What are some quality brands for entry level components in

Rims
Hubs
Spokes

Basically, if you had $250 and you wanted to buy a wheelset what would you buy?

For example:
This vs That

Same price, which would you buy and why (if color is irrelevant).

Also, just for fun:
could someone point me in the direction of some 700c wheels with extremely high spoke count (over 48)?
and
what is the front wheel on this bike?
and
how hard is it to build a quality trued wheel yourself? The internet seems to tell me that it's not hard, just time consuming.