If you want to do graphics work you may want to look into at least a decent graphics card, unless you were overstating it and you meant photoshop or something.
HP makes a decent desktop nowadays, and you shouldn't have a problem salvaging parts from your old one if there's anything in there you want to use.
Vista is a mixed bag for your needs. On the one hand it has a lot of security and multimedia features. On the other hand, it has compatability issues at the moment with some design programs. Service Pack 1 should hit by October, fixing a lot of issues. Even now, there have been a number of updates improving compatablility. It's really up to you.
EDIT: One other thing. To run Vista comfortably you want 2 gigs of RAM. You can turn all the nice features off and it will run better, but at least a gig to run it at all.
I went to HP and ran a "recommended configuration" on their basic desktop model.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...add&disp_msg=0
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