Good cameras for photography?

I want to buy a good 35mm camera, but I'm not an expert at this at all. Yesterday I saw a listing for a Nikon D40 for $300. I looked at the prices for it new and they were pretty high and used the lowest at $580 when I checked. Now, I saw that this is a 6.1 megapixel camera. I'm kind of confused though. Does it mean that it's not as good of a camera as a regular 10 megapixel digital camera? Or with the lenses do the pictures come out better quality?

Added (1). The camera came with the lens, not just the body, a camera bag, and a memory card.

Sorry but if you want the best camera, nikon is the way to go.

The Nikon D40 is a dslr camera and not a 35mm camera, 35mm cameras are film cameras. Does the listing you saw come with a lens or is it body only? A 6.1 mp dslr can take better pics than a point and shoot 10mp digital camera as long as you know what you are doing.

Refer to the guide below

You might like this one camera nikon d5000

The D5000 features a versatile Vari-angle LCD monitor that can be viewed in normal position flush against the camera back, or swung out and rotated and/or tilted.

Specifications:-
* New Vari-angle monitor
* Nikon DX-format 12.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor
* Specially designed EXPEED image processing system
* Live View shooting
* Movie clips with D-Movie
* 19 Scene Modes
* Scene Recognition System with Face Detection System
* Active D-Lighting
* 11-point AF system with Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus module
* Picture Control System
* Photo editing
* Nikon Integrated Dust Reduction System