A little dated:
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article...,123883,00.asp
A PCMag reader survey:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1851293,00.asp
Personally, though, I wouldn't buy an Acer (maybe even do one custom...my 18 year old brother just put together a nice one) and would plan on spending considerably more than $1300 (which I think is a little low for any computer purchase...)
Good luck -- let us know your experiences!