yeah, i've built mail servers before

I only need about 20 adresses, 30 max. I need to be able to recive 10 meg files without the server going retard and retarding all over (what the current one does)

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&kc=305&l=en&oc=SV4R515&s=bsd&sbc=poweredge-r515&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=1&~ck=dellSearch

google threw up that, I asume thats compleataly not what i need at all since im terible but am I on the right lines?

how many people will be accessing their email at the same time, bobby? that server needs an OS and it's not as though you can get away with just installing a home copy of xp on it. The web edition of the server doesn't need CALs and according to wikipedia can still run exchange but i think thats complete overkill anyway.
To be honest, I'd recommend you just go with one of the email hosting things, possibly google's or something.
The other cheap option is to buy a cheap pc and install some kind of free email client on there, but I don't really have any experience in those (I used one when I was training, but I can't remember what it was called and i'm pretty sure it was shite then).
The problem with going ahead and building it yourself is if something goes wrong with the server, you could have a lot of down time, you could set it up, i'm sure, but when email stops coming in how quickly could you get it up and runing again? are you prepared to lose that much business?

the problem is renting 25 email slots (with black berry suport) is twice as expensive as renting the rack I just linked With the recommended os (M$ 2008 or something)
My main problem is Im getting the "rob fixed a printer jam once, lets get him to build and run a new network" thing : /

tbh the system we have at the moment isn't that bad, the only problem is its situated in my cousins business so when it breaks we have to wait for him to fix it.

well, you need to work out how much down time costs, then factor that into the cost as well. if you need to pay someone to come out and make the server work again if/when it falls over then it's going to get more pricey.

That £800 doesn't cover any of the licensing costs, I don't know of any good linux mail server programs that you could be using, though there probably are some that show mes up

thats microsoft exchange server, not me pluralised.

i've had a small look around on google and i can't find a free mail server application for either windows or linux. there seem to be some very good offerings with free trials that might be worth investigating (atmail looks promising, thats $500 for a 25user license) , but by then you're going to need to have bought a server to test it on anyway, and you'll never know how its going to hold under the stress of 30 users mailing pictures of cats between each other before you know whether it will hold up.

you could always just run the mail server without a license and hope nobody ever investigates, how does running the company into financial ruin due to FAST litigation sound?

how quick is FAST litigation?

they're a government agency, so very slowly

Federal Amazingly Slow Team?

nope, "fix it again, tony"