One more question, I've been looking through the guide/tut's on this forum, is this the best place to learn or is there another better or equally good place I should check out? I like being able to do my research from multiple places.

I don't understand, did you mistype? You said I wont be able to break even prior to the block reward reduction, doesn't this reduction mean that one would be earning less per block?

Well I do have 1 old desktop and 2 newer desktops along with 1 personal laptop and 1 that is my sisters. Can you use old computers or do you need a newer one? From what I understand I could use an older computer but it could possibly take me years to break one block right?

Hey guys, I'm brand new to the forums and still pretty new to the whole bitcoin thing. Ever since I first heard of bitcoins it really intrigued me, I've never heard of a e-currency before so it was and still is a pretty crazy idea to me but I also think that it's a great idea. After looking around on the forums and youtube and seeing peoples mining setups, it made me want to be a part of the movement.

 When I was choosing the name of this topic, at first I was going to make it " is mining still profitable?" but the thing is I don't want to make a ton of money off bitcoins, I would be happy just to learn the ropes, do some mining and let other people know about bitcoins to help get the word out. I'm a young broke student so I wanted to know if I put a few hundred dollars towards a mining rig, would I be able to make enough money to pay for the rig atleast? Like I said I'm broke so even a few hundreds of dollars is alot for me and isn't something I can really afford to throw away.

I've been doing research over the last couple days and I read that the amount of coins you get from 1 block is going to go down from 50 per block to 25. Will it still be worth it then? I live in Ontario, Canada, the electricty rates during peak times are 8.8 cents per kWh and 7.5 cents per kWh.