I'm a broke college kid,
but I have this bandsaw from Harbor Frieght. They normally have it in stock, and I swapped to a blad from grainger and it works awesome, when I'm actually at the shop I'll use it about 50% of the time I'm up there and have been extremely happy with it, and know several freinds with the same saw, no problems, works great.
What all will you be cutting?
Also, +1 on chopsaws making a huge mess. I love mine when I'm in a hurry, but sweeping up afterwards makes me question if its really an efficient overall time saver. Bandsaw cuts way cleaner too.