hi, im no good with specs as well, but what you could do to save quite a bit of money is go for an old chunky monitor instead of a flat one. I got a 21" monitor for free, because uni wanted to spend a fortune on new flat displays and throw all old ones out. And thy are fine 1600x1200 resoltion...
I bet there are a lot of places getting rid of their old equipment. This could be a couple of bucks you could put in a better graphics card, more ram etc.
If space is an issue a chunky one is obviously not a solution. But otherwise it might be worth a thought.

happy choosing