Best camera would be the one with the best handling for you.
When I was looking to buy it was 350D vs. D50. After hours of reading up I finally held a 350D and hated it, just couldn't get it comfortable in my hands at all. Obviously it may well be the other way round for you.
Canon glass gets all the plaudits but you have to pay for it. The equivalent Nikon (at the sub-£1000 end) is often cheaper and difference is rarely noticeable on the smaller sensors.
If you go Nikon a D50 is still the best buy imo, still some about brand new (at great prices, around £350-400), and you still get the benefit of many more lenses being fully compatible (unlike the D40/D40x).
It's "only" 6MP but that really is a non-issue, I've been doing well enough with it, sold prints up to A3 and in less than 6 months I've now made back 3 times its value, I've never had any issues or complaints with quality.