Soru's an Arch user, already, iirc.
I think you should build your own. That said, get Window$ 7 and dual boot in addition to running Arch (not 8, b/c dual booting's a pain with Window$
. I say this because you will need some non-wineable programs for school, most likely. Also: if you take a CS class, and it's not Java or Python, you probably don't want to have to build a cross compiler just for a class. It's still your decision, but I personally wouldn't go full-linux until you're at least out of HS.
As for hardware:
Linux: Use Mint, Arch, Debian, or Ubuntu. I like mint best, personally.
Two monitors: I dunno. Make sure they work, and take the input type you want. Also make sure that you can daisy-chain the monitors (that is, plug one monitor into the other's output (output on one monitor is necessary for two monitors on one graphics card)).
Video: Depends on what you plan on doing.
If your heaviest usage will be video games @ medium graphics: Integrated graphics is fine.
If you plan on gaming constantly with high graphics settings (or do other GPU-intensive stuff): get a card for a gaming rig.
CPU: Depends on what you plan on doing. Just make sure it's 64 bit.
If your heaviest usage will be video games @ medium graphics: i5, Pentium Dual (which I have, and it's actually a really good deal), or AMD equivalents.
If you plan on gaming constantly with high graphics settings (or do other CPU-intensive stuff): i7 or AMD equivalent
DVD/CD Drive - any, so long as it reads and writes CDs and DVDs. leafy's right about the blu-ray drives.
USB 3: see leafy's post
SSD: no, No, and NO. Here's why: SSDs are flash memory, which has a limited number of Read/Writes. After a few years (depends on usage), the drive will either a: slow down immensely or b: stop working. This can happen to anything with flash memory eventually, such as flash drives and calculators.
Instead of SSD:
If you are willing to spend the money on multiple drives, all the same model: Get a bunch of drives and RAID them (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID). This makes Read/Writes super fast, depending on which level of RAID you do and how many drives you have (each level has different speeds and different levels of stability).
If you don't want to do that: Just get a typical Hard drive
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