Help me understand land ownership/rental/etc.

I'm looking for an explanation of how things pertaining to land in SL work. Is there a primer on land ownership, land rental, apartment rental, number of prims, etc. out there somewhere.

Especially looking for something geared toward a new user, explanations from the ground up, such as: What does it mean to rent an apartment and get 250 prims for L$250/week? How do prims figure into the equation? Is it better to rent an apartment or own land for my situation? Premium account or basic?

I'm trying to make an informed decision about what monthly costs in both Linden and US dollars I can expect from the various options.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give or for pointing me in the right direction. *smiles*

Lucky

Hey Lucky! Welcome to Second Life and making your first post on the forums.

There's a guide to Land Ownership here which explains some of what you're looking for:

http://secondlife.com/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=Land%20Ownership%20Guide

I'm also going to move your post to the General Topics forum for fellow Resident opinions, so you can discuss further.