll leave that to the pros.

One caveat I'd mention about getting the original DS on BF. The power button is RIGHT ABOVE the d-pad on the original DS, which makes it very possible to accidentally switch off your system by accident. As someone who this has happened to, I can tell you it is not pleasant at all, and I'm now a proud owner of a sexy DS Lite partly because of this little design flaw.

The biggest thing here for me is the Celeron M vs. the Core Solo. Celeron M's run very hot, have poor battery life, and don't have that much processing power. There isn't even a point in having a gig of DDR2 RAM if your processor isn't even good enough to make full use of it. In contrast, the Core Solo is fairly recent technology, runs pretty cool, has fantastic battery life, and can at least match a Celeron M in processing power. Seeing as how the HP laptop is also $120 cheaper, I'd say to go for that one, as long as you're willing to stand in line for a very, VERY long time.

Last year, they had a computer very similar to this one for around $350, and at my BB, it was a ticketed item. Also, I'd caution you about buying this PC if you're ever looking to upgrade much. Having just DDR RAM and not DDR2 RAM means that the motherboard is older and won't be able to house an X2 (dual-core) processor if you ever want to upgrade it. You'd have to buy a new motherboard, processor, and probably RAM, too.

I'm no expert, but I know Gateway somewhat recently bought eMachines (2004). Before that, eMachines was a stand-alone company. The computers they make are cheaper because they use cheaper, non-name brand parts, but that's not an issue for something like the computer BB is selling. Now, if you tried to upgrade an eMachine with new parts that were power-intensive, then you might run into trouble. (cheap power supply + new parts = )