Corzhens is right.
If you're that hep into doing online research, just go to the website of one of the big three (Giant, Trek, Cannondale, or is it Specialized?) and browse the different types of bikes, their purposes, and their price ranges. Decide what kind of bike might best suit you, or at least come up with a short list. And then understand that just about every major brand has that kind of bike, so you can walk into a Cannondale dealer, say, and tell the salesman you were thinking about, say, a Trek Neko (ladies version of the Dual Sport), and he'll say, "Oops, that's one category Cannondale doesn't cover." So you go to the Specialized dealer, and he sends you out on a test ride of a new Ariel and tells you why you're better off buying the Ariel from him than the Neko from a Trek dealer. And then you go to the Trek dealer to see if he's right, and you don't know, so then you post a new thread that says should I buy a Specialized Ariel or a Trek Neko?
And then alfeng jumps in and says, "Neither. You should find an old road bike and convert it for on-off road riding with a suspension fork, flat handlebar, and new shifters, brakes, and cranks to make it all work together."
And I'm going to say, "If you really can't decide if one's better than the other, go with the dealer who gave you a better vibe."