I just had to post this again. Expression Studio comes with Visual Studio Standard Edition too. Also, check out this well compiled Expression Studio FAQ.

Just wanted to post the system requirements here. A pretty interesting read isn't it?

Expression® Studio System Requirements

Windows

• Operating System: Windows® XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista™
• Processor: 1.0 Ghz with MMX or equivalent
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Hard Drive: 1.5 GB
• Graphics processor: Microsoft® DirectX® 9-capable or DirectX 9.0-capable video card with 256 MB or more of memory-for example, ATI Radeon X300 or NVIDIA GeForce™ 5600 class equivalent or better.
• 1024 x 768 monitor resolution with 24-bit color
• QuickTime 7.1.3
• DVD-ROM drive

Macintosh

• Operating System: Mac OS X version 10.4
• Processor: PowerPC or Intel Core
• Memory: 512MB RAM
• QuickTime 7.1.3
• Monitor set to Millions of Colors
• Hard Drive: 20 MB
• DVD-ROM Drive

I would say that the 1.0 Ghz processing power and 1 GB RAM requirements are a bit too low for running the applications in the suite. But, you can't even call this a minimum system requirement specification because the graphics memory required is a bit on the recommended system requirement specification if there was one.

I personally suggest you go in for a strong processor and get at least 2 GB of RAM for good performance. A strong processor really helps. Trust me. I am not a Mac guy, can someone explain the 20MB hard drive space requirement in the Mac section? Do most Mac applications run like that off the DVD or something? Or is the Mac suite limited? Have to check that out.