New computer suggestions?

Hey all,

My girlfriend has offered to buy me a new PC because she's convinced that my current computer sucks. I suppose this could be true, since at the moment my computer is completely broken and I've been spending the last 3 weeks buying and RMA'ing new parts from Newegg trying to solve the problem. But anyway, I'm considering taking her up on her offer.

However, the deal is that since her complaint about my computer is that it's always failing (again, not exactly true), she wants it to be a computer from a reputable dealer that comes with a decent 2-3 year parts warranty. This rules out me building one myself, which I would prefer to do.

So I'm looking for some suggestions on where to go. My equally computer-savvy friend has said that Dell and HP are a lot better nowadays than they used to be, which does appear to be the case. I'm looking for something mid-range. I am a photographer who uses graphics and audio programs a lot, and I do also play a good amount of new games as well, although since I'm fine with running a game at 1280x1024, I don't necessarily need a rig that is mind-blowingly powerful.

Oh, and I guess our budget is somewhere in the $1200 range. I have a monitor so it's only the tower we're looking for.