The current requirements of PCs are also vastly overstated.

My PC:

Core 2 Duo E6600
2 gig RAM
2 hard drives
2 DVD burners
ATI All-in-Wonder 2006 video
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 with Live Drive

The PC is plugged into a power strip with 6 other things on it (scanner,
printer, cable modem, monitor (19" LCD), router, switch).

The TOTAL actual power consumption (actual measured) is 190 watts.  Not
just for the PC but for the entire power strip.

[How to measure watts:  In this case, the strip (which is JUST a power
strip and not a surge protector) is plugged into an APC 1500 VA UPS, the
UPS software displays actual power consumption.  I also have a
"Kill-A-Watt", which is an inline true power meter.  190 watts, give or
take 10%, both ways.

If his current video board has only analog VGA output, and if his new
monitor has a DVI input, he would be well advised to upgrade his video
to a card that has DVI output for his stated objective, e.g. "I am
interested mainly in .... AND CLEAR TEXT"

The difference in clarity between VGA and DVI can be staggering,
although in some cases it is not all that great.  A lot depends on the
adjustment of the LCD monitor (dot clock frequency and phase) as well as
the analog VGA cable connecting the monitor to the computer.  But, while
VGA analog displays can sometimes be improved to come closer to the
clarity of a digital display, a digital display will never be worse than
analog and will always display the best possible image that the monitor
is capable of rendering, while the best that an analog interface can do
is to fall just short of that, and in many cases what actually happens
is that the analog display falls far short of that.

This need not be expensive; both AGP and PCI Express video cards that
have DVI outputs and that are powerful enough to run the Aero interface
of Vista can be had for well under $50, and often as low as $20.