I was looking at buying a singlespeed for my next bike and have come across 2 new ones in my budget(400 to 450).
Specialized langster (http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=9713)
Alpha track bike (no info on net - made by frankenstein bike works in philly)

My initial impressions on the langster was a nice ride, flat grey looks good but the brakes and brake levers were real cheap feeling (pads weren't adjusted properly at the store so that was part of it). I already have shimano levers that I will be using so that wasn't much of an issue.
The alpha was a somewhat smoother/heavier ride, I would rather have drops instead of the horns the alpha has and I can't get used to the look of the frame. Kinked downtube is very odd looking. Being cheaper is a plus for the alpha. Who knows, maybe the frame will grow on me.
After riding both I liked the langster as an overall package better as it is lighter (having to carry it around with all my books and stuff for school is where it being lighter counts) and I would have to make less changes in the short run.
From searches I can see that some people don't like the langster/alum frame and some love it for the value of it. My main use for the bike is to commute to the train, go to school, errands and exercise and wanted a no frills/ light bike to haul me around that I can not worry about getting nicked up or bad weather.
I looked at other options like the fuji but it would cost me way more than the 499 it costs to put on brakes and a freewheel cog thus making it too expensive. I am moving out to wayne,pa in Jan and some of the hills would be suicide for me to bomb down while trying to ride fixed.
I have another month to make up my mind so I was wondering about what langster owners though about their bikes so far and what upgrades they may have made? Are there any other options in my budget? (450 is the max I can even think about spending for everything. School payments are where most if not all of my money needs to go right now). What frame would be a better option in the long run as I would most probably end up switching out parts in the long run? I believe the alpha is 4130 steel and the specialized is A1 alum. The alpha has quando hubs (opinions on these vs the specialized hubs?)

For all the Philadelphia folk - Where would be a good lbs to go check out used/new singlespeeds?

I have thought about an old road frame and building it up (I can work on basic bike stuff) but chainline/hubs/headsets/bb are parts that I do not know about/how to fix nor have tools for them so I was shying away from that option.
Go ahead and throw some other ideas/names of bikes out so that I can check them out.