It's amazing how much you can do with one of the core duo Macs. You could also substitute this computer with a Mac Mini, Mac Pro, Macbook, or Macbook Pro, depending on your personal preference. In all honesty, you may be better off buying your computer directly from Apple.com rather then Amazon. There you can get a student discount and customize your computer however you want.

The thing with speakers, and all audio equipment, is that no matter what you buy, you could have always spent more on better quality sound. I choose these as an excellent middle of the road speakers, very high quality and not too expensive. It's black and aluminum design also fits perfectly with the Mac. That being said, one can always spend more money on speakers to get even higher quality sound.

If you enjoy music and have never heard of Garageband, you are really in for a treat. It's basically an entire recording studio inside of your computer. People with any musical talent should definitely get a MIDI keyboard for their mac. Use this to simulate any musical instrument and create your own music masterpieces for the sake of creating music or to enhance your video or multimedia projects.

You can always use the built in microphone to make a recording on the iMac. But sometimes you need a headset like this one, to avoid microphone feedback or to listen to sounds privately. This is great for chatting with people online or video conferencing with Skype or iChat AV. Also good for listening to iTunes or iPod, and recording vocal tracks in Garageband.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in web design.