since you are so indecisive on equipment
i already recommended in another thread to call Sweetwater and talk to one of those sales engineers, explain your situation, your budget and listen to what they have to say...i'm sure they talk to people everyday with the same questions you have.
you are wasting time asking the same questions over and over again; everyone is gonna tell u something different; make a decision...learn your hardware/software...then start making music
buy you that M3 you have been wanting + build you a pc for audio only + a hardware inteface/control surface (protools perhaps projectmix i/o)
lets go!
M-Audio Project Mix + ProTools M-Powered 7.4 projectmix - eBay (item 140210042199 end time Mar-01-08 08:09:58 PST)