Best beginners slr camera?

I'm a beginner in photography and haven't owned an SLR camera before, but I'm serious about learning it and next year I would like to take a GCSE in photography. I'm really into the art side of photography and am not a person that just wants to point a shoot on holiday ect.
I want a beginners SLR camera which is really great quality and has many features and modes.
I would like something under £650.
I have been looking at the Nikon d3100 and d5100 which look really good.
Can anyone give me any advise on what camera I should buy?

You need to buy camera with more megapixels i say that

Go for canon eos 550 or nikon d5100… But i will suggest you canon eos 550 d… Produce great colors on the pic… N quality

Any DSLR camera will suit your needs since they pretty much have all the same basic capabilities. The pro cameras are better than the consumer range and have enhanced capabilities or facilities (e.g.sensor size, memory, frames per sec). The Nikons are good, as are Canons, as is the Sony Alpha range. The Nikons and Canons have a wider range of lenses.

If you're being artistic photographically then that requires quite an understanding of the nature of light and how to best use it in photographs. And that requires a fair amount of background reading and trial and error, and imagination.

Speaking personally, I've got the Canon EOS600D/T3i which is the competitor to the D5100, and there's a Canon vs Nikon thread linked

More important than the camera is the lens(es) you're going to use. The usual mantra is buy the most expensive lens(es) you can afford and if that means getting a lower spec camera then do it. If your lens is a budget one or isn't that good then you'll be very restricted in what you can do because of the variation in optical performance.

Even a low spec camera will have manual control (which, really, is all you need especially if you want to learn photography… "modes" like "sports" "landscape" and "portrait" are for lazy people, or for those who, at least, want the camera to have some responsibility)

Just get 550d… Made for beginner: D

I found a list of all the best DSLR camera in the market now under $650:

http://www.amazon.com/...zon.com/s/

Out of these i would recommend the Nikon D5100 16.2MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens. Features include:
3-inch, 921, 000-dot Super-Density horizontal type Vari-Angle LCD Monitor
In-camera Special Effects Mode
In-camera HDR (High Dynamic Range)
Stunning Full 1080p HD Movies with Full Time Autofocus

http://www.amazon.com/...004V4IWKG/

Read this review on it overall Performance:

http://www.amazon.com/...LR8A4H60T/