What in your opinion should come first? I'm a new diver and like most don't have the money to go out and buy everything all at once. I am looking at the Atomic Z2 for the regulator and the Scuba pro Aladin 2G for the dive computer.
What are your thoughts on the equipment and what should come first?
As a reg addict and an IT guy I would say reg first
Regs have souls , computers are pieces of junk
Seriously though I think they are slightly in different price categories.
If you can read tables you can get away with a bottom timer which can be had for a way under $100 (used), it would give you time, depth and surface interval.
I still use the BT and have no desire to switch back to a computer.
As for a reg, you can technically rent one but I never liked having a mouthpiece in my mouth that was used by someone else.
Rental regs are usually also tuned quite conservatively and do not give you the performance you can get from your own reg.
If you are not one of the "this company has a 200 years history so I go with their stuff" kind of people you can get a reg from HOG really cheap and as per people's feedback you will not regret it. So you can possibly have both w/o sacrifice.
Do not be obsessed with equipment , the best equipment is your heard
You can also talk to members here , do some research and you can find very good equipment at a great price. Make sure you can service it if necessary.