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The direct drive turntable attaches the motor directly to the platter, which makes the torque a lot stronger. With direct drive turntables, the price will directly correlate with the quality of the turntable. With low end turntables, you can expect to see torque at about 1kgfcm. You'll start to see 1-2kgfcm in the mid-range turntables and when you get to the excellent quality turntables, you'll see between 2 and 4.5kgfcm.
A lot of DJ gear manufacturers have started to add features that the beginning DJ won't understand and will probably never use. There aren't too many records that play at 78rpm. LCD displays are another item that, while it may serve a small purpose, is not an absolute necessity. If a turntable has a feature and you're not sure what it does or why it might be available, chances are, you'll never use it and shouldn't make it a key point in your purchasing decision.
When is comes to the debate between straight and S-shaped tone arms, the differences are minimal. A few of the DJ packages actually come with both, so that you can take your pick. FOr the most part, DJ's agree that the S-shaped tone arm give a better sound quality, where as the straight tone arm does a lot less skipping, but to be honest, the differences wouldn't be noticable to a beginning DJ.
Now, if your budget is limited, we would suggest saving the majority of your hard-earned cash for the turntables and spending a little bit of money on a decent (but not top of the line) mixer. This way, if you decide it's time to upgrade, you'll have a solid pair of turntables and you can upgrade your mixer to get a brand new sound out of your records.
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