ATI is bad for Linux. Their Linux drivers are not very good. You need Nvidia for decent Linux support. This is a typical problem with ATI, poor driver support... :-\
Are you getting some sort of massive discount from Dell? If not, you can generally get better hardware for half the cost if you buy the parts at a computer fair or online and build the system yourself... I've compared systems in Dell magazines to stuff for sale at computer fairs and consistently see such results. You also save money by not having to get an OS, which isn't a problem since you plan to install Linux anyways...
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all the parts compatibility lists and I'm not a hardware geek!
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Those are still published?
Putting a computer together is rather painless these days what with rampant standardization and all. As long as you stay away from no-name, super cheap parts, all of the stuff you buy will work together. Well, other than motherboard and CPU, but all motherboards explicitly state whether they are designed for AMD or Intel CPUs... Find a friend that is a geek and get him to put your parts together if you are uncomfortable with it. Surely you can find some friendly geeks at college?