Hardware wise I personally would be holding back as AMD v2 Bulldozers are due sometime this year, they are already running late but the 8 cores will come in handy for the rendering side of things and as far as i know Intel have some frozen 6 cores waiting to see how good the new AMD's are going to be, but they are on the i7's. Simple rule of thumb follows ...
Modelling = RAM + CPU Ghz
Animation = RAM + HDD + CPU
Rendering = RAM + CPU Ghz & cores + optional GPU Ghz
OS to me has to be Windows purely for choice of software to run on it
Adobe Premier for video editing or After effects for special effects
Poly modelling that has everything you need and loads of plugins for anything missing has to be 3DS Max but that will probably destroy your budget in one fowl swoop unless you go for an older version which will have less features, version 5 and 8 are considered by many to be the better versions regarding memory handling and stability of modelling and rendering.
Freelancing still needs professional software and that sadly costs professional prices too. Pick your projects wisely and you may get by with lower end software like Blender 2.49b to be honest is the best version of Blender and is still available, and the UI is far more user friendly than its current incarnation which i have to agree with you is not intuitive or easy to get your head around, as if they have decided to try and do an Autodesk instead of a MoI.
Speaking of MoI - Don't forget it's speed will save you time and still create decent poly mesh exports (Depends on what you are modelling and resolutions ).
Hope that helps a little, but your budget is tight for going pro.
Martin
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